TOKYO & JAPAN MADNESS

24/11/2010
The day has already arrived, yes I am in Tokyo giving you my first Jap style post. This place is like no other it is so unique and different and almost magical. It all started the morning of the 23rd when I was dropped off at the airport, the excitement really started then, you know when you get super excited and you cant stop laughing because you are about to do something absolutely insane, thats the feeling I had! It was incredible!! I was so nervous and happy all at the same time!
To get myself in the Japanese mood at Terminal 5 I thought it rude not to have a little Chicken Katsu Curry breakfast! It was delicious as always, the crispy breaded chicken was like something out of a 5 star recipe book and the sauce – oh the sauce was soo much better than the one I had in New Zealand. I was left thoroughly satisfied and then pushed onto my departure gate.
Our plane was called and I remember thinking how BA was so inferior in comparison to Emirates in terms of their organisation – BA announce the flight is boarding and everyone piles on, with Emirates they have sections and they board from the back of the plane to the front to prevent queage – thought that was much better however we did end up getting into Tokyo on time.
I checked in online and managed to score a nice exit seat, and the middle seat was empty which was ideal. When doing the bag drop off my snowboard bag was slightly overweight however it was enough to get away with which was a relief!! There was no way I was shipping anything after the debarcle DHL gave me in NZ.
To make sure I synced up with the time difference I tried to sleep as much as possible on the plane, I managed to get about 7-8 out of the 11 hrs snoozing and then spent the other 3 on BA’s in flight entertainment. The movies were the latest but again comparing to emirates their BA’s IFE is nothing in comparison. I watch 1 and a half movies and they didnt really rock my world.
We landed in Narita airport and going through customs and immigration was a surprisingly smooth process – in arrivals I managed to meet some fellow snowboarders and we went to ship our bags to resort. I got the train which was marked in English lettering which made things a lot easier, all I needed was a little help on the route, which information kindly helped me with and I was on my way. The first impressions I got of Japan were the clinical cleanliness of the people and the place, to the point where people were wearing surgical masks on their face to reduce the amount of toxins they were breathing in. I am not actually sure how much of a difference it makes but its their choice.
The people are friendly and even with a language barrier endeavour to communicate with you to come to an understanding so they can help. After my train ride finding the hostel was pretty easy going. Settled in had a shower and went on my way to the Electronic part of Tokyo as I was pretty close to it. Akihabara it was called and it was huge, busy noisy colourful and insane. Strangely there were some Japanese girls dressed up in pink or as school girls handing out flyers and stuff not sure what it was for but it looked ominous I am sure it was harmless as its a populat tourist spot and its broad daylight but it was a little strange. As well as that the food looked a bit crazy, I went safe and got a chicken doner kebab from a van (hahaha safe he says) it was pretty damn good. I followed that up witha KFC to continue the review – it was on par with the UK and US not crispy skin but fried and a little soggy – disappointing.
I found myself in absolute awe of the busyness of the place. There were soo many different electronics stores selling pretty interesting things the best thing i saw was a tiny speaker attached to a 3.5mm headphone jack. This would plug into your iphone or ipod and play the music out loud. I am sure I have seen it before but it just looked smart.
En route to the electronics store I based the used book selling district and the sports district. The sport distrct was insane the snowboard shops were incredible!! I was in heaven and what made me feel better was the fact that all my boards were on show for ridiculous prices whereas I paid next to nothing! Thanks Matt@Ride – oh yeah.
After walking around PEOPLE watching I went back to the hostel for a rest before heading back out to try and find the imperial palace – this did not happen and I ended up spending a couple of hours walking around trying to find my hostel. I gave up and decided to have a Japanese dinner of 10 gyoza’s and 2 pieces of chicken katsu it was yum! The food was soo good and good value considering it was Japanese food. I guess given its in Japan its less sought after than it would be in the UK. I jumped on a train back to the station i was familiar with. After another rest I walked to see the electronics district by night before heading back home!
I am now in my bunk bed in my room about to pass out
Peace and love people
Koo
25/11/2010
Oh my goodness I am so tired right now, the jet lag didnt help my sleep much last night, I was up at 4am and woke up on the hour every hour after that, my sleep was very disturbed which made me pretty drowsy. At least I managed to keep my head down until 8am even though it was a broken sleep.
