My trackchasing trip to Belgium and The Netherlands had ended. I had flown into Frankfurt, Germany to begin that trip. Now, I wanted to stay “out here” meaning somewhere in the world for another few days. Where could I go? Where could I go on 24 hours’ notice?
What is your favorite country to visit? Of all the countries that you have ever visited, which is your favorite? I get that question frequently. I have traveled to nearly 100 countries and seen auto racing in 86. Despite being asked that question so often I don’t exactly have a perfect answer. I’m not trying to be politically correct when I say that. I have truly enjoyed every country I have ever visited. However, I do have my favorites.
If push came to shove. Yes, if push came to shove, I might say that Japan is my favorite country that I have visited. I guess the places that have created the longest-lasting memories have to be placed at or near the top of my “most favorites list, right? But why Japan now…and on the spur of the moment? Why Japan? Why Japan now? Following my trackchasing trip that had me flying into Germany and seeing racing in Belgium and the Netherlands, I decided to stay “out here” for a few more days. In my world when you’re in Germany “out here” can be just about anywhere in the world. Here’s how I decided on Japan for the back half of this trip.
When I was in Frankfurt, I looked at some airline schedules which showed all of the nonstop flights leaving Frankfurt for points all over the world. Frankfurt is a huge airport much like Chicago or Atlanta. You can fly just about anywhere from Frankfurt. I looked at all of my potential destinations. Except for the smaller cities that I had never heard of I had already been to virtually every other city in my past travels. I could pretty much go anywhere I wanted from Frankford. That’s what made me choose an old favorite in Tokyo.
What was my one and only travel strategy? I wasn’t exactly sure what the entry requirements were going to be for Japan. They’ve had a lot of Covid restrictions. I just bought an airline ticket from Frankford to Tokyo and decided I would “figure it out” when the time came. You should know that one of my ongoing travel strategies revolves around just four words. “I’ll figure it out”. Some people will stress over all of the advanced planning and advanced requirements of wherever they might be going. I don’t do that. I just rely on my strategy of “I’ll figure it out”.
Photos! Video! A behind-the-scenes look at Tokyo. Of course, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t provide you with both a photo album and a YouTube video from this trip. The photos are all-inclusive and the video is funny. I think that’s a good combination!
This would not be my first Japanese rodeo. This would not be my first visit to Japan, but my fifth or sixth. Three of those previous visits stick out in my mind. I’ll tell you why.
An unusual reason for my first trip to Japan. My first ever trip was with our son J.J. We flew to Japan for just one reason. United Airlines had just created an over-the-top first-class flying experience. J.J. and I wanted to check it out. We looked at where United flew all around the world. Our most economical choice to experience United’s first-class offering was Japan. That was a fun trip. Until Carol and I went to India, Japan was probably the biggest cultural change I had seen in my travels. There was more than one way to get to Japan! I don’t always go to Japan with a lot of advance notice. Carol and I had a trackchasing trip planned for Europe. We were all set to go. Everything on the other end had been organized and arranged. The year was 2010.
The day before we were to leave for Western Europe the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in Iceland. What would a volcano in Iceland have to do with a trip to Western Europe? How would a volcano in Iceland get us to Japan? The answer? Lots!
The debris from that explosive force canceled all flights operating between the United States and Europe. Most people would have decided to cancel Europe and try again some other time. As you might have discovered by now as regards travel, I am not “most people”. I quickly began to research other options so we could still go to Europe. I discovered that we could get to Europe from the United States by going around the other side of the world. Perfect solution! We hopped on a flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo and overnighted there. Then we grabbed the flight over to Europe the next day. I can still remember Carol and me ordering Japanese street food on our expected visit to Japan. The Diamond Princess…does that ring a bell? Our next most memorable trip to Japan occurred in 2019. We scheduled a cruise on the Diamond Princess cruise ship sailing out of Osaka, Japan. We had a wonderful time visiting, Japan and South Korea on that trip.
Does the “Diamond Princess” ring a bell? Just six months after we sailed on the Diamond Princess the ship became worldwide news. Covid was just hitting and the Diamond Princess was the first cruise ship to suffer from the outbreak. More than 700 people out of 3,700 passengers and crew contracted Covid. At least fourteen people died. Depending upon circumstances passengers were not allowed to leave the ship for two to six weeks after they boarded. I remember at the time telling Carol that I thought it would be wonderful to be on any ship in these circumstances. Cruisers who only paid for two weeks of accommodation were getting six or eight weeks of the “cruise experience”. Carol didn’t share that point of view. She oftentimes has a much more shall I say “conventional” view of world situations than I do. I would have to say that in my travel experiences, these three memories have stuck with me for a long time. Not all of my travel encounters do. I guess that makes Japan special. Now I was returning to Japan again on the spur of the moment. Now it was time to go from Frankfurt to Tokyo. Now I was beginning this part of my trek to Tokyo from Frankfurt, Germany. To begin the trip, I had flown overnight from Los Angeles to Frankfurt. I spent three nights running around Western Europe and seeing races in Belgium and The Netherlands. Frankfurt, Germany was nine hours ahead of my time zone in Los Angeles, California. After just three overnights on the ground in Western Europe, I hadn’t yet gotten used to the nine-hour time zone change from California. What time is it? Does it matter? Tokyo, Japan is another eight hours ahead of Frankfurt. This meant that Tokyo would be 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles. I pretty much gave up trying to think about what time zone I was in. I just looked out the window to see if it was daylight or dark and tried to act like everyone else around me. The flight from Los Angeles to Frankfurt had been nearly 12 hours long. The flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo was going to be another 13 hours of flying. Luckily, I don’t mind flying one bit. I enjoy it. If you want to get from point A to point B and point B is a long way from point A then you’re probably going to have to hop on an airplane. I have always enjoyed visiting point A but when I tired of that, I was more than willing to head toward point B.
