Hello Tokyo ♡

Hi Tokyo, long time no see. :D 

It's actually kind of funny because I swear it's been ages and ages (or at the very least, two years) but actually I left Japan one year and seven months ago, so just over a year and a half. I was just commenting to a friend that for me, it didn't feel as much like a big trip so much as just another trip to somewhere that feels like a second home sometimes. 

It explains why this trip was the most disorganized I've been on this far. That and the fact that school is a little crazy (or cray / cray-cray as the young people aka my sister and my former roommate for example would say). I still don't have a firm itinerary in mind. 

When immigration and customs asked me where I was staying I kind of didn't know what to put; I'm staying at my aunt's place for a couple days but I don't actually know their address. Oops. So I put my old address in Takahashi down. I wonder if that place is super run down now since I don't think anyone has been living in it for a year and a half (I'm sure there's probably a bunch of nice bug families there now though, like mukade/centipede families... That or it looks like a war zone between bugs for control of the house. If that wasn't such a disgusting image, that's be kind of amusing). 

I digress. I'm on a bus so I can't type too much; buses make me kind of carsick if I'm reading things now. I might also be unable to do that on planes now too, because I felt super queasy on the plane today. 

So uh, pictures! 

Yeah I have no idea what to even think of this, other than I'm pretty sure on a scale of 1 to inappropriate it's definitely not 1 or 2. Probably higher than 3 and 4 too. 

The fact that there's a kid with a Captain America looking backpack standing in front of him too... American god mascots are strange. This one looks kind of creepy. 

This was really cool. It shows you what the traffic conditions around Tokyo are. 

We just passed this cool looking apartment. It looked like it had steps in order to give each floor an open patio so you could actually look up and see sky. 

Yep, we just hit traffic. I should have taken the earlier bus. Oh well. At least it makes it easier to type without feeling sick. :D #silverlining? 

OMG WE'RE PASSING DISNEYLAND. How do I know? I saw the Disney hotel, and then I saw Cinderella's Castle. One of these days when I have money again... Wait for me, Disney hotel! 

This building had stairs winding up the sides. I would say I bet it's really cool to walk up but then I realized how tall it was and changed my mind. 

You can even see sky tree, AKA huge mall you can shop in for days and an observatory and aquarium and oh yeah also some tower I guess. Kidding, the view from inside is actually pretty fantastic. 

This means we're close(r) though, so until later then! 

451

That's how high up you can go in the Tokyo Sky Tree, out of 600something kilometers. That's about 280  up miles 1479 feet/.28 miles (451 km, I mean).
EDIT: I don't do units. ._. As my sister points out, at 280 miles up, you probably wouldn't have enough breathable air.

I suppose that's tall.

I went up expecting just another tower kind of view, since I've seen a couple and usually it just ends up being cityscape. And when I saw pictures other people took, it was like "well I guess that's okay."

Really though, it's something that needs to be experienced.

I went up there on my last full day in Japan, and spent the night with a spectacular view of the Sky Tree. Really, it was quite a perfect last day that I had, which makes up for the slightly-rushed-ahhhh-lunch-hour-stress I felt as I was going to the airport on the 25th haha.

We got up there - by we, I mean my Japanese-cousin-(maybe)-on-my-mom's-side-who-did-a-homestay-With-us-in-'94 Iori and her four year old (who, while adorable, made me realize that I do not want children any time soon) - it was about 6 pmish and not quite sunset. But wow. You could see buildings for miles and miles, just nonstop as far as the horizon extended. Tokyo tower, surrounded by tall (lols) buildings, seemed almost puny. I think Iori mentioned that Tokyo Tower is about half the size of sky tree (which is still pretty large). Of in the distance, amidst a crowd of people taking pictures, you could see Mt. Fuji as well, making for quite a nice view. they also had digital maps of the area which displayed time-lapse videos as well as maps (with names and train lines) and 360 panoramic views.

Looooook Mt. Fuji!

The opening theme for Game of Thrones (if you haven't seen it, you should, it's quite excellent) was playing in my head the whole time during the day. I suppose it was a little appropriate.