I woke up and set of on a mega sightseeing day. I wanted to cram loads in and I think I got some good stuff in. I got the train to the Tsukiji and went to the world famous wholesale market, particularly the fish market – it was smelly for sure but there were some insanely large fish, it was unfortunate people from the public weren’t allowed in the auction area because thats where I reckon all the huge Tuna fish would be alongside the big fish like sharks etc... I am wondering what the whaling and dolphin hunting and selling policy here is – are they free to catch and sell in public or is it not legal I remember Whaling for commercial purposes was banned all over the world but Japan said they were whaling for research purposes and are still killing whales. I imagine some countries think that is a front to continue hunting. Whats the deal with being allowed to kill and sell shark meat but not whales – don’t get that. Anyway massively sidetracked, it was definitely an experience – the market was huge and you had to have a tough stomach to handle the smell and the blood, I saw a guy knifing live fish – wasn’t the most ideal sight but I suppose thats what happens in a fish market.
I walked from the fish market through to Hamarikyu Gardens, these are landscape gardens next to Shiodome and are home to the 300 year old pine. It was a pretty special tree, special trunks had to be fitted where it lay to hold up ins enourmous weighty branches. After a tranquil walk around the gardens I proceeded to Shiodome tower. There was a cute famous Japanese chick outside with camera’s on her, she was doing some sort of dance or may have even been shooting for a music video but she was definitely nice to look at! She waved to the fans and at that point I decided to leave.
I continued on walking the wrong way for about 2k but grabbed some lunch during my long detour so all was not wasted. I had a chicken katsu curry and to be honest I liked the wagamamas one better! Terrible thing to say given the dish comes from Japan but i can only be honest.
After being re-routed I ended up back on track and went to Ginza – high end shopping district I walked through I didnt really want to shop just wanted to look at what the shopping was like, and it was immense it was like being on bond street. I passed on through and headed over to Tokyo station and to the Imperial Palace and the Imperial East Gardens. That took me to 3pm – 6 hrs on the move I had to get back to the hostel and chill. I spent a couple of hours relaxing in my room watching a snowboard movine – The Storming – EPICL Heldor and Tortein killed it!!
I headed back out and went to Tokyo Dome City it was crazy! Such a cool place and I am so glad I went there at night because it was all lit up! Tokyo Dome City is like a little city compound with just fun stuff to do, like a mini theme park – it was awesome. From Tokyo Dome I went to Shinjuku this was like another popular night spot with loads of shops restaurants bars and clubs. I walked around and ended up in the red light district accidently (woops) and subsequently got hounded by dudes either asking me if I wanted girls or wanted to go to a strip show, one had a directory that he was flicking through but he could have been asking if I could adopt one for all I know because it was all in Japanese, I just kept saying nee arigato – sionara! Haha i briskly left the area and continued on home. I am officially pooped after all the walking I did today but I saw loads and was pretty stoked with the progress.
Peace and love people!

26/11/2010
I am exhausted again today after another intense day of sight seeing! I find with each day I learn more and more about the culture here and its great because there is so much to learn. I went to Yushima Shrine to start with and from there moved onto another beautiful temple – I wish I could tell you more other than explaining the scerenity and the beuty but I cant it was magical all the same. En route to Sumo to Rygoku i found a street market which was packed with people and all the crazy stalls you would expect in a Japanese market – in fact come to think of it it wasn’t that crazy – shoes, clothes, household goods etc...I couldn’t walk through without making a couple of purchases – a wrist band and some chop sticks.
I made my way to the Sumo wrestling theatre in Tokyo and its just a shame I couldn’t get to see a wrestling match whilst I was here. I am imagining it would be an awesome atmosphere! Enroute to the theature there were statuettes of some of the Yogozunas (long reigning Sumo champs). There was an open sumo museum where you could watch old footage and look at all the historical champions. I didnt really understand the rules of engagement but it appears you have to push your oppononent out of the sumo ring, whoever is out first looses. Despite being wrestling its handed in a very well respected manner. As with all Japanese they are honourable helpful nice people. I have been humbled by just how kind and helpful they are to foreign people even with the language barrier. It never ceases to impress me. My Japanese certainly isn’t getting any better but I am trying to get used to the culture.
