Part two: I brave Tokyo's train system

It's now Sunday December 22nd and my first full day in Tokyo.

Now I had added the breakfast option to my hotel room for my stay as that's one meal I like to know is taken care of.

The Park Hotel offers a western and Japanese buffet for breakfast.

First off I tried the coffee in the room, they call this origami coffee and it's genius just pour hot water gently through the filter. I wish we had these at home.

View of the buffet from above.

 It wasn't a huge buffet and it was pretty much the same thing everyday, this was day two breakfast the only difference between day one and two was day one had hashbrowns not french fries. By Day 3 I gave up on the buffet and went to coffee shops for variety. The next time I go I will not do the breakfast option as it was added cost of about $20/ day and in my humble opinion not worth $20.

 View of the ceiling of the Park Hotel

Now I was going to meet Chris my Canadian friend living in Tokyo at Tokyo Station so I had to brave the train system. I highly recommend getting a Pasmo card from the ticket machine as this lets you load money and it has a 500 Yen deposit. The best thing is it allows you to ride Tokyo Metro and the JR Line and there's no worry about adjusting your fare when you get to where you're going as opposed to buying an individual ticket.

An incredibly friendly train attendant helped me out and I gave her a pin as a thank you. There is no tipping in Tokyo. They take great pride in their work so tipping is considered bad form, you don't tip the cab driver or the baggage handlers so that's why I brought pins with me. A small gift means much more.

 I got to Tokyo Station where I was to meet Chris early. The train stations are immense. Multiple tracks run from them and there many stores and restaurants in them. This was an example of just one store. One thing I noticed is that one escalators you stand on the left and pass on the right, no deviation from this at all.

 Ticket machines in Tokyo Station for the JR line.

 This is the bullet train but you'll see signs in English for all trains.

 Map in every train station

 Food Court and mall in Tokyo Station.

I managed to find Chris and we were off to Harajuku. Every guide book said to go on a Sunday as then you'd see the teenagers of Tokyo an the Harajuku Girls.

 Harajuku Station from the outside

 Takeshita Street, the street in Harajuku and lined with many many stores.

 and many many people

 First off lunch at MacDonald's where I tried the Teriyaki McBurger, it was a sausage patty not a beef burger though. One thing I noticed no super size me options.

I saw some pretty short skirts all over Tokyo and especially in Harajuku, I guess in Japan it's all about the legs.

We stopped off at Daiso which is a Yen Store (Dollar Store) where Chris advised I get a hand towel as the public washrooms in Tokyo are all over the map, some may not have hand dryers or towels or soap. Daiso is also a great place to pick up souvenirs.

I went with Minnie and found this a really good idea especially in train stations.

We walked through Yoyogi Park which is beautiful and saw a few street preformers. This one are caught my attention.

 On one side winter's wrath and the other the last fling of fall.

There are vending machines everywhere and you can use your Pasmo card on some of them. I saw one in Shibuya which scanned your face and made suggestions. What I also noticed is juice bottles are small and all appropriate for one serving.

 We walked through the park to Shibuya where you find the Meiji Temple

Light post as you approach the temple.

 Entrance into the Temple, you should bow before entering.

 Rinse you hands before you enter here it was wash left hand with right hand, wash right hand with left hand.

 We saw two Japanese weddings, here are the bride and groom.

 I'm guessing this is the mother of the bride but I was enchanted with her kimono.

 After the temple we went into Shibuya, Tokyo is decked out for Christmas but it's a very commercialized Christmas, shop clerks dressed as Santa and Reindeer no Elves though. Everything Christmas related disappears on the 26th.

 The Shibuya Scramble Crossing. Up to 2 million people go through Shibuya every day and up to 1000 people cross this crosswalk at once. I crossed it a few times and would describe it as controlled chaos.

You can find the statue of Hatchiko here, he's a legend as he walked his master to that Shibuya station every day and after his master passed away he still went to the train station until the last train ran. It's a very popular meeting spot I took this shot further on in the week and was lucky to get so close. This is usually a very crowded spot.

 We wandered through some stores and found this huge display for AKB48 a very very very popular j-pop girl group.

 Shibuya lights up at night

 Every kid I saw had a Nintendo

 Tokyo Arcade, the bottom floor filled with these games where the goal is knock off whatever is in there into the hole and you win. They had everything you could think of in there, small stuffed animals, blankets, action figures, giant containers of Pringles.

 The upper floor had more traditional arcade games and the place was hopping.

 Next was noodles for Supper, peruse the menu

 Make you selection and pay for it at the machine, it spits out a ticket that you take inside.

 The Gyoza was so good I ate half of it before I remembered to take a picture.

 We went to this used book store called Book Off, I was impressed with what good quality the used products were. It was explained to me that the Japanese take very good care of their possessions. Above is all Manga (Japanese comic books) hugely popular. One thing I noticed is e-readers are not popular and didn't take off here. I did see a commercial for Kindle but it was featuring sharing pictures with the tv not for reading.

 Most restaurants have a display of what they offer this is all plastic and considered and art form. I was impressed with the foam on the beer.

I walked 34, 121 steps this day so when I got back to my room I totally deserved a beer.

Tomorrow Part 3 - Where I visit the Imperial Palace and Tokyo Disneyland.

Part One: Tokyo was amazing!!!!

Hello my friends,

I flew back yesterday and can't wait to tell you about my trip. I loved it! I loved it so much I'm going to try to go back in the Spring. Yeah I know crazy.

I'm going to recap the trip for you and share some tips along with some observations on Tokyo and it's people.

