tokyographers

We left the Sammy Ebisu Plaza and explored the shops in Dotonbori and the surrounding area. At one point, we took a break at the Starbucks/TSUTAYA (TSUTAYA is a book/music/DVD store) while we opened up a box of trading cards that Chuck had won earlier in Den Den Town.

Chuck had tried his luck at a sort of capsule machine - you put in your money, and it spits out a plastic ball that contains a key. The key opens one of the doors on the machine and you claim your prize. He was hoping for the DS, but of course it wasn’t to be, and he instead got a box of packs for this trading-card arcade game called World Club Champion Football (football as in soccer, of course). It’s actually pretty neat - each card represents a player, and the cards somehow contain electronic data to identify the card. The arcade machines have a flat surface representing the field, and you place your team (chosen from the cards you have) on it. The game detects which cards you have, and you can customize your formations just by moving your cards around. We had seen the game at several arcades in Akihabara, and tournaments seemed to be popular.

Unfortunately, we never got to use the cards during our trip, but maybe Chuck has had a chance since then to try it out.

We got some souvenir shopping done, but unfortunately it had begun to rain by late afternoon. It became dark not too long after, and we were able to get some pictures of the area at night:

Osaka at night

More Osaka at night, with a shot of Glico Man

There was a yakitoriya on Dotonbori that looked cheap, so we took in a pretty good meal there (I think fried/grilled food with Japanese beer will always be a good meal in my mind). The place itself was cozy, and the walls were covered with photos of celebrities who had eaten there (I think I only recognized one or two of them).

After that, we decided it was time to take the train back to Kyoto. When we got back to the ryokan, there was a big group of people there making a lot of noise - it looked like a group of high school students on a trip to Japan (presumably from the U.S.) for whatever reason. In any case, we avoided the crowd and went up to our room to unload.

I think we went to Shijo again that night, but I really can’t remember what happened. So meh.

We decided to pass on the castles and temples in Osaka (since we were planning to do plenty of that in Kyoto tomorrow), and pretty much spent the rest of our day in Namba, which is basically a large shopping/entertainment district. We probably should’ve taken the time to at least check out Amerikamura (aka “American Village”) since it wasn’t too far away, but I don’t think we missed out on too much.

Dotonbori is a long shopping street in the Namba district, and it’s one of the primary tourist spots in Osaka. The street is probably best known for its many restaurants, but it’s also recognized for a few major landmarks such as the Glico Man and the large mechanical crab at the restaurant Kani Doraku. Here’s a picture of the street (including the crab):

Dotonbori in Osaka

Further down this street, there was a statue of all three members of the comedy group Yasuda Dai Circus (with Dancho in his trademark loincloth). Chuck got some great pictures with the statues, while I unfortunately have none. I’ll see if I can get them from him so I can post them.

I also got my first taste of Osaka takoyaki from a nearby stand! Yum!

Anyway, we browsed through a lot of the shops throughout the day, on and off Dotonbori. I picked up lots of souvenirs, including some postcards and a pocket guide to Osaka-ben (for my own amusement).

At some point in the afternoon, we decided to go into the Sammy Ebisu Plaza. It’s a multi-story entertainment center, and the top floors are something like an amusement park. You go up the elevator and they give you a card which essentially functions as a credit card. There are several restaurants, booths, and shops in there, and you use your card to make any purchases, which you finally pay off in actual cash when you leave.

We had been looking to get some okonomiyaki, and there happened to be an okonomiyaki shop inside the plaza. It was really busy when we got there, and the only seats available were right at the counter in front of the teppan (though we were later moved to a table after the place started clearing up). I remember getting mine with shrimp, and Chuck got a “modern yaki,” which means it’s topped with noodles. Both of them were very good, and just thinking about it is making me crave some okonomiyaki right now…

Continuing the story…

On Wednesday morning, we got up early and took the train to Osaka. We decided to first take a quick look at Den Den Town (also known as “Electric Town”) in the Nipponbashi district. The area is often compared to Akihabara in Tokyo, but it’s not nearly as prominent or as densely packed. After having already been to Akiba, I didn’t find it particularly amazing. Still, there’s plenty to please an otaku.