With my feet burning I chilled out for a while at a scenic garden built in honour of those that Japan lost during the war. It was the perfect was to chill out and rest for a while before then heading to get some lunch. I got my phrase book out and busted out I wanted something with chicken in please could you choose from the menu from me. Instead I receive a pork dish – ALL good though as it was delicious and its safe to say I have mastered the use of the chop sticks but to ensure I was adhering to the etiquette correctly I later checked online about dinner etiquette. Aside from the obvious its not good to waste soy sauce its disrespectful so use as much as u are going to eat. I have been putting loads of soy on my rice and you aren’t supposed to do that either. You keep chopsticks in one hand and rice bowl in the other hand. It is ok for you to bring the rice bowl to your mouth as you eat and when eating other things with your sticks you can use the rice bowl as a catcher if anything falls but it shouldn’t. You shouldn’t really mix up food unless you receive a don buri. When finished you should point your chop stix to the left on the plate. Dont stick chop sticks in food as this is a ritual they use for the dead.
I proceeded to the Yasukuni shrine and paid my respects to the Buddah! It was a cleansing experience. Then headed onto the Shibuya district which is another crazy busy suburb packed with shops...by the time i arrived i was so tired and kinda over the busyiness of the xmas Friday night and called it early.
Its getting to the time where I need to peace out and sleep sorry about the crappy blog

28/11/2010
Right so the day has arrived where I must leave Tokyo for resort. I have a journey ahread – a flight to Sapporo from Haneda airport in Tokyo and then a 2.5 hr transfer for Sapporo to Hirafu Villiage where I am living! Very excited about getting to resort and very much looking forward to settling in one place. Living out of a bag and constantly walking around Tokyo till my feet burn is getting old and I could do with some different livin!
Yesterday I started my day super early heading back to a shrine I visited the night before to get some good pictures and understand more about the shrine. It was amazing to see people taking time out of their day in between work or school to go to the shrine and pray – The Japanese seem to be a more spiritual bunch of people as opposed to religious as such! It was humbling to see.
I moved onto Shinjuku to the government buildings. They offer a free trip up the 45 floor of their building to get views of Tokyo and beyond. I wasn’t inspired to be honest – city skylines don’t do a lot for me these days they are a bunch of buildings stuck together. It is amazing what man has achieving in constructing these buildings but I don’t get much out of it.
I then went to visit the Mejiji Shrine which was pretty huge and embedded in some beautiful gardens. There was a wedding going on and I managed to see the traditional dresses worn my women and children and it was incredible I was very lucky to see it. I moved onto Hanjuku to see the cool young hip shopping area and the people are soo stylish – i Love it! I walked though the shopping area and managed to stop in a Nike Store with a wall of Ipads about 40 playing videos – only in Japan! So tech! Insane!
Tokyo tower was next on the list and the walk was soo long I got their and its like an orange and white Eiffel Tower with a palladium of cafes and bars underneath it. I managed to chow down hard one some tasty food – the highlight again was the gyoza. On the walk back home I got lost and ended up resting my feet in a school playground which was full of kids playing dodgeball of all games and some were practising on their trombones! It was awesome just soaking up the atmosphere of the city by getting lost and walking around!
I made my way home to get some rest before heading for dinner. I seem to be getting away with telling people in restaurants i don’t eat beef and i want a dish with chicken and can you choose for me please. I got a sweet chicken soba with noodles veg and soup and used my newly learnt Japanese etiquette.
I made my way to Akihabara again before heading home to bed. Tokyo has been insane – I have loved how the underlying big city themes are there however it is soo different still – I love it! Though having had a lot of time in the city walking around I am ready to move on. I have learnt so much about the ways of the Japanese and how to behave, my Japanese is slowly getting there but is nowhere near conversational! We shall see, onto the next adventure, my home for the next 4 months – Sapporo, then Hirfu!! How exciting – I will post up how it is!
Peace and love