Which is better…four or zero? Once in a while, someone will ask me if spending four days in Western Europe or four days in Japan is worth it. My stock answer is this. Spending four days in Europe or four days in Japan is better than spending no days in those places, right? Do you feel me?
Are you happy you don’t need to wear a Covid mask anymore? For folks who live in the United States, the Covid pandemic is over. Very few people in the United States wear a mask, wash their hands for 20 seconds or take any of the other Covid measures that were required and often necessary during the height of the pandemic. Japan acts as if the height of the pandemic is right now not several months ago. Unfortunately, everyone in Japan as I would come to find out still wears a mask. I had to wear a mask on the 13-hour flight from Germany to Japan. Japan has just “opened up” to foreign tourists after being shut down for that kind of activity for well over a year. Of course, everyone’s definition of “opened up” is a little bit different. No travel visa required…reminded me of our trip to India. I had read that Japan was no longer requiring travel visas. That was helpful. Often a travel visa can take weeks or even longer to get. You might Google the word “India” on my website at www.randylewis.org to find out what my biggest ever problem was with getting foreign country travel visas.
My SOS? Really? I didn’t need no danged My SOS app! I had also seen that Japan required the use of an app called “My SOS”. Travelers were supposed to download this app and complete all of the questions regarding their Covid history and vaccinations and the like in advance of arriving in Japan. I didn’t have time to do that. I would just figure out that part of it when the time came. Carol says I am an ‘opportunist’. So? I would be flying in economy class on All Nippon Airlines from Frankfurt to Tokyo. I had an aisle seat in coach with all of the legroom that my 6‘3” frame would require. There was a man seated in the middle of our three-seat row. In how many other life situations do you sit arm to arm touching for 13 hours straight? I’m going to guess flying on a long-distance airplane ride is the only time anyone would do that. That option did not seem all that attractive to me. How could I change my circumstance? I looked around. There was an open aisle seat across from me. I pointed out this opportunity to the fellow sitting next to me in the middle seat. He understood and quickly moved over, creating an open space next to me.
As a rule, I don’t like to try to influence anyone else’s decisions or lifestyle…although Carol says I do. I have one exception to my rule. When someone else’s lifestyle impacts mine, I feel that action needs to be taken. I was happy to get this fellow an aisle seat. I was happy for him but happier for me. I now had an open middle seat next to mine for the next 13 hours. I love the Japanese. I absolutely love the Japanese people. They are quiet and polite. They will go out of their way to help you. Then after they have taken time out of their lives to make sure your life is better, they will bow and express their thanks to YOU for letting THEM help YOU!
Nobody asked but maybe you will find my answer of interest. No one asked me this question but I’m going to tell you my answer anyway. I would certainly hope that no one thinks this is a sexist comment. Remember, this comment is coming from a man. I believe the most beautiful women in the world reside in Japan and Lithuania. In the United States, I believe the most beautiful women in the country live in Southern California, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and North Dakota. I’ll bet you didn’t see that coming! You don’t have the “My SOS” app? When we landed in Tokyo, we were met by a barrage, and I do mean a barrage of Japanese people directing everyone to head down this hall or that hall based upon whether or not they were using the “My SOS” app. To overcome the language barrier, these Japanese airport employees held up laminated cards in both Japanese and English. This allowed travelers to better understand which direction they needed to head. I am not exaggerating when I tell you this. Often there was one airport employee with a laminated card directing me down the hallway and just 10-15 feet later another Japanese airline employee was telling me to continue down a 100-yard-long hallway as if I had the option to make a turn, which I didn’t. From the time I got off the plane until I was outside of border control, I easily passed more than 200 people giving me directions to keep going. No app? At least I had an internet connection with my phone. Although I didn’t have the required My SOS app, I did have an Internet connection on my phone. I also had my vaccination card showing that I had four Covid inoculations. Some very helpful young women were able to make sure that I could fill in their questionnaire electronically on my phone. This took about 15 minutes. I can’t imagine what I would’ve done had I not had a phone and had I not had an Internet connection using my AT&T International Day Pass. I’m sure they had provisions for the technology dinosaurs that came their way but I didn’t need those today. I’m not a dinosaur yet. When I had successfully completed their Covid entry requirements, they gave me a few papers. I simply flashed those documents as I passed another 50-75 employees who were all bowing to me, welcoming me to Japan, and telling me to keep moving on down the line.