When we got there most of the shops were still closed or barely opening, so we didn’t go through too many places, but we did at least pass through Osaka Gundam’s, a fairly impressive multilevel Gundam store. One neat attraction is at the top of escalator to the second floor, there’s a large Gundam fist breaking through the wall. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed. There are also a lot of neat customized gunpla on display (again, no pictures).

After passing through several blocks of Den Den Town, we found ourselves at our next destination: Shinsekai. This neighborhood used to be a favorite place for my friend Nate while he was in Osaka. It has the atmosphere of a less modern urban Japan, and is situated in a destitute area of Osaka, so there are generally many homeless people around. Shinsekai also has somewhat of a reputation as a seedy area. Even local Osakans tend to avoid Shinsekai, though in reality it’s supposedly not so dangerous (it’s still Japan, after all). Some sources on the web say there used to be a lot of crime in previous decades, but I don’t really know much about the history of the place. In any case, you can be sure it’s full of interesting people.

The central landmark of Shinsekai is the Tsutenkaku tower. Compared to other towers, it’s not that tall, but among the surrounding buildings, it definitely stands out.

Anyway, some pictures of Shinsekai, all including the Tsutenkaku from different angles:

A main entrance to Shinsekai

Just past the entrance

One of the Shinsekai intersections

A view from deeper inside Shinsekai

So back to this Japan trip.

Chuck and I had decided on the major spots in Kyoto we wanted to see: Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, and Kiyomizudera. We thought we could try to get one of them out of the way on the first night. So after the laundry was done we headed over to Kyoto Station and hopped on the bus to Kinkakuji (we thought we might as well go the one farthest away). What we didn’t realize was how long it would take to get there by bus, nor had we done the research to find out what time it would close. So we finally arrived and made our way to the gate to find ourselves out of luck.

But the first night’s not completely a bust. En route to Kinkakuji, we had passed by a street festival. Since we were going back by the same route, we first stopped by the festival to check it out. And so I got my first taste of some authentic matsuri food. Yummm!!

I took a picture of the mikoshi for the festival:

The mikoshi for the festival

Neat, huh? I feel the whole matsuri was a nice find to compensate for our bad timing with Kinkakuji. We took our time walking around, but we didn’t stay too long because we were still planning to check out Shijo, one of the major streets in Kyoto.

The general Shijo area is pretty large. It runs several blocks, and when you include the smaller shopping streets connected to it, that’s quite a lot of ground to cover. It’s a highly commercial area with a lot of pedestrian traffic, and as a result, it’s a lot brighter than most of Kyoto at night.

We took our time exploring the area, then decided to finally get some food at one of the restaurants on an adjacent street. It was a good meal, made all the better by a couple of beers (I grew quite a liking to Japanese beer while I was there). Anyway, we spent a little more time wandering about Shijo before heading back to the inn for the night.

We had originally planned to finish off Kyoto the next day and take a trip to Osaka on Thursday, but based on the weather reports, Chuck figured it would be better to switch the two. So the new plan - Osaka tomorrow, sightseeing in Kyoto the day after. We wanted a lot of time in Osaka, so we needed to get off to an early start in the morning.

Tuesday morning: we get up early, finish packing our stuff, and check out of the Shinagawa Prince Hotel. We’re at the station about an hour before our Shinkansen train leaves for Kyoto, so we just try to kill some time. While there, we both pick up an ekiben (bentou sold at a train station) for the train ride, which is close to 3 hours long. Chuck’s planning to do some studying on the train, and I’m planning on listening to my iPod or re-reading the copy of Timequake I brought along.

I have to say, riding the Shinkansen is a very pleasant experience. It’s very comfortable and the ride is smooth (for the most part), and if you’re sitting by the window you can get a good look at what the Japanese landscape looks like outside of the major cities. Yeah, it’s pretty expensive to ride one, but at least if you’re a tourist, it’s covered by the JR Rail Pass. In any case, I ended up getting no reading done and instead fell asleep for most of the trip.

