first day in japan

5/25/05

japan is awesome. from the first day that we got here i knew i would totally love it. our first day was mainly spent trying to figure out how to find my brother and then, once we found him, trying to figure out where we would stay and what we would eat. for some reason, japan has been so incredibly confusing. it’s funny because i actually expected japan to be a super easy country to travel in. i thought most people would speak english and since it’s such a modern country, i thought everything would be fairly easy to figure out. not so. in fact, i would say that way less people here speak english than most of the other coountries that we’ve traveled in. also, i think i’ve been way more confused here than i have been in any other country. i’m not sure why it is so confusing, but i’ve really been enjoying the experience of trying to figure things out. there’s just something really funny about trying new things when you have no clue what you’re doing or what will happen.

stuff from our first day:

finding daniel

trying to find my brother was really tough. he had told us what part of town he woud be in but he was planning to meet us at “a mcdonalds near a soccer arena”. he hadnt left us a street name or anything. how the hell would we find that?? first we asked some random person on the street where mcdonalds was. he had no idea what we were talking about. finally after going back and forth for a bit he finally realized what i meant when i did a hand gesture for the golden arches. apparently in japan, they pronounce mcdonalds completely differently. he pointed us to a mcdonalds, but it was the wong one. damn. so i tried to ask an employee if he knew of one near a soccer arena. he didnt understand. after i drew it on a piece of paper, the guy miraculously understood what i meant and drew me a map to the right mcdonalds. of course, my brother wasn’t there when we got there, but eventualy we found him.

the festival

when we were walking through the streets of tokyo to find the mcdonalds, there was total madness all around us. so many people all crammed on the streets. finally we realized that there was some huge festival going on. it was pretty crazy. there would be huge groups of people dressed in traditional clothes carrying shrines and chanting. also there were other people playing drums and stuff. the festival was pretty cool, but unfortunately we were so tired and stuff that we didnt enjoy it as much as we coud have.

ryokan

we had some trouble finding a hotel since we hadnt booked in advance, but eventualy we got a room in a ryokan (traditional japanese hotel). it was really cool! the room’s floor was covered in tatami mats (japanese straw mats) and so you had to take your shoes off in the room. instead of beds, they had futons on the floor and the futons even had little sobakawa pillows (i had been missing mine like crazy while traveling). the windows in the room were covered with the traditional sliding paper doors. basically the whole room was very traditional and cool. definitely a nice intro to japan. they even gave us little bathrobes to wear and stuff. the room also had a little tv and we were hoping to see some really crazy zany shows that japan is famous for, but there wasnt anything that great on tv.

expensive

japan is crazy expensive. especially after all the other places we’ve been so far. i really dont know how our budget will survive. the ryokan room was 110$!! ouch!! since then we’ve been averaging more like 60-80 per night, but still compare that to 8 or 9$ per room which is what we’re used to. it’s pretty much impossible to get a meal here under 10 bux and for dinner it’s usually closer to 20. a day pass on the bus costs almnost 6$. we’ve heard that to see a movie you have to pay a bout 20$!! so basically, after getting by on 20 to 30$ per day, we’re spending soo much more here. not to mention that we had to buy a 3 week train pass for almost 600$

internet cafes

the internet cafes are crazy here. they usually have little rooms where you can use the internet in private, but you can also rent movies from them, read comic books from their HUGE comic libraries, and play video games. apparently you can even rent the internet booths and sleep in them. i guess it’s much cheaper than a hotel!! plus while you’re online you can have all the free sodas, coffee, tea, etc that you want. often times the guy at the front desk will have a little map of the room and then he puts down little boardgame pices on the rooms that are occupied.

not so high-tech

despite everything, japan so far hasn’t been as crazy high-tech as i expected. i mean, from everything you think about tokyo, i practically expected flying cars. instead, sometimes even technology that i would take for granted back home wasn’t available here. for instance, a lot of restaurants dont take credit cards here. cash only. aslo, this is one of the only countries out of all of our travels where we’ve actually struggled to get money from an atm. first off, there are not so many of them. second off, a lot of them dont take our card. third off, some of them dont understand english. it really surprised me that while in a country like syria i had no problem getting cash pretty much anywhere, here in japan we spent almost 3 hours finding money!! and the craziest thing that happened that day relating to technology, was that after we ate our dinner, the waiter counted up our bill…. on an abacus. yup, an abacus. i didnt know those things still existed, yet here was a restaurant right in tokyo using one.

the people

the people here really are so incredibly polite and nice. it’s absolutely amazing. everyone you interact with is constantly bowing, grinning, saying thank you over and over. they really go out of their way to help you and make you feel welcome. interacting w/ people here is just so great. of course, the language barrier definitely makes things difficult. people here really do speak so little english, and the ones that do speak it are really reluctant to do so (it seems that they are shy of their bad english). but yeah, the japanese just have this certain way of doing things. every time you are brought something in a restaurant, it’s presented w/ a flourish, and a huge smile, and a bow. peole just cant stop bowing to you.

cartoony

i just love japan’s fascination w/ little cartoony stuff. everywhere you see little funny drawings on signs, directions, warnings etc. when we got to the airport, they had some huge video playing of this guy in a dog costume going through customs and security. another time, when we were on the subway, there was a video and it showed this little dog cartoon jumping around. eventually a litte thought bubble goes from him and he thinks, of all things, “i have ants in my pants”. heh, only in japan.

sticker warning you not to get stuck in the subway doors

no!

apparently here, the hand gesture for “no” is putting your arms in front of you in the shape of an “X”. like if you come to as hotel, and they have no rooms, they just do the “x” to you. i dont know why but i find it really funny to see people doing this. sometimes, instead of doing an “X” w/ their arms, they’ll make one using the index finger from each hand. this also means no, or alternatively, that can also mean “i would like the bill” in a restaurant.

peaceful

one other thing i love about japan is that in the midst of a hectic crazy place like tokyo, they’ll have quiet peaceful temples, gardens, and statues. in many ways japan really is the essence of serenity and simplicity. it’s such a crazy combination of the modern and crowded w/ the traditional, simplistic, and calm.

my brother

it’s really damn cool that my brother came out here and is experiencing all this with us. it’s been soooo long since i last hung out w/ him and it’s been so great just kicking back and talking and stuff. plus, the fact that we’re out here in japan is really cool. what better place to hang out? poor guy, i’ve been making him try all thius crazy food that he never would have tried on his own….

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