In the past few years clearing border control has been a fast and easy process. That was not the case today in Tokyo. By the time I had stopped to fill in the Covid information the rest of the passengers on my plane had already queued up at border control. It took me another 30 minutes or more to clear this particular travel hurdle. I have UCLA season basketball tickets. Who cares? I have season tickets for UCLA basketball. I know. You’re asking what in the world does that statement have to do with your Japan travel log? Permit me to explain. Carol and I have season tickets to UCLA basketball that give us seats to all of their twenty or so home games. I get an email/text message telling me 24 hours in advance of the game to select my seats from those available to fans with the kind of ticket package that I have. I was going to be missing UCLA’s home opener because of this trip against perennial power Sacramento State. I kid because I care! I couldn’t use the tickets but told our son J.J. that if he had any of his UCLA alumni friends who wanted to go to the game, they could have my tickets at no charge. I never want to make money from my friends. When I got off the plane, I noticed that J.J. had sent a text. He had a friend and his son who wanted to use my tickets. Great!
Don’t even try the math on this one…just trust me. Tokyo was seven hours behind Los Angeles in time, but with Tokyo being tomorrow and Los Angeles being yesterday (figure that one out), the game J.J. was talking about was starting in about three hours. Once again, I was more than fortunate to have a fully working cell phone. I could see this message in a timely fashion, download the tickets and forward them to J.J. who would send the electronic tickets to his friend. This all worked out in a matter of a minute or two and everybody had the tickets they needed to enjoy the game. I had officially made it to Japan! By the way, I had flown into Haneda (HND) airport also known as the Tokyo International Airport. Tokyo’s other larger airport is Narita (NRT). Think of this as New York’s JFK airport compared to their smaller LaGuardia LGA) airport or Chicago’s O’Hare (ORD) and Midway (MDW). Did you know that I have SEVEN commercial airports within an hour or so of where I live? I have used each of them many times. I doubt most people reading this could name those airports. Heck, I doubt most people living in SoCal could name them! Here you go.
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) John Wayne Airport (SNA) Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) Long Beach Airport (LGB) Ontario International Airport (ONT) San Diego International Airport (SAN) Tijuana International Airport (TIJ) When I cleared border control at Haneda, it was only about 10 a.m. local time. I knew that my hotel probably wasn’t gonna let me check in until 3 p.m. so I had some time to kill. Real nice folks, these folks in Japan. This was when I would begin to remember how nice, friendly and helpful the Japanese people can be. In the space of the next hour or so I encountered Japanese hospitality at every turn.
In Japan, vending machines selling drinks and snacks are everywhere and I do mean everywhere. The vending machine in the HND airport that I noticed was right next to the restrooms. I was analyzing the vending machine and how to use it because most of the directions were in Japanese. At just that moment a Japanese woman came out of the restroom. She saw that I might need help and stopped to explain things. Soon I was enjoying an iced cold Coca-Cola Zero. I don’t have no danged bucket list. I don’t have a bucket list of items that I want to see and do. If I did have such a bucket list, I probably would have knocked off just about everything that would’ve been on my list by now.
However, there is one thing that if I had a bucket list, this would be on it and that is sumo wrestling. Yes! Sumo wrestling. I would love to see Sumo wrestling live in a large Japanese arena. Each time that I have visited Japan, I’ve tried to check this out and each time it wasn’t “the season” for sumo wrestling. Unfortunately, that would be the case again on this trip. Tourist information? Yep. That store had my name on it. As I was enjoying my Coke Zero and a donut, I spotted a small tourist information store at the airport. Since I had the time, I stopped in there to see what recommendations they might be able to give me for touring and sightseeing on my short four-day trip. I wanted to see some kind of sporting event. Years ago, I saw a Japanese major-league baseball game in Nagoya. That has to be one of my top 10 Trackchasing Tourist Activities of all time. Today I inquired about potential basketball and baseball games. There wasn’t anything happening. How about some wrestlin’? The young Japanese woman trying to help me could not have been more helpful. She searched and searched and came up with a “wrestling” event happening on Thursday next door to the Tokyo Dome. This wasn’t sumo wrestling but it was wrestling and it was a sporting event and this was Japan so I told her we needed to go for it.
I am a very trusting person once the person I’m dealing with earns that trust. For the next 45 minutes, she used her computer and my cell phone to get me a ticket to the event. You might think it would go faster than that, but it didn’t. We had to create an account for me on the website that was totally in Japanese. At one point in the effort, the young woman had to change the keyboard on my iPhone to Japanese to make things go faster! That’s intense. She created a ticketing account with my username and password. Then when it came time to pay, she used my credit card and three-digit security code. That’s right. I gave all of this information to the young woman so she could enter it into the Japanese language website. Some people wouldn’t do what I had just done in a million years. I would suggest that, with that approach, those people might not be going to the wrestling event that I will be attending in a couple of days. They might just as easily suggest they wouldn’t care if they saw the wrestling or not…they are not giving up their credit card info to a complete stranger. I would then suggest to them they do that all the time when they dine at a restaurant. During my business career, I did quite a bit of interviewing of new job applicants. I felt that I could be a very good judge of character after meeting someone for a very short time.