Part One

The Departure

Of course I didn't realize until the day I was leaving that I was leaving on the busiest day of the season. Friday December 20th has the most people travelling. The morning news was showing the Westjet counter and it was madness.

Right then and there I decided to leave early. When I got to the airport and to the Air Canada departures there was hardly anyone there so I breezed through. I also breezed through security which was nice.

Now I was flying to Vancouver first and that's where things got interesting. They got more then 10cm of snow which is highly unusual. Sure enough our plane was delayed for 45min. I was lucky as I knew my connecting flight was still a few hours away but some started to panic a little.

Eventually we were off, got to Vancouver and now I had 90 min before that flight took off. It was delayed a bit as well but what can you do about snow.

 My reading material and actually based on Japanese history, the book takes a whole lot of liberties with the story but later on I'll tell you about visiting the Temple where the 47 Ronin (masterless Samurai are buried)

 Sunset in the air, now I was losing a day on my way there and would land Saturday night.

Love the map function so you could see the flight path.

The 10 plus hours seemed to fly by but I had major problems sleeping, plus there was this adorable little Japanese boy one row behind me who liked to sing most of the way there.

You need to fill out two forms to enter Japan which I did at the beginning of the flight. Finally arrived and this airport just whisks you out the door. First off was immigration where they took my photo and scanned both of index fingers. They put sticker in my passport and took one of the forms, stapling a piece of it into my passport. One thing about Japan is keep your passport with you at all times as at any point a police officer can ask to see your papers. I landed 2hrs later then scheduled so couldn't take the Airport Limousine Bus to my hotel which would have cost 3000 yen (roughly $30 CDN). Instead I took a cab as I was so tired and awake for about 20hrs. It cost me about $248 to get to the hotel, taxis in Tokyo are crazy expensive.

Hoped in the cab and close to the end of the trip the cab driver wasn't sure where the hotel was, I brought my docs and showed him the address (Japanese address) and we found it about 2 min later.

I was in a City Centre Room at the Park Hotel Shiodome. The room was super small by North American standards but you had everything you needed.

Loved the beverage station and there was also a mini fridge with beer, wine, and water.

 I could write a whole post on Japanese toilets, I found them to be all different and finding the flush option was always interesting. Sometimes it was on the wall, mounted behind, motion sensored or something else.

Oh yes I tried all the function and loved the heated seat.

 The hotel provided anything you could possible need including tooth brushes.

No sad mini soap instead a full bottle of lovely hand soap.

I looked over Ginza and the Shiodome complex

You can't see it well but this was a Christmas light show at the Caretta Shiodome. It was off to bed as it was now about 9:30 pm Tokyo time and I wanted to acclimate as much as I could.

Tomorrow is Part 2 and my first full day in Tokyo

On the cusp of a journey

I officially finished work for 2013 at noon on Wednesday, of course I didn't get out at exactly noon but I did eventually make it to the mall where I was in search of new jeans for my trip.

It was a disheartening experience because I grabbed a size I have worn for a long time only to find out it was too small. Now I realize all sizes are not created equal and there's zero consistency from store to store it still caused a wave of disappointment.

I did find two pairs of coloured jeans for $9 each by the way.

Today was all about last minute errands and packing. I still can't quite believe I'm going to Japan tomorrow.

I finally picked up a keyboard for Ipad so hopefully I can blog the trip.

I do feel this trip is the start of a new journey for me. I'm putting myself completely and totally out of my comfort zone and on purpose. I've never done that before I could have gone to Vegas but I chose somewhere I've never been before.

I'm looking forward to it and a wee bit scared.

It was funny on Wednesday when people asked if I was going away for Christmas and the asked where. Every single one did a double take when I said Japan. Yeah not the typical response I bet.

I was so distracted with cleaning and packing I forgot to weigh in, so that will now be when I get back. The day after a 10 hr flight that should be interesting.

So with hopes of blogging but no guarantees I want to wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas.

Hugs!!

Positive visualization

I went to WI on Saturday expecting to see a gain of a few pounds, instead it was a gain of .4, I can handle that.

I'm sure I mentioned before but I work in the downtown core and some of the buildings get pretty creative with their Christmas decorations. The decorations above are in the building next to mine. The ornament that's half way into the floor is creative, the next one to that on the right is massive and then as you look up they get progressively smaller.

Strangely I found these as a metaphor for how my week progressed, going from focused on the past and guilt to visualizing future goals - slowly but surely. Every night before bed, I put my phone on a play list I call My Happy Place which is pretty much yoga music, take a moment to center myself then I write in a journal. This is not a recap of the day this is future stated action phrases that keep me looking forward.

I will be in a loving relationship, feel loved, respected and supported. I will be successful in my career and know that I contribute and am valued, I will get the key at WeightWatchers, I will be at the 2014 Christmas party in a little black dress with my guy on my arm.

Every time I think about my Dad I tried to think of him watching over me and looking out for me and thinking of him happy and content where he is now. It's baby steps but trying to focus on future positives.

I'm in the process of selling his car so sending positive vibes to that being straightforward and yes it's the first thing of his I'm selling, and I received the first thing from the estate. There will be a lot of firsts between now and June. I've now learned I can do things at my speed and not feel like I'm being rushed into anything.

I have this strange thought to pick up Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway again.

Speaking of future I picked up the Yen on Saturday and now I just want to pick up some darker wash jeans for the trip. I keep hearing that the people of Tokyo are very fashionable which I don't consider myself to be at all. So I figure presentable and comfortable is my aim. It's going to be a short week as I'm done as of noon on Wednesday, not leaving until Friday which is good as I don't need to rush anything.

5 Sleeps