By the time we finished walking around the regular level - at a mere 350 m - the sun was well on its way to setting, and then we went to the upper deck (cost an extra 1,000 yen though). The upper deck kind of spirals up around the tower, so you're constantly going up. You can actually notice a difference though; I didn't think it would matter much but the buildings are noticeably smaller. All the city lights were just coming on as well, shining like small gems out in the distance. It was absolutely beautiful to walk around, watching as the sky got darker and the land got brighter.

Honestly though, the Tokyo night view beats the pants off the daytime cityscape, in my opinion (though as Iori pointed out, you can't see Fuji, so my solution is that twilight is the best because the lights are coming on, but you get this awesome silhouette of Mt. Fuji). But there are just so many lights, and the bridges are lit and colored, and we even saw fireworks way off in the distance.

It looked like a giant sea of stars, all bright and twinkly. Just... so many lights. You could see Tokyo Tower off in the distance near some other buildings, but from that far up they all looked like small toothpicks. Poor Tokyo Tower.

That small red thing is Tokyo Tower at dusk.

Oh, it's worth mentioning that while we actually went up to the Sky Tree Observation deck around 6ish, we actually had to come to the Sky Tree much earlier. They were handing out reservation slips for times that you could come buy a ticket - kind of like a fastpass (think Disney) but where you still have to buy a ticket. But you go for a time when you can buy said ticket, and you need one ticket per person who's going to go up; you can't just send one person to buy them all (though you *can* send one person to get your "fastpass" ticket reservation time cards, just make sure they get enough) since you'll be going straight up to the observation deck from the line. The line is just the start of your "standing in line" experience. Actually, once you get it, you go through a small security area, and then up some magnificent elevators (they're also all twinkly! Ours had a phoenix on it). That actually was maybe a 10-15 minute wait, so not too bad. Actually, once we were inside, standing in line wasn't all that bad because they had giant TV screens with "scenes" from around Tokyo (they were animated, in a kind of giant-Where's-Waldo?-world-sense). But they also explained certain cultural things about the Tokyo area, or general Japanese culture things (in English) so it was actually pretty interesting to wait in line! ...or maybe I'm just nerdy.

No, actually, I'm really nerdy. Tokyo Sky Tree got me the final two prefectures I needed to tag in the 3DS's streetpass game (they're this thing where you can wirelessly swap information via your "Mii" character, including, if you choose, what country and state/prefecture/province/area you're from). So exciting.

sunset

Anyways anyways. I think we got our reservation slips around 1 or 2 pm, and the time we could enter the line to buy our tickets was 5:30-6. Paired with the extra 100ish meters, it makes for the perfect time to go up, since you get the day view, the bonus sunset view, *and* the night view. And it's not like there's nothing to do around the sky tree. I think it's one of the HUGEST shopping/etc. areas I've visited! I'm pretty sure you could wander around the whole day and still not see everything there is to see there (excluding the Sky Tree).

penguiiiiins (in the nicest penguin exhibit I've seen)

First, it's called Sky Tree Town (I think? Or Sky Town. I forget) . Second, it has a planetarium (!) and AND AND AND AN AQUARIUM. Actually, the aquarium, on its own, is actually one of the coolest aquariums I've been to, despite definitely not being the largest, nor having the most amount of exhibits. But the presentation of the different wildlife - including the penguins, which normally, I'm not really that excited to look at because EVERY aquarium in Japan has penguins, no joke - were aesthetically pleasing and informative. The tanks were absolutely gorgeous.

The planetarium was also pretty spectacular. I think it was a little misleading; by planetarium, they mostly meant 40 - 60 minute IMAX shows about space and stars, two of which looked like they were made specifically for the enjoyment of small children (though with Japan and its cute characters, who knows). There was one more that looked interesting, and it only showed at night (maybe that was the actual planetarium part). The one we went to see the morning I left Japan was about how the sky looked during the Edo period, which was kinda interesting, but was unfortunately all in Japanese so maybe I fell asleep during part of it.