Criminals never apologize…do they? The tour office woman kept apologizing to me for taking so long all the while I was thinking I was taking 45 minutes of her time which was limiting the number of guests that she could serve. She kept telling me that she was not going to remember my account password or my credit card’s three-digit security code. What kind of criminal would be worried about that? I told her I trusted her implicitly even though we had only met a few minutes ago. I am not nearly as conservative in my personal behavior, and I am not talking about politics, as just about everyone I meet. I look at the person I’m dealing with and make an executive judgment as to whether or not they can be trusted and if so, what kind of information they can be trusted with. I have been scammed. But it’s entirely possible this was just God speaking to me. Have I always been successful with this approach? I can only tell you this. I am 73 years old and I have never been scammed or cheated, in any regard with the exception of that guy, who looked like me, and sold me a ticket to the NCAA final four game in Atlanta a few years back… and that ticket was counterfeit.
I paid $450 for that ticket. Please don’t worry about me. Earlier that afternoon I had made $500 buying and selling tickets to the game. I just felt it was God’s way of telling me that $450 was just a little bit too much profit to make on these transactions and $50 might be a better number. I apologize for just one thing. I do look at the world with rose-colored glasses. This does frustrate some folks that I know who seem to spend much of their time imagining what could go wrong when those things rarely go wrong. Now I had a ticket to a major sporting event in Japan. Why did I classify it as a major event? I chose a mid-price ticket for $50 U.S. I figured they at least had to have some level of professionalism with prices in that range. Not sumo…but maybe WWF? I was not going to be seeing sumo wrestling. The woman at the tourist information center couldn’t quite think of the word but when I said “WWF” she said, “That’s it!”. Was I going to see the WWF equivalent in Japan? I had no idea. That’s why I had to show up to the events to see what was what.
Airport bus to downtown…where’s the hotel? Next up, I had to figure out a way to get from the Haneda airport into downtown Tokyo where I had a hotel reservation at the Tokyu (not Tokyo) Stay Shinjuku in the famous Shinjuku area. I was aided with the decision-making required here by reading one of my past Trackchaser Reports from Japan. Carol and I had taken the “Limousine bus” from the airport into downtown at a very reasonable price on a previous visit.
The limousine bus! Just across from the tourist information center was a bus/train ticket-selling center. I walked over there and soon had a ticket on the limousine bus, which is a modern greyhound style bus, for the princely sum of ¥1300 or about $6.50 US. Right now, one US dollar will buy you about ¥147. The formula I will use to try to convert Japanese prices into United States currency prices is simple. I just drop the last two digits of the Japanese price. I hope I can handle that financial calculation in the heat of a negotiating battle. Is Tokyo really that expensive? Tokyo is reported to be one of the most expensive cities in the world. It rivals and oftentimes beats places like London and New York. I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t get on a modern high-quality bus and ride for 30-40 minutes for just $6.50 U.S. into London or New York. I might also add that just about everyone I talk to is complaining about inflation. Remember, I’m the guy with the rose-colored glasses. Inflation has not affected me in the least. My social security checks are increasing fast. California is sending me a “middle-class” tax rebate check. My I Bonds are paying nearly 10% in interest. I know that my personal inflation rate is just 2.9%. I have nothing to complain about and don’t. Google Maps rocks. Today the bus driver would drop me off at the famous Shinjuku train station. This train station is the busiest of its kind in the world. I would use Google maps to walk to my hotel which was nearby.
No! More laminated cards? When I boarded the bus and found a comfortable seat, I was somewhat amused to see that just before we took off one of the Japanese employees boarded the bus. She had a laminated card, reminding everyone to put on their seatbelt and wear their mask. Then, just as quickly as she had appeared, she left the bus. I would like to be the laminated card salesman in Japan! Using Google maps from my iPhone I found that my hotel was just a 12-minute walk from where I had departed the bus. That was convenient. It was now 2 o’clock in the afternoon and 9 o’clock in the evening at home. I called Carol. Definitely different cultural experiences today for the two of us. I just had a sense that when Carol answered the phone at 9 p.m. when her day was winding down, it was hard for each of us to understand the other’s experiences. I had just done what I have explained to you here in Japan. It was 2 p.m. Tokyo was packed with people and cars coming and going. Our life situations at that point could not have been much different. I assured Carol I was safe and having a good time but missing her all the while. Maybe this will explain why I’m not concerned about inflation. I would soon be checking into my hotel for the sixth night of this trip. So far, my hotel expenses have been minimal. Here’s why. On the first night of the trip, I flew overnight on an airplane from Los Angeles to Frankfurt. No hotel expense. For the next three nights, I stayed in modern, clean, and safe but basic accommodations spending just $225 in total. The fifth night of my trip had me flying overnight from Frankford to Tokyo. No hotel expense there. That meant for the first five nights of my trip I had spent only $225. That’s less than 50 bucks a night for a vacation in Europe. You’re not gonna get by any less expensively than that for five nights in these places.
Shinjuku! The heart of the action in Tokyo. In Tokyo, I was staying at a place called Tokyu Stay Shinjuku. This hotel was going to be at the heart of the action. The nightlife in Shinjuku is worth the price of admission, and there is no price of admission.
Japanese hotels are known for being small and expensive. As I have traveled, I have picked up several travel tips. I learned that if you reserve a two-bed room it might be a little bit more expensive, but the room will be much larger. That’s what I did at the Tokyu Stay hotel.
For a price of only about $150 a night, my hotel room was large by Japanese standards. It came with a microwave and a refrigerator and a safe and believe it or not a washer and dryer! Plus, the location was premier. I thought the value of this hotel was outstanding. The infamous one-hour nap. I was now checked in at 3 o’clock. I wanted to wait until it got dark so I could see the nightlife of Shinjuku and grab some dinner somewhere. I decided to take a one-hour nap. That was a death-knell decision on the one hand and maybe a good idea on the other.