We arrived in Kyoto Station around 2:00, and we took an unnecessary subway trip from there to Gojo Station (one stop away on the Karasuma Line) because we thought it would be much closer to the inn we were staying in, the Chita Guest Inn. But it’s really not much closer, so consider that wasted time and money. Anyway, we eventually found the place, which wasn’t hard since the description said it’s right across from the Higashi Honganji, and that temple’s hard to miss as long as you’re on the right street.

As for the place, I really liked it. It’s a Japanese style inn, and it’s really clean and cozy, with perhaps the only problem being the somewhat steep stairs leading to the second floor and to the roof. The place has a common bathroom facility and a common shower, but I didn’t mind that. The rooms are spacious enough and are well-kept, and the rooms come with small TVs. Sleeping on a futon is pretty comfortable (though of course I still prefer a regular bed). In the current weather, the room had a tendency to get very warm, but there’s also an air conditioning unit installed so it wasn’t much of a problem.

The inn is managed by just a single woman, but she does an amazing job of keeping the place clean. She was really friendly, and we had fun chatting with her while we were there. She didn’t speak much English (and the website says so), but it still seemed the vast majority of guests who stayed there spoke very little Japanese beyond the bare basics. So I think it was also a welcome change for her that Chuck speaks a lot of Japanese, and I could at least understand some of what she was saying.

Anyway, we settled in and decided to do some laundry while finalizing our plans for the next few days. While our clothes were in the washer, we looked through some tourism magazines and maps in the common room (which has a big screen TV!). There was a lot we wanted to do, and trying to pack it all in within a few days was going to be difficult.

It’s been a busy week full of distractions outside of Tokyograph, but finally I can return to the story of my Japan trip.

Chuck and I had finished trekking all over Toudai, and we decided to check out Shibuya for the evening. Shibuya is known for its nightlife and as a popular hangout for young people. It’s also known as ground zero for the whole kogal subculture. Anyway, it was already dark when we got there (well, dark except for all the neon and electric lights), and unfortunately, it was raining again.

Right outside Shibuya Station is the famous statue of the dog Hachiko. It’s a popular meeting spot, so you can always observe lots of people there. Nearby is the Center Gai street intersection, a pedestrian scramble crossing that’s apparently known as one of the busiest in the world. It’s a rather impressive sight to see so many pedestrians crossing through the intersection simultaneously.

We crossed the intersection to reach a pedestrian street and took a look around. Chuck led me further down the street until we reached the part known as Spain-zaka, where the Tokyo FM station is. The guest schedule posted on the wall told us Yuri Nakamura of Garnet Crow was going to be on the air in an hour and half for an interview about their latest album. We thought we might as well check it out, so we needed to kill some time. Fortunately, there were plenty of shops and UFO Catchers to occupy us. We also found a family restaurant where we had some dinner (this is when I had the omuretsu with curry!).

We returned to the station, and a woman there was handing out paper numbers for people interested in watching the radio program. I guess we could’ve gotten numbers earlier, but as it was, we ended up with numbers 33 and 34. Anyway, the woman told us to go a little down the street and around the corner, where the line would be forming. At about this time, it started raining a lot harder, and I realized the cheap umbrella I had bought was slightly broken but still functional enough - it just now had one of its bars sticking out annoyingly above my head.

We were put in a two-person-wide line according to our numbers and led down the street to the station. There’s a window where you can see directly into the station and watch the people on air, but I guess for certain programs like this one, they pull out a sliding wall that blocks the view of the window. People are then brought into the space between the window and the sliding walls to watch what’s going on (no photography allowed there, unfortunately).

Anyway, I think they brought in 20 people at a time, so we were waiting in line for quite a while. They didn’t start bringing in people right at the beginning of the program, either, so I estimate we were in line for a good half hour, though it was probably even longer. It must have been rough on the guys right behind us who had no umbrellas - I was still getting wet even with one. In front of us was a man and a woman on an apparent date, and though I couldn’t really get a good look at their faces, it seemed to me like the girl was much younger than the guy. I imagined it could’ve been a case of enjo kosai, though I’m probably quite mistaken.