Other than those two, Sky Tree has a staggering 7 or 8 (I forget if the top floor had things; I don't think it did?) floors of stuff, plus there were shops on B3 and B1 (I don't know about B2?). Granted, floors 6 and 7 were food, but still. Loads of stuff. There was a plastic food shop I have huge regrets about not having enough time to look into, but I was getting a little worried about canceling my cell phone and making my bus to the airport. I thought I would be able to get lunch quickly. Ha! LUNCH CROWDS, YOU HAVE WON THAT ROUND.

My willpower crumbled like a delicious pie crust

That being said, lunch did go somewhat quickly because I went to an "Edo style" standing sushi bar. It probably didn't help that I went and bought the only purse I bought in Japan. I COULDN'T HELP IT. It had tessellations of Winnie the Pooh. How could I not buy something like this? LOOKIT HOW CUTE THE TESSELLATIONS ARE.

Jump back to the night before though - my last night in Tokyo and in Japan (for now anyways). Thanks to Iori, we were able to snag a room at the Tobu Levant Tokyo Hotel (which markets itself as the closest large hotel to Narita) so I didn't have to worry about going all the way back to Chigasaki and then back out to Narita, which was nice. I was able to catch a bus instead (though it probably took just as long). Ta-Q-bin services, which let you send your luggage on ahead to the airport, is a godsend (I had two large checked pieces).

The hotel though. Oh my goodness.

I'm not really used to staying in hotels, let alone nice ones. I think the majority of people my age will concur; hotels are kind of expensive. Recently, I've sprung for business hotels, which are nice, but still rather austere, or for budget ryokan - the Japanese style inns, which are still pretty darn nice (but beds are nicer, after having slept on a futon for two years). The Tobu Levant? Oh. My. God.

This was a *nice* hotel.

And on top of that, our room was the "Sorakara-chan" (Sky Tree's mascot) room. I was just told before that "there might be something with Sorakara-chan in it.

Yeah. This was the door to our room.

This was the first sign something was up.

Then when we opened the door, we were greeted to this:

The ceiling area.

Oh. My. God.

EVEN THE BEDS.

EVERYTHING had Sorakara-chan on it. And that wasn't even the end of it. It was that classic, "but wait, there's more!" Literally. The room had a small room annexed to it.

You walk past the beds and turn to the left and BAM. Holy cow.

This was our view from the window. FROM THE WINDOW.

I think the dogs and the penguin thing were also other mascots. Probably. As my cousin pointed out, the weird penguin with the star on it is a girl, because she has high heels on.

Oh, I should mention the name of the mascot. Sorakara-chan, for those of you who don't speak Japanese, means something like "from the sky"-chan (chan is a kind of cute prefix for small kids or girls). Considering that she's the mascot for the Sky Tree, it's actually pretty appropriate (and cute. Can't forget cute).

But I mean holy smokes. Cra-zy. Crazy crazy crazy. There were so many... character themed things. Even in the bathroom, there were character things. The towels had little pictures on them and stuff. We had the most amazing view of the Sky tree from our bedroom windows, which were also gigantic. So you could go to sleep and see the Sky tree.

This is why my last night in Tokyo, despite my new 4 year old friend being kinda tired and cranky (yet still having enough energy to power an iPhone for a day and a half), was really freaking awesome. I couldn't have asked for a better "last" experience.

*

I've kind of been in this daze ever since I returned home, and as in daze, I mean like, I haven't really done much (did visit one friend) in the almost week I've been back home. I didn't adjust my clocks until yesterday, so I spent most of yesterday (thursday) thinking it was today (friday). Oh, I reactivated my phone and joined a gym. The gym has pretty much been my number one accomplishment the past few days. I did see the Expendables 2 (that was fun). That, and I've logged a probably ridiculous amount of video game hours in, since upon my return home, there have been three games I've been trying to juggle: Epic Mickey, which is indeed epic; Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance aka Kingdom Hearts 3D which I've been waiting for since I pre-ordered in while in Japan; and The World Ends With You, which I've been trying to freaking finish but I lost the game when my DS was probably stolen. Note, two of these games involve Disney, while two involve SquareEnix. Kingdom Hearts, has *both* Disney AND The World Ends With You characters (so it's kind of like getting my fix for all three but not really?)

