Japan Day .5-1 - Arrival, Tsukiji, and Akihabara
Our first day in Japan was technically rather short - we landed at the Haneda airport in Tokyo around 7pm, then took the monorail and train to Tokyo station from which we could walk to our hotel. We dropped off our things and Charlie miraculously got me to then leave the hotel room to get our first real meal in Tokyo - soba and tempura, and boy was it delicious. After dinner we headed back to the hotel room, showered, and passed out.
Just down the street from the market we stopped briefly at the Tsukiji Hongan-Ji, a Buddhist temple. It has a much different architecture from most Buddhist temples in Japan (which there will be plenty of pictures of later), which I thought was interesting. We didn't go inside since there was a service going on, but we walked around the grounds a bit and enjoyed the quiet in the middle of the city.
From the market we walked back towards Tokyo station through Ginza, which houses a plethora of department stores and high-end shops and is one of the major shopping areas in Tokyo. There were lots of people, lots of tall buildings, and lots of money to be spent. It was still early though, so the stores were mostly closed, which was okay by us because it was really all window shopping anyway.
At Tokyo station we picked up our Japan Rail Passes, which allow for unlimited travel on Japan Rail lines for one or two weeks (two in our case), and took the opportunity to make some reservations for our trip to Nikko later that week. Then we got back on the Yamanote line (a train line that circles around Tokyo) and rode a few stops to Akihabara.
Akihabara is a really interesting section of Tokyo. It started as a district where electronics and electronic components were sold, and contains a warren of shops both big and small where you can find any electronic item you ever dreamed of. Case in point: the selection of mechanical keyboards was mind-boggling at a fairly small shop we visited (we had looked this one up ahead of time so we knew where to look). Charlie, I think was in keyboard heaven, but surprisingly the only keyboard purchased was actually for me, and it was a RealForce, not a Type Heaven. I'm pretty stoked to have joined the mechanical keyboard club in such spectacular fashion.
More recently, Akihabara (or Akiba as the locals call it), has become known as a hobby and anime mecca as well. There are tons of shops selling Anime-related items like figurines and comic books, and much to our delight there are a few board game stores there as well! I picked up a few board games, including one that's been on my wishlist a while- "Festival of Thousand Cats" [sic]. I'll have to find the translation for the rules for one game, but the others thankfully included English instructions as well.
The first full day we had started early, as expected thanks to jet lag. We took advantage of waking up naturally at 5am to head to the Tsukiji fish market before the crowds - it's bustling bright and early because of the commercial market on the inside, so it's a great first morning activity. On the way to the market we stopped at a convenience store and picked up some breakfast of yogurt, bread, and fruit jello. Unfortunately, it was a dreary day, and at some point it started raining hard enough that we ducked into another convenience store to buy small umbrellas, which ended up being a fantastic purchase as it rained a ton on this trip.
In the market we explored the stalls, enjoying seeing the fresh wasabi root, fish, fruits, knives, and everything in between. Included in the "in between" were some hilarious cat hats in vending machines, that would have been more tempting if I thought either of our cats would stand for being put into any kind of costume.
Just down the street from the market we stopped briefly at the Tsukiji Hongan-Ji, a Buddhist temple. It has a much different architecture from most Buddhist temples in Japan (which there will be plenty of pictures of later), which I thought was interesting. We didn't go inside since there was a service going on, but we walked around the grounds a bit and enjoyed the quiet in the middle of the city.
From the market we walked back towards Tokyo station through Ginza, which houses a plethora of department stores and high-end shops and is one of the major shopping areas in Tokyo. There were lots of people, lots of tall buildings, and lots of money to be spent. It was still early though, so the stores were mostly closed, which was okay by us because it was really all window shopping anyway.
At Tokyo station we picked up our Japan Rail Passes, which allow for unlimited travel on Japan Rail lines for one or two weeks (two in our case), and took the opportunity to make some reservations for our trip to Nikko later that week. Then we got back on the Yamanote line (a train line that circles around Tokyo) and rode a few stops to Akihabara.
Akihabara is a really interesting section of Tokyo. It started as a district where electronics and electronic components were sold, and contains a warren of shops both big and small where you can find any electronic item you ever dreamed of. Case in point: the selection of mechanical keyboards was mind-boggling at a fairly small shop we visited (we had looked this one up ahead of time so we knew where to look). Charlie, I think was in keyboard heaven, but surprisingly the only keyboard purchased was actually for me, and it was a RealForce, not a Type Heaven. I'm pretty stoked to have joined the mechanical keyboard club in such spectacular fashion.
More recently, Akihabara (or Akiba as the locals call it), has become known as a hobby and anime mecca as well. There are tons of shops selling Anime-related items like figurines and comic books, and much to our delight there are a few board game stores there as well! I picked up a few board games, including one that's been on my wishlist a while- "Festival of Thousand Cats" [sic]. I'll have to find the translation for the rules for one game, but the others thankfully included English instructions as well.
After lunch in Akihabara, plus some more wandering around and visiting stores, we headed back to the hotel, took a much-needed nap, and tried out one of our board games before dinner and bed. Jet lag was still pretty strong, so it was an early night.
Comments
Post a Comment