Lost in Translation

I am currently in my hotel in Kyoto, Japan recovering from a long day of bike riding and stair climbing and while Hitomi is relaxing at the hotel's public bath I decided to post a summary of my first few days in the greater Tokyo area.

Upon arriving in Japan we quickly made our way to the extensive and seemingly efficient train system. I soon realized, although forewarned, that almost everything in Japan is available in vending machines. The train system, as well as the city streets, are littered with them. Pop, coffee, tea, soup, various snacks, and less commonly beer is always available at the push of a button. One hour and two connections later we met her sister at Meguro station. Her sister graciously let us stay at her apartment in Tokyo while she visited her parents in neighbouring Saitama.

Her bachelor apartment was much larger than I expected. Upon entering I quickly explored the space for unique Japanese features. Of course the toilet was of interest. Located in a small room with only a sink it did not disappoint. Seat warmer, temperature and pressure adjustable bum washer and two flush settings, with a easily accessible wall mounted remote.

The toilet of the future, today!

Everything else was essentially the same as I would find back in North America. The apartment did lack an oven, which is common. My favourite feature was the wet room. Separate from the toilet and sink,washing takes place in its own room; a simple room with a shorter, deeper, tub, detachable shower head but where everything can get wet... no curtains, no floor mats, just watery goodness.

Hose it down, it's good as new.

We explored the local area a little but went to bed early.

The next day we headed out to the Ueno zoo and Electric city. On the way we stopped at a bee bowl restaurant where the server was a vending machine at the front. Places like these serve as a quick, efficient means for the Japanese "salaryman" to get midday sustenance. The zoo needs no explanation. Electric city, on the other hand, is where young Otaku (computer nerds that read comics) hang out. It was full of small shops selling any electronic device you could want, interspersed with shops selling comic related goods and scantily clad female action figurines. On some corners were women dressed in french maid outfits advertising different local maid restaurants... the cleaning worlds answer to hooters I suppose. We grabbed some ramen and headed off to meet some of Hitomi's friends, Minako and Yuri, at a mall mimicking the mall in Caesar's Palace, in Odaiba.

Shrine in Ueno

The only pandas left. Poor Ling Ling

Rawr!

Electric City

Minako & Yuri

The next day we visited the Yasukuni Shine in Chiyodaku, attempted to visit the Emperor's palace (closed on Mondays), and saw Chinatown in Yokohama. Even though Vancouver is supposed to have one of the largest China towns, it always seems whenever I visit one in another city, they are far more vibrant. We met Hitomi's friends Yukiko and Kumiko in Ebisu for Korean BBQ. Again, Vancouver's version doesn't really compare.

Yasakuni Shrine

I wanted to ninja my way across the water into the palace grounds but Hitomi wussed out

Chinese Temple

Yukiko and Kumiko. I could just mumble a syllable and end it in -ko for 90% of Hitomi's friends.

The last day was spent seeing the Majijingu Shrine in Harajuku, window shopping around Omotesando Hills and grabbing drinking in Shibuya. While I spotted a few Harajuku girls, the Harajuku white guys were far more interesting.

In search of women, men know no bounds.

Well that's all for now. I have a couple more days here in Kyoto and then I head off to the island of Okinawa in the south. You can see a few more photos from Tokyo at my photobucket account. Sayonara!