I've also kind of been thinking about what to do with this blog, now that I've returned home. I think I'm going to keep writing in it? Hopefully I'll be not-lazy and finish writing about my extended monthish of traveling in Japan and bumming at people's houses. That's my goal. I uploaded over 2,000 pictures last night so I think I kind of... have a lot ahead of me hahaha. But yeah.

Just because I'm back in the US doesn't mean that the adventure has stopped. :) Rather, it has simply changed locations. It's cliche, yes, but life is an adventure, no?

Watch out world (and Mexican food) cause here I come!

Tokyo Game Show

This past weekend was a three day weekend for us, starting on Saturday and extending until today, Monday, September 29th. The holiday we were celebrating was "Respect for the Aged" day, which is, when you think about it, an interesting holiday to have. I doubt it would be possible to have such a day in the US, but since Japan's cultural values originally stemmed from the Chinese confucianism... I suppose I can't be too surprised. 


Anyways.


This weekend was also Tokyo Game Show in Chiba, where the video game industry showcases and unveils new games in Chiba, Japan (the same place where Tokyo Disney is, which isn't technically in Tokyo proper). Basically, it's a giant video game convention and expo, with days for the general public as well as days for people who are in the industry only. Nintendo never goes, but several other big names, like Sony, Sega, SquareEnix, and Konami have exhibits and booths. Sometimes they announce new games and have them available to try out if you're willing to wait in a Disneyland-on-a-holiday-sized line. Or they'll show trailers or give out free stuff. It's kind of like comicon, but for Japan and video games. 


And since we were a) in Japan and b) on a three day weekend, a couple of us decided to go up for TGS and to hang out in Tokyo. I mean seriously, when else am I going to have this opportunity? 


We left on the night bus (which was not made for gaijin sized people, nor people who can't sleep anywhere/on buses/without moving) and made it up in time to hit up the show on Saturday. Holy wow the line was long. The line pretty much had us walking around the entire convention center, which is at least as big as the one in LA I think. 


Once we were in, it was like... woah. Woah. So many video games. So little time. They had demos and trailers of Final Fantasy 13-2, as well as Street Fighter Cross Tekken (which looks absolutely AMAZING). There was a giant dragon (for Dragon Dogma) and, of course, a bunch of Monster Hunter stuff. SquareEnix had a store that sold expensive stuff for the 25th anniversary of Dragon Quest. There's also a store in Shinjuku (that we failed to get to on time by ten minutes) which had more... reasonably priced things and didn't involve waiting in a long line. 


Japanese cosplayers at TGS put pretty much all the other cosplayers at any kind of convention, from the small Fanime ones to Anime Expo and Comicon to SHAME. SEriously. The costumes people had were nothing short of amazing. Except one. There was an... anime-ish version of Link someone did and the face was just.. creepy. Like those cabbage patch kid dolls. That kind of creepy. 


I was very pleased to see The Behemoth (creators of Castle Crashers) had a booth there (and a giant flying chicken) with demos and merch. I was not pleased to find that they sold out of EVERYTHING (for sunday included) by the time I visited them. Because ohmigod. They had figurines and cell phone charms that were AMAZING. I'm still kinda sad I didn't get one.


They also had free schwag; I got this tote that freaking lights up. That's my favorite, probably. There were also a lot of folders, and even more fans (since it was ridiculously humid and hot that day, those were pretty popular). I got a Ragnarok CD and a couple more things.


The game show itself though, is split up between three buildings, with different areas for each exhibitor to set up shop. There was a store dedicated to music from SquareEnix games. That took willpower (though the fact that for one CD, the asking price was around 3,500 yen or ~$35, was a good deterrent too). The cosplayers usually hung out in between buildings, where occasionally, you could catch a breeze.


