A Day in Tokyo

Well, today started quite early. As I mentioned, I got up extra early thinking that I had to get up. Anyway, navigating the Tokyo metro has been interesting. I continue to be amazed by the sheer number of different subways lines running under the city. How the Japanese got it figured out is beyond me. Just so you can appreciate what I'm talking about, check out the picture.

So, we started the day of by purchasing an all-day subway pass. I thought that it would include the Japan Rail (JR) line, but it didn't. I found this out when I tried switching lines and my ticket was rejected. :-) Anyway, we go to Harajuku station a few minutes late. My friend, Maurine, agreed to come into town and show us around for the day. We began by visiting the Meiji Shrine and the neighboring park. It's a shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and his wife. It was nice to see some traditional Japanese buildings. Afterwards, we headed down Harajuku Street to eat some crepes. Yes, crepes. I know, it's Tokyo and you wouldn't think that this is a place that can make crepes, but they weren't half bad. I had one with bananas, pie crust, chocolate, and ice cream. It turned to be our 11:00 am breakfast.

After the crepe, we decided to head back to Ueno station (a few stops from our hostel and on the other side of town) to pick up our Japan Rail passes. Unfortunately, I forgot my documentation for my JR Rail Pass, so they refused to give me one. It means that I have to buy tickets everywhere I go rather than having a one-week, unlimited pass. Yale was smart and brought his docs, so he was able to pick his up. I'm hoping that when my travel agent, Nancy, scans and emails me a copy of my docs that the JR lady will be kind enough to let me get the pass. I have serious doubts about this working out, though. All in all, it means that I'm gonna spend an extra couple hundred dollars on train fare.

Since we had subway passes, we used those lines most of the day. The only JR line runs a circle around the city and it isn't the most convenient way to get around town. Our next stop was the Imperial Palace. It can be considered one of Tokyo's "Central Parks." It's actually the park in the city where you go if you want to be touristy. Another major park includes Ueno Park, but we didn't really spend time there. They have lots of national museums and a zoo in Ueno Park. The Imperial Palace is located on a block of land (approximately 3 miles around the grounds) in the heart of the city. It's really peaceful and quiet; a good place to relax on a busy day. Best of all, it was free.

The next stop on today's journey was the Tokyo Tower—a wannabe Eiffel Tower with lots of radios/satellites hanging off of it. It cost ~800 yen (~US$8) to go up, so we passed. The sky was cloudy and it didn't look like we'd get a nice view from the top. However, when walking towards the tower, we saw this big building nearby, so we decided to go find out what it was. On the way, we came across this really nice park with some pretty trees. It turns out that we came across another Shinto shrine that was nice. A little different from the last shrine we came across.

We happened to be close to the Tokyo Temple (i.e., the LDS temple), so we decided to hop on the subway to go pay a visit. It turns out that it would've taken three different subway lines to make it there, so we hailed a cab instead. The temple is located ne Hijo station and is part of the international district where lots of embassies and ex-pats live. So, it's in a swanky part of town with lots of nice, expensive homes and cars. I was a little surprised by the location of the temple. It's next to a park and some buildings. I thought that it'd be surrounded by larger buildings. However, the piece of land it sits on is worth millions. I got really excited when we stumbled upon the Lamborghini dealership. The Murcielagos were beautiful!

Having only eaten a crepe, we were getting hungry (by 3:00 pm). Maurine knew of this fabulous Mexican restaurant, so we stopped by at 4:00 pm, only to realize that it was closed! We had to wait until 5:00 pm for it to open for dinner. So, we strolled through a few streets full of non-Japanese (can't say if they were Americans or Brits or another race) people. While hanging out at the local Starbucks, three Japanese students approached us and asked us if they could interview us (in English). Yale was the recipient of this interview, which was nice. He was able to give the most unbiased opinion of the country (since Maurine and I both lived in Japan for some time). Obviously, he simplified his responses as the students did not fully comprehend what he was saying. That's okay, my Japanese is pretty bad right now. We took a picture with the kids and they were off on their merry little way.

We finally got into the restaurant after two failed attempts (seriously, who's ever been rejected twice by a restaurant owner?). It was so exciting to be in a Mexican restaurant. Just the other day, Yale was talking about how he missed having good Mexican food (not that Provo really offers any authentic Mexican food). Anyway, the only people in there were foreigners (after all, this was the "international district"). I ordered some empanadas and appetizers (not authentic, but good) and a beef burrito. I must say, it was delicious! I'm yet to be disappointed with the food that I've eaten. Granted, I've eaten at Denny's, a French crepe place, and a Mexican restaurant. By the time we finished, the three of us were exhausted from a long day of walking. I wish I had a pedometer to track how many steps I walked. Yale and I thanked Maurine for the terrific day and we headed home (where I crashed for about an hour).

Tonight, we headed back out to visit Akibahara (the Electronics district). Surprisingly, the place was pretty quiet. Most shops were closed for the night. We did find a Sega club that was busy with people playing different video games. In addition, we found a seven story electronics shop; nothing too special to report there, though.

Overall, it was a good day and I'm looking forward to hitting the shopping (Ginza) district tomorrow. Well, it's time for bed (midnight) and I have a 7:00 am international phone call to make. I'll let you know if anything good comes from it.