The plane ride from Shanghai to Tokyo was the easiest flight I'd ever been on.
I had lunch, blinked and was there. I was with Sam, a friend I met in Shanghai. She had never been to Japan either and had a very cool boss who let her take time off with little notice.
I meticulously planned our journey from the airport to the hotel:
1. Get through immigration and down to the ticket desk
2. Purchase the tickets, take the Narita Express to Tokyo Station
3. Take the Marunouchi Line at Tokyo Station to Ochanomizu Station
4. Walk the wrong way for twenty minutes…FUUUUU.
After walking out of Ochanomizu Station, I chugged my heavy bags down a long road. As I approached the corner, a large egg-shaped stadium came into view; it was the Tokyo Dome. The wrestling fan in me drew a huge grin, knowing that was the venue for many legendary bouts. However, I was slapped back from my stupor when I realized that the hotel was on the other side of town.
Whilst looking at a street map, an older Japanese man with greying hair and a suit approached us, "Do you need help?" he quietly asked in English. Before I could respond with the Standard English response ("Nah, you're alright"), Sam interjected, "Yes, we need to get to this hotel." He pointed us in the general direction of the place.
After gathering ourselves, we went walking towards where the man directed us. I spotted him from the corner of my eye sheepishly waiting for us; he approached us and asked again where we were going; the man deciphered our English address into Hiragana. "Oh! Twenty minutes, that way." He exclaimed, "I'll take you there."
After leading us around Tokyo's backstreets, the man stopped and asked for directions from a shopkeeper. Much later, we arrived at a busy street; I listened attentively when he told us to "go straight here." We thanked the man graciously for his help. He was embarrassed for the praise, as if helping two strangers for over half an hour was just something you do.
The rest of the trip was fantastic, albeit not an exciting read unless you want an in-depth analysis of the hour I spend inside the Mega Pokémon Center.
I only managed to get us lost at one other point: after leaving a shopping centre, we took the wrong exit and ended up smack dab in the middle of a pachinko parlour. Now, I've never been in a warzone, but I have played a lot of Call of Duty, and that parlour reminded me of the scene where the helicopters fell from the sky in Modern Warfare 2. It was hard to tell which was louder, the hundreds of metal balls clanging together or the blaring sound effects the machines made.
I yelled to Sam, "I think we need to go this way!" I successfully led us to a room with… another set of pachinko machines! While trying to find a way out, I noticed that the parlour staff had earplugs, but the customers sat leaned back with no ear protection, as if they were immune to the chorus of hell surrounding them.
We somehow emerged out; I needed a few whiskeys after to forget.
Adjacent to the hotel was a shop that served as my introduction to the amazing world of Japanese convenient stores – or "konbini" as they are known over there.
This konbini was a FamilyMart, a convenience store chain that can be found all over Asia. There was a FamilyMart located next to where I stayed in Shanghai, although that shop paled in comparison to its Japanese counterpart.
Konbini's are open 24 hours, have seating areas and stock a wide selection of warm and cold food that forced me to rethink my opinion on the Tesco Lunch Deal. Such is the power the konbini wields, that McDonald's and Starbucks Japan both had to rethink their strategy after FamilyMart start serving fries and coffee. You can also do many other activities inside a konbini such as paying bills, photocopy and collecting parcels. On my last morning, I shunned all of the delicious and unique food that Tokyo offers for a fried chicken + rice combo at FamilyMart.
During the gruelling 22-hour flight back (including a mere 2-hour stopover in Dubai), I decided to head back to Japan soon. Fast forward to today, and that time is very soon; I leave for Tokyo next week; I shall be there for the whole of 2016.
In preparation, I've been studying Japanese. The main reason I'm learning is for survival. As I learned on my previous trip, Tokyo is not as easy to get around for foreigners as Shanghai is.
Another reason I'm learning is for the surprise factor. In China, a big group of rookie teachers and I went to a restaurant; included in this group was a randomer from the hotel we were staying at. All I knew about him was that he was a white guy with a jumper two sizes too big. While seated in the restaurant, the waitress approached our group for the order; Mr Baggie Jumper answered in Chinese, the whole table awed. My first thought was, "Man, fuck that guy." I had to concede, though, that was impressive (his Chinese ability, not the jumper). I eagerly await my moment when I stun a group of people with my broken Japanese.
I plan to document my thoughts, adventures and certain mishaps. Stay tuned.
おたのしみに