Well, we finally got brought in to watch the program, and the interview was already well underway. I can’t say I understood too much of it, but at least it was an experience. The girl that had been in front of us in line had actually brought a sign with her to express her Garnet Crow fandom, and when the radio host took a break to play a track from the new album, he and Nakamura stood against the glass with the sign in the background so that one of the studio staff could take a picture. I tried squeezing in closer, but who knows if I actually made it into the picture… Whatever.

We did a little more wandering through the stores in Shibuya, but eventually headed back fairly early to our hotel. We needed to get a little more rest that night because we were checking out the next morning and heading out for the next part of our adventure: Kyoto.

Chuck had wanted to see Toudai (aka Tokyo University), and I was curious as well. But we didn’t really know where it was or how to get there. So as we got off the Yurikamome, Chuck asked the station clerk for directions. Well, he didn’t really know either, so he made a quick phone call, and then he told us we could take the trains to the station at Nezu. What he didn’t tell us (and I guess he didn’t know) is that there’s a station right next to Toudai, appropriately named Toudaimae (meaning, “in front of Toudai”), as we later found out. But we took the trains to Nezu and had to make quite a walk to finally reach Toudai.

I’m not sure exactly what I expected it to look like, but it certainly looked different from it (I guess Love Hina and the likes gave me the wrong impression). Don’t get me wrong - it’s a very nice place. I suppose I just expected it to be more modern-looking, for some reason. But I guess that’s also a result of having gone to school in California.

One of my favorite parts of Toudai (at least the part that I saw) was Sanshiro Pond. It’s in the middle of the campus, but it’s surrounded by densely packed trees so you can’t really see it until you go down one of the paths leading to it. It seems like a nice place for a stressed out college student to just sit and relax.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures from Toudai! I really don’t know why I didn’t take any. I should’ve at least taken one of the Red Gate, or the pond, or Yasuda Auditorium… Bah. I have to get better at being a tourist, I guess.

Anyway, we walked pretty much the length of the campus to the south end, then again back to the north end to Toudaimae station. On the way, we stopped at the Communication Center and Chuck bought a T-shirt. I think he would’ve preferred a sweater, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Toudai sweater - do they exist?

After our Jiro adventure, we decided to visit Odaiba again, now that everything was open and it was a work day. I got a picture of the main staircase:

The main stairs at Fuji TV

But of course we opted for the escalators. On the fifth floor, you can sometimes see show tapings in progress through a window, but the floor was closed for some reason that day. Disappointing. So we kept going up until the escalator ended at the seventh floor, where it opens up into a plaza. The whole structure is like two buildings, with one sitting on the roof of the other - the roof of the bottom building is the plaza. There was a cafeteria at the entrance of the upper building, and it was filled with students on a school trip. (How come I never went to a TV studio for a school field trip?)

Anyway, we went into the store inside the building. Most of the merchandise was for their anime programs, like One Piece. In one area, there was a photo sticker booth (with some students inside) and some UFO Catchers. Of course, Chuck had to play, and he ended up winning a couple things. Because I gave him some money to play, I got to keep the mini Ainori bus plushes he won (yay!).

We finished walking through the store and headed back down the escalator. There were a few more small shops on the bottom floor that we checked out, but in the end, the trip to Fuji TV was uneventful. But at least Aqua City mall was right across the street, so we had plenty more opportunities to do some shopping. It’s a pretty big place, and we spent a good amount of time there. At the top, there’s a World of Coca-Cola store/museum, where you can also get a nice view of the bay and Rainbow Bridge. (Another missed photo opportunity!)

The next day was Monday. Sometime on Sunday, we had stopped by the travel center so that I could turn in the exchange order for my JR Rail Pass, which I was going to start using this day. First order of business to take care of: we went to the travel office to get our Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto for the next day. It wasn’t difficult, and we were out of there quickly.