When my alarm sounded from the one-hour nap, I added an extra 30 minutes. Then when that alarm went off, I just kept sleeping and didn’t wake up until 4 a.m. ala Bill Murray in the “Lost in Translation” 2003 movie.
Wednesday, November 9, 2022. The hungries came a calling. At 4 o’clock in the morning, without having had any dinner, I had a case of the hungries. I put on just enough clothes to be presentable and asked the desk clerk where the nearest convenience store was.
Convenience stores are all over Tokyo. They go by the brand names of FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, and Lawson. There was a FamilyMart less than 100 meters from the front door of the hotel.
If you could buy just eleven food and drink items, what would you buy? I scrambled over there and bought some orange juice, Coke zero, a ham and egg sandwich, and a selection of pastries. When you’re by yourself, you can do just about anything you want without judgment from others! Riding the Tokyo subway is the only way to go. Today was gonna be my first full day of touring in Tokyo. Despite having been here a few times previously it always takes a while to kind of get back into the routine of riding the subway and paying for things in Japanese yen and the like. The Shinsuku-sanchome subway stop, was less than 100 meters from my hotel. That made it easy. However, getting up to speed on buying a subway ticket was a little more challenging. The subway is cheap. One ride is just a bit more than a dollar. You ride as much as you want in 24 hours for about seven bucks U.S.
People or machines…and subway tickets? The easy way out in terms of riding the subway was to try to buy a ticket from a real person in a ticket booth. However, when I attempted that the fellow asked me for my passport. For safekeeping, I had left my passport back in the hotel safe. The folks I was working with didn’t speak much English. They could have easily suggested I simply go to one of the ticket machines and pay with cash or use a credit card. They didn’t do that. I discovered that option on my own. As expected, I didn’t need a passport to buy a ticket from the machine! Little English, no Americans, and no women Japanese drivers. All during the trip, I would encounter very little English speaking capabilities from the Japanese. I saw and heard almost no Americans during the visit. Another item was noticeable to me as well. I would say that women drivers made up less than 1% of the people I saw driving cars. That seemed a bit strange. Tokyo…37 million…no homeless. While speaking of the things I didn’t see I will add this. During my entire trip, I didn’t see a single beggar. I didn’t see a single homeless person. Folks…Tokyo is the largest city in the world! They have more than 37 million people. If they can solve the homeless problem, why can’t we? I suggest we emulate whatever Japan is doing.
The hospitality and helpfulness of the Japanese dwarf every other country I have visited. While I was struggling to get the subway ticket machine to accept one of my credit cards a 40-year-old Japanese businessman came up and spoke to me in his language. He could sense I was having some trouble. To make things go just a little bit smoother for everyone, he ended up without saying anything to me in English, paying for my subway ticket at about ¥160 or a little bit more than a dollar. Then with a wave of his hand and a smile he wished me well and was gone. From there I watched other people clear the subway entrance gates, then I mimicked their actions and hopped on my train. My stop at Shinjuku-sanchome was #M9. I needed to ride the train up about eight stops to M17 today. This would get me as close as I could get to where the hop-on hop-off type bus began adjacent to the Mitsubishi building.
Sky Hop! I like the option of using a hop on hop off bus. These double-decker open-air buses drive around the city, giving you an overview of what there is to see. Then the next day you can go back to those spots that you found particularly interesting and spend more time. Of course, if you want you can hop on and hop off the bus whenever you like. I don’t do that too often. It seems like it takes a long time to catch the bus again once you jump off to look at something.
A one-day pass for the Sky Hop brand hop-on hop-off bus was ¥2800. For ¥4000 I could get two days of touring. I chose the two-day option just in case I didn’t have enough time to see everything today. Red, green and blue. There are three loops that the buses travel on. They are identified by colors as red, blue, and green. Each of the loops takes you through a different part of the city. Today I ended up riding all three of those loops completely. That took me, including one-hour breaks between loops about seven hours. It was all very relaxing. I began with the red route. When that was finished, I had about an hour before I would hop on the green route. The main intersection of the three color-coded routes was mainly a business center neighborhood. There weren’t a lot of restaurants. With not too much time available, I ended up going into the Mitsubishi building. Downstairs where there were a few restaurants and also a 7-Eleven convenience store. To save time I bought some food there, popped it in the microwave, and was back in time to go on the green route.
Hey Jason…nice meeting you. When I was buying my bus ticket today, the ticket seller was an older woman who didn’t speak a lot of English. I was lucky a fellow tourist by the name of Jason, a Canadian but originally from Korea, was there to offer advice. We struck up a conversation in English, obviously, and enjoyed each other’s company as we shared our touring plans for Tokyo.
The third and final touring loop for me would be the blue loop. Wouldn’t you know it? I ran into Jason again as we each were boarding our separate buses. He gave me some tips on touring tomorrow, which might include a rickshaw ride. He was moving from London, Ontario Canada back to Korea. I showed him my website. He was able to read it in Korean on his cellphone! We truly do live in a small world and it’s getting smaller all the time.