I didn't have the patience (or the interest, for those with a shorter wait) to wait for any of the games (also, I heard that for the new portable sony device, the PS Vita, had to start turning people away at 10:30. The show ended at 5.) I did play one game though; in Japan it's Dynasty Warriors 6, but in the US we're on DW 7 already.  I kinda embarrassed myself at first because I forgot that on the Playstation, the buttons mean kind of the opposite things. So I was pressing circle or whatever button was on the bottom to confirm at the main screen, and it kept going back to the title screen, and then the lady came over and told me which button to press.


It's been seriously too long. I should get a PS3, heheheh...


The graphics for the characters were kinda sexy, which made sense since it was a PS3 game. I waited for 70 minutes to play that game, and then when it came down to it, ran around killing things before getting locked out of the gate. Then I wandered around and had no idea what to do... But the move sets were awesome~ I didn't even get to do the musou powered up moves (I had forgotten how). But ohhhhhhh man. Oh man. So much fun. I definitely can't get that game in Japanese though... too much information is conveyed rather... quickly, or only by ear. My Japanese isn't that good yet (maybe someday though). KT, the people who made the game and who were running the booth had this promotion going on where if you played three games, you got free schwag. But the other games that looked cool all had long waits, and the ones that didn't were still at least twenty minutes. One of them was this "fab game" (like literally, that was in the title) on the DS, and another was a horse racing game for the kinect. You had to pretend like you were riding a race horse for that game.


My dignity was worth more than the free stuff I could have gotten, I think.


I didn't get into the squareenix store, nor the music store (and besides, the CDs are ridiculously expensive). I did linger around the Street Fighter x Tekken booth. That one looks pretty freaking awesome. Shame I'm not better at fighter games.


One of my favorite things at TGS was this booth area where they had people draw things on post card sized transparent sticker sheets, as support for Japan kinda (or a message about TGS). They were doing a charity for the Tohoku Earthquake; I think the general gist of it was Play video games and be genki, or happy. I forget the precise message. But we drew things and added them to the other hundred on the wall. Some people (re: lots of Japanese people) are ridiculously talented at drawing. It makes me a little jealous sometimes, haha. But then I remember that I'm not actually awful at drawing, and then I have to shut my mouth. 


Either way though, Tokyo Game Show was pretty freaking awesome. We only went for the saturday, but one of my friends went for both days. Instead, we went to Kamakura, but I'll post about that some other time. I kinda fell asleep in my contacts; waking up being able to see, while nice, is really really not a good thing. 


Oh and it's raining now. I guess fall has finally decided to grace us with its presence. Last night when the taxi dropped me off, the nice driver drove all the way up to practically the door... of the apartment building next to where I live. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was the wrong building, so I just got out there and waited at the door until he was out of sight before going to my own house.

Paradox

Japan is a really really really *really* clean place. Like seriously, even the Chinatown is a clean place (and I can say this, after having been to china as well as several chinatowns in the states. They're all gross. Like, five-second-rule-does-not-apply-here gross). But after five years, Tokyo is still really clean, despite the insane number of vending machines.

More surprising is the extreme lack of garbage cans. In the USA, garbage cans are *everywhere* and the floors are still littered with gum, cigarette butts, and people's garbage. But here, you don't find that. You do find some recycle bins for cans and bottles close to some vending machines, yes. But zero trash cans. I searched the whole floor here, and the closest trash can someone could direct me to was the one inside my room. Craziness. It's driving me sort of insane already haha, not being able to find a trash can anywhere! I heard though, that Japanese trash is a crazy sort of nightmare for foreigners on its own; trash is separated into 3 or 4+ categories, including burnables, non-burnables, glass, cans, and bottles. Already, I'm like yikes. That's going to be fun.

I swear I will get pictures up eventually. Unfortunately, I don't really have any of when we first arrived in Tokyo (felt too hot and sweaty to worry about taking pictures) or the bus ride over (slept most the way over and left my camera in my purse, which was stowed underneath the bus since my purse was really a huge tote) or food (still too sweaty feeling and hungry). But I will have some later! We went to this fun j-fast food place that had *buris and curry. I got this tomahambagu, which was a hamburger in this tomato garlic sauce stuff with a poached egg, soup, rice, and salad. It was a looot of food. Very tasty though.

Anyways, orientation early tomorrow morning! Time to actually go to sleep. :)