The next item on the agenda was a suggestion from Nate - we were going to eat at Ramen Jiro. Eating there is an adventure, because this is no ordinary ramen, as anyone familiar with the place can tell you. The ramen there has noodles at least three times as thick as regular ramen, and the portions are bigger as well. It’s also a lot oilier and saltier.

Despite all that, Jiro has generated quite a following. It appears to have developed its own culture and a community of Jiro addicts, complete with its own lore throughout the decades of Jiro history. There are at least ten Jiro shops throughout Tokyo, though the original is found in Mita, near Keio University. That particular shop was our destination this morning.

We got off the train at Mita Station, but we soon realized we had forgotten to write down exact directions. Well, we figured we could just ask around - people there should know about Jiro, right? Not quite. We stopped at a few convenience stores to ask where it was, and none of the clerks knew. We kept walking in the general direction we thought it was, and we were finally rewarded when Chuck asked at a lottery stand, and the two women in there told us to just keep walking down the street several blocks. And so we were on our way.

It wasn’t quite what I expected. The shop was on the bottom floor of a tall, narrow, nondescript building, with none of the exterior decor typically associated with ramen shops. I would have completely missed it if it hadn’t been for the two kanji at the top of the building that said “Jiro.”

The Mita shop is small - it’s basically a small central kitchen (enough for the three employees, at least, perhaps a 7′ x 9′ space?) surrounded on 3 sides by a counter. There are maybe about 15 stools at the counter, with the walls almost right behind the stools. In fact, for those sitting at the front side, the walls are less than half a foot behind you, leaving barely enough room to squeeze behind someone to get to one of the middle seats. There are actually two doors for the customers, one on either side of that front part of the counter (so you cross to the other side of the room by going outside).

Fortunately, we got there before the rush. There were only three people in line in front of us, and by the time we left, there were at least fifteen waiting. Anyway, even before you get seated, you have to make your choice. There’s a vending machine that gives you a plastic ticket, which you then place on the counter when you finally get a seat. There are only 6 choices on the menu: you choose either a small bowl or a large one, and then you choose how much chashu pork you want (none, normal, or double). Being foolishly ambitious, Chuck and I both selected the large with double pork.

By the time I sat down (and I ended up in one of those front seats), I had realized my mistake. Looking at the bowls next to me, I knew this was going to be a challenge. I patiently waited, drinking my water, and in the meantime Chuck sat down two stools away. Eventually, my bowl came, with an intimidating mountain of cabbage, bean sprouts, and chashu staring me in the face. I mentally prepared myself for battle.

A few mouthfuls in, I already knew I was beat. I did my best, trying to pace myself and pausing when necessary. But in the end, there was no way I could handle the entire bowl. Looking over at Chuck, I saw he did much better than I did. But I had to admit defeat, finishing maybe only 80-85% (and that’s ignoring the soup!). I left the shop in shame, but with a much heavier stomach and a feeling of being covered in grease. Needless to say, Jiro is a ramen I will never forget.

Coincidentally, we saw the finals of “The King of Gluttony” on TV the night before, where Nobuyuki “The Giant” Shirota ate 20 bowls of ramen (normal ramen, not Jiro) in an hour, defeating Takuya Yamamoto (18 bowls) and Natsuko “Gal” Sone (14 bowls). After having had the Jiro, I couldn’t bear the thought of ever eating that much ramen, and I didn’t even want to think of ramen for the next few days.

We took our time walking back to the station, but not before stopping at a nearby conbini to get some cold tea (and for Chuck, some Coolish) to help wash down the oily feeling.

When we got back to the hotel, we headed for the internet cafe to check our e-mail. I got a message from my friend Nate with a list of suggestions about things to do, so we wrote down some notes. One place he mentioned was Nakano Broadway. Since we were already planning to visit Shinjuku that night, we figured we would stop by Nakano first. But not after getting some rest in the hotel room.