The blue loop took us past Tokyo Harbor. Much of this last ride was in the dark when the lights of the city began to come on. Tokyo Harbor was a beautiful sight at this time of day. The final portion of the blue loop took us through the Ginza District. This is where Carol and I had stayed for several days just three years ago. The Ginza area is a much more upscale shopping district. I’m staying in Shinjuku, which definitely has more of an “edge” to it. Think New Orleans French Quarter. Japan is over the top with hospitality. I had a bit of trouble getting my subway ticket this morning. Then I got some bad directions tonight for which subway entrance to use. While I was staring at the route map trying to figure things out two different Japanese people offered their help. First, a Japanese woman tried to help but she didn’t speak any English. Then a Japanese businessman in a suit who spoke a little English came along. He soon confirmed I was in the wrong station! He had me walk with him OUT of the WRONG station a short distance to the CORRECT location. All along the walk, he asked me questions about why I had come to Japan and what I was seeing. I am amazed and impressed at the hospitality of the Japanese. It definitely is above and beyond and something I have never experienced to this degree anywhere.
Once I found the right subway entrance, it was relatively easy to buy my ticket and board the right train back toward my hotel. The subways were busy, but I wouldn’t call them overcrowded. It had been a long touring day. Don’t miss the pictures! It was now nearing 7 o’clock in the evening. I was happy I brought along a backup battery charger. My iPhone never would’ve lasted all day without it.
Time for dinner in a Shinjuku restaurant. I capped off my evening by walking outside my hotel, to look at a very wide variety of restaurants that were all doing good business. The best thing about these restaurants is they have large pictorial placards outside their entrances so consumers like me, can see what I might be getting into for dinner.
I found a place that was going to be just right. Once inside, I dined on shrimp in a spicy sweet sauce, dim sum pork dumplings, a Chinese beer and for dessert some sesame dumplings. It was all very good and came in at about ¥2700 or a little bit less than $20 U.S. I had walked about 5 miles today and been out in the open air riding on the top of the tour bus in the wind. Nighttime temperatures were a bit chilly at about 60 degrees. I think I might’ve been the only guy in Tokyo wearing shorts today. It’s going to be warmer tomorrow. I’ll be out there in short pants one more time.
The sights weren’t great…but the people were. In a summary of the day, I would say that I wasn’t all that impressed with the sights along the hop on hop off bus trail. I saw a lot of skyscrapers, but I didn’t see all that much that I needed to see again. The Tokyo Tower was the most impressive. The highlight of the day had to be the people I met. I say that a lot because it’s true. I had three separate Japanese strangers go out of their way to help me out, and in one case even buy my subway ticket. I met a fellow tourist who was a native of Korea and had most recently lived in Canada. We shared our tourist camaraderie. The women who sold the tickets and supervised hop on hop off bus were very nice and thoughtful as well. I just met a lot of nice people today. I guess that’s the main reason I am a big fan of Japan.
Thursday, November 10, 2000. Randy, what’s your “rush”? There is no doubt about it. The “rush” for me with these trips is seeing and doing things that I’ve never done before. I’m not much for laying on the beach. I want to be on the go. I’m trying to see and experience everything that I possibly can in the amount of time that I have during these visits.
I would say that 99.9% of the Japanese people that I see walking the streets, riding the subway, or indoors at any point are wearing facial masks from the Covid pandemic. I saw virtually no Americans strolling the streets of Tokyo. Virtually none. I know I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. I have never been in any country where every person that I have had any contact with is more helpful, friendly, accommodating, and respectful than in Japan. No other country comes anywhere close.
I needed an all-day subway pass. This morning I was having a little trouble with the subway machine. I wanted to buy an all-day pass. I ended up getting one of the subway employees to help out. I paid ¥900 to be able to ride on a wide selection of public transportation. There were some cheaper options, but I didn’t know what they included. For the princely price of about seven bucks being able to ride everything, all day was a huge bargain. I don’t have a bucket list. I have never had a bucket list of things that I want to see and do. However, if I did have such a list, it would definitely include being able to ride in a rickshaw. Doing that today in Japan would be just perfect.
It was finally time, for the first time in my life, to ride in a rickshaw! Yes, that was the plan today. After riding on a couple of different subway lines, I arrived in Asakusa section of Tokyo. There I made arrangements for my first-ever rickshaw ride.
I wasn’t doing this so much for the “ride” aspect of being in a rickshaw. I just wanted to get pictures of me riding in a rickshaw! Five years from now I will remember the pictures much more than the ride.
That being the case I didn’t need to take a very long ride. Rickshaw pricing is based upon the number of people in the rickshaw, the maximum number being three, as well as the length of the ride in time. As a single, I chose a simple 10-minute ride for ¥3000 or about 20 bucks. That would fit the bill perfectly for me. I don’t look like I’m from around here. My appearance sort of sticks out in a place like Japan. First, I am about a head taller than a normal Japanese person. Secondly, everyone was wearing a mask. I didn’t wear a mask outdoors at all. Finally, I was wearing short pants. I could walk around Tokyo and ride the subway all day and never see another person wearing shorts.
