arthur_webb
Adventurer
Yah hay all - I'm back from my voyage to the East. Tokyo was totally amazing - and I'm classifying it flatly now as the world's greatest city. There are some things that make it awesome though; for starters, the politeness of everyone. It's true - "Irrashaimasse" and bowing no matter which shop you walk into. I did us English proud and even got into a bowing match with one particular shop attendant! It was "Irrashaimasse, Konnichiwa, Irrashaimasse, Konnichiwa, Irrashaimasse, Konnichiwa, Irrashaimasse, Konnichiwa!" for about ten bows before I finally let my opponent have the lower bow.
After getting up off of the ground, you realise just how clean Tokyo really is. I barely saw any gum on the floor, or litter for that matter, in comparison with the UK. And Tokyo is so convenient too! It was raining pretty much the whole time we were there, unfortunately, but no matter as every shop puts out decent three hundred yen umbrellas to buy (just over a pound). And if you can't even afford that, just take shelter in any store - they don't mind!
I decided to take shelter in an arcade; Taito Amusment Something-or-other. Something like six floors dedicated to arcade machines, sorted by type. However, I could only manage to get up to floor four before the air became too smoke-filled to breethe. On my way down I did however get to play Mario Kart Arcade GP, and an awesome drum game, where you can beat along in time to many familiar anime songs - including Hare Hare Yukai, the Haruhi ED! I must have replayed that at least five times...
One day we took the train system to Akihabara, the electronic city. We decided that from our hotel at Tama, we could go via the station at Shinjuku. "Easy!", we thought, until we laid eyes upon the map. I've never been so confused in all my life. As it turns out, you buy tickets priced based on how far on any particular line you're wishing to travel. We still didn't have a clue where to start, but a quick enquiry at the station office and one of the officers got straight to his feet to actually operate the ticket machine and buy the ticket for us. So considerate!
The trains themselves are just as they say - on time and clean as heck. Continuing the theme of considerate, most people actually turn their phones off on the trains. Or at least, if they are to use their integrated satellite TV systems (no kidding), they'll hook up headphones. I didn't see a single person actually having a phone conversation on the train - a far cry from the English symphony of ringtones that plague most British trains.
Once we arrived at Akiba, I knew I was in heaven before we even started. Walking up from the station platform, we were greeted by an awesome poster of anime characters saying hello in English, and a terribly over-enthusiastic cosplaying French maid beckoning me to take a leaflet for a maid cafe. This is my kind of town! Once on the main street of Akiba, nine out of ten stores are dedicated to nothing but anime, and anime merchendise. The other tenth of stores sell electronics and games. This was the only street where I litterally walked out of one store and into the next, for around a mile, like some sort of comedy sketch. Embarrassingly I also managed to stumble into an anime store selling nothing but H games; but it took me a while to realise. When I did finally realise, I understood why everyone was starting at me funny, bade everyone a friendly "Arigatou", and left as swiftly and cooly as possible. During my time in Akiba, I counted three further French maids.
The next day we went to Mount Fuji, and stayed in a traditional tatami-floored hotel for one night. Fuji was an incredible sight, even if the weather blocked out everything but thick clouds. Still, just being able to stand above the clouds had its own little novelty to it. That night, dinner was sashimi, or raw fish. Wary, willing and stupid, I dug in to the wonderful-looking feast in front of me. It was... odd. Not at all bad, but perhaps a tad difficult for me to stomach.
One last thing I should probably mention about Japan is the toilet seats. Never before have I walked into my hotel room to find an instruction manual containing operating instructions for the electric toilet seat pinned to the wall. The toilet seat was heated upon sit down; such an odd feeling, sending a weird kind of shiver up my spine. No, I couldn't bring myself to try the not one, but two, spray functions.
Obviously there was so much more in Tokyo than what I just described. I could go on for hours - but my fingers are starting to numb.
tl;dr? Tokyo is bloody AWESOME.
After getting up off of the ground, you realise just how clean Tokyo really is. I barely saw any gum on the floor, or litter for that matter, in comparison with the UK. And Tokyo is so convenient too! It was raining pretty much the whole time we were there, unfortunately, but no matter as every shop puts out decent three hundred yen umbrellas to buy (just over a pound). And if you can't even afford that, just take shelter in any store - they don't mind!
I decided to take shelter in an arcade; Taito Amusment Something-or-other. Something like six floors dedicated to arcade machines, sorted by type. However, I could only manage to get up to floor four before the air became too smoke-filled to breethe. On my way down I did however get to play Mario Kart Arcade GP, and an awesome drum game, where you can beat along in time to many familiar anime songs - including Hare Hare Yukai, the Haruhi ED! I must have replayed that at least five times...
One day we took the train system to Akihabara, the electronic city. We decided that from our hotel at Tama, we could go via the station at Shinjuku. "Easy!", we thought, until we laid eyes upon the map. I've never been so confused in all my life. As it turns out, you buy tickets priced based on how far on any particular line you're wishing to travel. We still didn't have a clue where to start, but a quick enquiry at the station office and one of the officers got straight to his feet to actually operate the ticket machine and buy the ticket for us. So considerate!
The trains themselves are just as they say - on time and clean as heck. Continuing the theme of considerate, most people actually turn their phones off on the trains. Or at least, if they are to use their integrated satellite TV systems (no kidding), they'll hook up headphones. I didn't see a single person actually having a phone conversation on the train - a far cry from the English symphony of ringtones that plague most British trains.
Once we arrived at Akiba, I knew I was in heaven before we even started. Walking up from the station platform, we were greeted by an awesome poster of anime characters saying hello in English, and a terribly over-enthusiastic cosplaying French maid beckoning me to take a leaflet for a maid cafe. This is my kind of town! Once on the main street of Akiba, nine out of ten stores are dedicated to nothing but anime, and anime merchendise. The other tenth of stores sell electronics and games. This was the only street where I litterally walked out of one store and into the next, for around a mile, like some sort of comedy sketch. Embarrassingly I also managed to stumble into an anime store selling nothing but H games; but it took me a while to realise. When I did finally realise, I understood why everyone was starting at me funny, bade everyone a friendly "Arigatou", and left as swiftly and cooly as possible. During my time in Akiba, I counted three further French maids.
The next day we went to Mount Fuji, and stayed in a traditional tatami-floored hotel for one night. Fuji was an incredible sight, even if the weather blocked out everything but thick clouds. Still, just being able to stand above the clouds had its own little novelty to it. That night, dinner was sashimi, or raw fish. Wary, willing and stupid, I dug in to the wonderful-looking feast in front of me. It was... odd. Not at all bad, but perhaps a tad difficult for me to stomach.
One last thing I should probably mention about Japan is the toilet seats. Never before have I walked into my hotel room to find an instruction manual containing operating instructions for the electric toilet seat pinned to the wall. The toilet seat was heated upon sit down; such an odd feeling, sending a weird kind of shiver up my spine. No, I couldn't bring myself to try the not one, but two, spray functions.
Obviously there was so much more in Tokyo than what I just described. I could go on for hours - but my fingers are starting to numb.
tl;dr? Tokyo is bloody AWESOME.