We set out for Nakano a couple hours later. Nakano lies a little west of Shinjuku, three stops down the Chuo Main Line. Right across from the station’s north exit is the entrance to the Nakano Sun Mall, a fairly typical shopping arcade, and at the other end of the mall is Nakano Broadway. Nakano Broadway is a four-floor building, and the first floor seems just like an extension of Nakano Sun Mall. But the other three floors are often referred to as an “otaku heaven,” though it’s much less known than Akihabara. Nakano Broadway houses dozens of specialty stores, particularly for toys and collectibles. In fact, the Mandarake chain of stores started there, and currently there are over ten Mandarake stores in Nakano Broadway alone, each with a different specialization. Their manga store is particularly impressive, as it’s fairly easy to find complete collections for almost any series, and the prices are typically much lower than normal.

One of the stores I liked best was the Trio 2 shop, located near the main Mandarake store. It’s basically an idol merchandise shop, filled with pictures, photobooks, calendars, posters, and the like. Not that this type of store is hard to find, but it had the best selection of large posters out of all the stores I came across during my trip.

We took our time trying to thoroughly explore the place (it’s pretty easy to overlook a whole section of shops), but it was eventually time to move on. Shinjuku was our next stop. Out of all the places we went, Shinjuku definitely felt the busiest (and perhaps it actually was). The JR Station there is huge, and it’s still packed with people. The immediate area around the station seemed to have a very high concentration of tall buildings, which only adds to the sense of crowdedness. I really felt disoriented there. Even Chuck gets easily lost in Shinjuku, despite having been there a few times before.

Our main goal was to pass by Kabukicho, the infamous red-light district in Shinjuku. Kabukicho is home to thousands of bars, nightclubs, love hotels, etc., and many yakuza and mafia operate there, though in recent years there’s been a movement to try to “clean up” the area. But despite the remaining criminal element and the seediness, it’s still a generally safe place (provided you don’t do anything stupid, of course).

Anyway, it actually took us a while to get there, since as I said, even Chuck gets lost in Shinjuku. We were walking down small streets for quite some time (at least the rain was only sprinkling now), but we eventually found our way. It was definitely a lively place, though I’m sure it would’ve been much livelier if it hadn’t been so early in the evening. Anyway, we didn’t stay there long (we obviously weren’t going to spend any money there). We returned to the area near the station to continue looking around.

Rather than eat dinner in Shinjuku, we decided to try finding something in Shinagawa. Well, when we arrived at Shinagawa station, something unusual was going on. Hundreds of men and women in their early twenties were walking around in packs, all dressed in formal business attire. Suits aren’t an uncommon sight, given the numbers of salarymen in Tokyo, but this many young people dressed up (women included) meant there had to be some kind of event. Chuck’s first guess was that it was some kind of company training.

Lots of these men and women were in our hotel (staying there or just having an activity there, I’m not sure). Chuck, seizing the opportunity to be social as always, suggested finding a place where they were hanging out. Our first try was the top floor of the hotel’s New Tower, where there are some lounges, a dining room, and a party room, but the food and drinks were too pricy. We settled for walking down the street to see if we could find anything.

Not too far away, we found a decent restaurant and ended up seated next to a table with three girls in suits. Worked out perfectly, apparently. Well, we started eating and drinking while the three were having their own conversation. Chuck waited for an opportunity to break in, and he eventually found one. He’s really good at this sort of thing, and he knows just how to use the fact that he speaks English and fairly good Japanese (including his trump card, Yamagata-ben).

The whole time, I was just sitting back watching Chuck work his magic. He was mainly talking to the girl closest to us, who also happened to be the cutest and seemed to speak the best English. Chuck’s second guess about the suits had been right: all the young people were there for a recruiting fair. These three girls were from a college in Kyushu (Fukuoka, I think). We (or rather, they) talked for a while about different things - like I said, Chuck knows how to work it - but they ended up leaving before us. Ultimately, Chuck didn’t get any numbers that night (they didn’t even give us their names after we gave ours!). Oh well.