The Asakusa Temple. When my rickshaw ride was finished, I found myself right next door to the Asakusa Temple. I’m not much of a “temple person”. I’ve been to my share of temples all over the world. I sort of subscribe to the theory that once you’ve seen one temple, you’ve seen them all. I was looking forward to my next stop on today’s tour. My next stop was going to be to the Yodobashi Camera store. I got this idea from my new Canadian/Korean friend, Jason yesterday. This isn’t just a camera store. I didn’t need a camera. Google Maps was helpful and almost got me arrested. I had discovered that I could use Google maps to navigate the Tokyo public transportation system very well. Maybe I knew that before but I rediscovered it in the midst of this trip. Google Maps made things quite a bit easier. When you go into these big metro stations there can sometimes be 10 or 20 entrances and exits. It’s not always easy to get things right the first time. Google Maps was recommending that part of my travel to the electronics store be on the JR train line. Apparently, Google Maps didn’t realize that my ¥900 purchase of an all-day pass, didn’t include trains. I discovered this when I put my subway card in the machine it came out but the gates didn’t open for me. I just as quickly discovered that with a slight nudge of the small plastic gates with my knee, I was allowed to pass. I wasn’t trying to cheat anyone. It’s just that I was on a mission. I didn’t have time to talk to people about what my all-day pass included and what it didn’t include.
Walk, walk, and walk some more. You can definitely do a lot of walking when you are using the subway. Getting into and out of the station requires a lot of walking and stairs. Changing from one train line to another inside the station requires a lot of walking. I didn’t have any problem whatsoever walking at least 4 miles each and every day that I was in Tokyo.
Yodobashi Camera…well worth the stop. I was super impressed with the Yodobashi store. It had a little bit of everything from cell phones and computers to washers and dryers and microwave ovens and much much more. I just wish that I hadn’t been so short on time. I could have stayed there for hours.
I texted our son J.J., who is the tech guru of the family, and asked a simple question. I said, “I’m in this huge electronics store in Japan. I want to buy something but I don’t know what to buy”. It just turned out that he was on the East Coast. It was past midnight and he was already asleep. I was on my own. I remember going to Fry’s Electronics stores which were pretty big in southern California a few years ago. I didn’t know what about 50% of their items were even used for! Visiting the Yodobashi store gave me the same feeling. Nevertheless, I walked around and did select a couple of items. Out with the old; in with the new. My leather “computer case” has been showing a little bit of wear. Carol’s been telling me that it’s worn out. I didn’t really agree. I thought that bag had another two or three years of life in it. I’ve already had it for the better part of 10 years.
Seizing on the Yodobashi opportunity I was able to buy a replacement computer bag today. That bag will house my iPad, MacBook Pro, Bose headset, and lots of smaller items like a passport, AirPods, medical insurance cards, and a whole bunch more miscellaneous stuff. I also bought one of those expanding bags that can be compressed into the size of a hardback book but expands to hold 25 basketballs if needed. That was a super good value and only about $10 U.S. WWF Wrestling was calling! Tonight, I had a major tourist activity on my agenda. I was going to see some pro wrestling. No, not sumo wrestling but more like WWF wrestling. Remember, I bought a ticket to this event when I arrived at the airport to begin this trip. I started thinking that the wrestling folks might not want me carrying a big shopping bag into the arena venue. I decided I had just enough time to run back to my hotel, drop everything off and then grab the subway over to the Tokyo Dome area.
Damn. My error. I did just that. However, when I made that extra stop, I also made a mistake. I left my ticket to the wrestling event in the hotel room when I was making the transition. That was a problem. I didn’t know about this problem at the time.
I rode the subway up to the Tokyo Dome, which is home to the Tokyo Giants. They are one of the top teams in the Japanese major leagues. If I had a bucket list seeing the Tokyo Giants play in the Tokyo Dome would definitely be on it. I have had a chance to see a Japanese major-league baseball game in Nagoya. That game was an all-time Trackchasing Tourist Attraction for me. I stopped in the Tokyo Giants gift shop, hoping to pick up a souvenir shirt of some sort. However, the jerseys were either way too expensive or the more affordable items weren’t what I was looking for. Shut out (see what I did there?) with the Tokyo Giants. The wrestling would take place in Korakuen Hall. This famous hall opened in 1962 and has a capacity of 2,000. It’s located inside Tokyo Dome City. The hall hosted boxing events at the 1964 Olympics. It was heavily damaged by an earthquake in 2011. It was time for some convincing now. I had searched in each one of my six pockets about four times each and didn’t have my ticket. At the time I didn’t know for sure if the ticket was back in the hotel room or if I lost it somewhere along the line.
The best thing I could do at this stage was to admit my ignorance and confess my sins and see what the wrestling promoters would do for me. They were really nice about it. They issued me a new ticket at no charge. I told you these Japanese folks will go out of their way to help you at every turn. I like sports. I am a huge sports fan. I have played a lot of sports. If you ever get the chance and you’re interested in sports, you might want to take a look at the Sports Spectating Résumé page on my website at www.randylewis.org. I think you might be impressed with all the places where I have seen some kind of sporting competition in the United States, and all around the world.
I paid ¥7000 or about $50 for my ticket. This was the mid-priced option. When I went inside the arena, I noticed one side of the arena had comfortable, padded, theater-style seats. Those must’ve been the ¥10,000 seats. What did I get for ¥7000? I was seated on a hard wooden retractable bleacher-type seat with no seat back. I haven’t sat in a situation like that for three hours in a long time. It reminded me that I don’t like that kind of seating all that much!
Please try to keep it down! I might have seen one other American in the entire arena tonight. Before the matches began one of the organizers came over to me and showed me a sign on his iPhone. I guess this was meant for me as an American since I might not have been able to read the Japanese directions on this topic. His iPhone said, “Cheering is prohibited”. I had to read that twice. It would’ve made more sense to me if the message said cheering is encouraged but this message said cheering is prohibited! I haven’t seen pro wrestling like this since I went to a WWF match in Minneapolis about 10 years ago. I grew up watching guys like Dick the Bruiser and Gorgeous George perform every Tuesday night in an outdoor ring at our local TV station (WEEK – Channel 43) in East Peoria, Illinois. That was fun at the time. This kind of professional wrestling is for people who like to believe stuff that they know isn’t true. This is not just a preference for pro wrestling fans!
I was impressed by the acrobatics of it all. These are big guys. Sometimes they were doing flips 10 feet into the air. The house rules were “no video” but I snuck in a few because I knew you wanted to see that kind of thing. With that I will simply say, please don’t miss the photos and the videos from my rickshaw riding to my wrestling experience. I think you’ll like it. In just a couple of days, I’ve gotten very comfortable riding on the Tokyo metro. It’s relatively easy for me to come and go and if I do get stuck, I’m not afraid to ask people for directions. Tomorrow, I get to sleep in because my flight back to the United States from Narita airport doesn’t leave until 5:55 p.m. local time. Friday, November 11, 2022.
Is Tokyo expensive? They say things are expensive in Tokyo. I guess that depends on what you’re buying. Everything that I’ve been spending money on seems reasonable and in some cases downright inexpensive. I had flown into Tokyo using the Haneda airport. I rode the limousine bus to my hotel in Shinjuku for $6.50 U.S. This morning I booked the limousine bus to the much further away from Tokyo Narita airport (NRT) for about $22. Had I rented a taxi from downtown to NRT the cost would have been nearly $200 U.S.
Shinjuku is a special place. I took a walk around Shinjuku early this morning to get my exercise in. There are definitely parts of Shinjuku that are a little “raw”. That’s what makes it exciting to stay in this part of Tokyo. I saw signs advertising hotel rentals for 70 minutes for about $20. You would have to sleep pretty fast to be in and out of your hotel in 70 minutes, wouldn’t you? Am I missing something?
This was early in the morning here in the Shinjuku district. They had some strange characters roaming the streets. I don’t think they were beginning their day. I suspect they were ending their day!
Whatever happened to Mister Donut? I did stop at a Mister Donut store. Whatever happened to Mister Donut stores in the United States? This morning I just wanted to confirm the fact that Japanese donuts seem as if they have been made without sugar. That was still the case, as it was on my very first trip to Japan. Kind of disappointing. Were Belgium and The Netherlands really a big part of this trip? I had only been gone on this trip for eight nights. The beginning of this adventure included trackchasing in Belgium and The Netherlands. Although those visits were only four days ago, they almost seemed as if that part of the trip was four years ago! Carol and I often lament our trips with this comment about 24 hours after we get back from a trip…”Does it seem as if the trip we just took was six months ago”? I have also noticed that I don’t seem to remember a lot of the details of these trips once the travel is in the rearview mirror. I spend most of my time in life looking out the windshield rather than in the rearview mirror! I always have these reports to refresh my memory of what I’ve seen and done if need be. Just one more big trip in 2022? Don’t bet on it. It’s only mid-November. Nevertheless, I’ve only got one good-sized trip remaining for the year. Carol and I will be in New York City to see UCLA play basketball at Christmas time. New York at Christmas is the best. For Californians, getting a little cold weather when Santa is in the area is just what we’re looking for. Of course, that trip is more than a month away. I kind of got stir-crazy before this trip was planned on the spur of the moment. If I ever tell you I don’t have much travel planned for the near future you might listen to that comment with some skepticism. I am a travel addict. You can’t really believe what an addict will tell you.
My flight back to Los Angeles from Tokyo was only nine hours and ten minutes. I relaxed in the Korean Airlines lounge for a couple of hours before my flight. For me, a nine-hour flight isn’t much different than what most people think of flying from LAX to Dallas. When I landed at LAX, did I plan to immediately drive down to San Clemente and detox? Not exactly. All part of the fun. When I landed at LAX Carol and I would meet up and go to tonight’s UCLA basketball game at the famous Pauley Pavilion. Then we would stay at J.J.’s house up here in the Los Angeles area and go to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday night to see UCLA play football. That’s right. I was landing in SoCal at noon on Friday and wouldn’t be getting home until early Sunday morning. This is all part of my deal.
So long good friend. In closing, I felt bad about just one thing on this trip. I had to say goodbye to the computer bag that I brought to Japan. That bag had been very loyal to me. I could have easily used it for another 2-3 years. However, when an idea like Yodobashi Camera offered comes along for an upgrade you have to take it, right? That’s progress. However, there was definitely a tear in my eye when I looked back at my bag in my hotel room as I left the Tokyu Stay Shinjuku and said good-bye for the very last time. I almost felt like I should have stuffed that bag and mounted it over the fireplace. People don’t do that, do they? So long from Japan. I hope to be back real soon.
