Tokyo is a BIG City.

Oct 17, 2009

I failed to realize that Tokyo is the worlds largest city until we attempted to leave the airport and get to our hostel. Our idea of “winging it” and finding our way once we got a to the airport failed miserably. We first needed to take a subway from the airport then connect to a different subway (we originally thought that we could talk this distance, turns out it was a 45 minute train ride). We did this and ended up in a very rural looking neighborhood, not how we had pictured Tokyo. Luckily two Japanese girls could tell that we were clueless and offered to take us where we needed two go. The girls were super nice and were our age, they had just gotten back from a trip to Singapore. They were our saviors. They showed us which tickets we needed to buy, how to use the Japanese railway system, came on the train with us so we knew were we were going, and even circled on our map all of the places that we were interested in going as well as told us the areas that they recommended. I’m pretty sure if it wasn’t for these two we would still be doing circles around Tokyo on one of the numerous subways. We checked into our hostel and were so relieved to put our very heavy packs down. We were given keys to our “rooms” which were “capsule rooms” meaning its a bed with a curtain and a locker to put your belongings in. I have some great pictures!

 

We then decided that since it was still light out we should walk around and get a lay of the land. We ended up walking to Shinjuku (a place that every Japanese person that we talked too said was “too far” to walk). It took us 15 minutes. We’ve run into a lot of people on our adventure who have said that we couldn’t walk to some particular place, and that we should take the train, but in actually it really didn’t take long to walk. Anyways, Shinjuku is supposed to be the “Times Square” of Tokyo. We saw lots of bright lights, restaurants glamour and the biggest departments stories that I have ever seen. We definitively felt under dressed as people started to show up around us wearing dressy going out clothes and we were still in our yoga pants from the plane. We decided to grab some sushi for dinner.

We split a combo plate that had a little bit of everything. I tried it all believe it or not. I had fish row the size of marbles, tuna, salmon,. Cucumber, prawn, yellow tail, and probably some I didn’t recognize. We decided to walk around a bit more then headed back to the hostel. It was around 9pm at this point and we were exhausted. we showered and fell asleep by 9:45pm. We’re sharing a room with approx 40 other people, so as you can imagine we were woken up several times during the night by people stumbling in. I was exhausted and slept through most of the noise, and when I did wake up, quickly fell right back to sleep. We awoke at 4:45am to make it to the Tsukiji fish market.

It took us a little longer to get out the door and get to the market than we expected, we arrived at 6:20am. I have never been to anything like that in my life. It was huge. I read somewhere that a third of the worlds fish goes through that market and after seeing it I completely believe it.

 

 

There were hundreds of people driving little carts around hauling fish that had to weight hundreds of pounds. There were fish chopped up, fish still living, and even fish that were cut into pieces every size imaginable. We walked around for an hour or so then decided that since everyone else was eating sushi for breakfast we should too. I had the freshest sushi I’ve ever had in my life, literally bought that morning from the fish market 20 feet away. It was way more pricy than I expect, it was $1800 yen ($20USD) for 4 pieces of tuna and 4 pieces of salmon.

I really liked it, but I think I would have rather spent $20 at cove café loading up on blueberry french toast with bacon. Oh well. We walked around the produce section of the market after breakfast and decided to buy a bunch of grapes, the largest grapes that we’ve ever seen- easily the size of golf balls. Again, it was expensive, $4UDS for a small bunch of grapes, but we’ve seen them in the grocery store costing almost double. We then attempted to find a money exchange, which apparently doesn’t exist here in Japan. I ended up opting to use my debit card and withdraw money. After we went to the Imperial Palace and walked around exploring everything. From there we went to the Roppongi Hills which is one of the tallest buildings around. We went to the observation level on the 52nd floor which had a 365 degree view of the city. We thought this was a free activity when we decided to go, but ended up having to pay $10UDS which was a bummer, but it ended up being worth it.

I grabbed a tuna sandwich from a local coffee shop and then we made our way back to the hostel. I must say we’re pretty impressive on the Japanese subways for first-timers. At this point (approx 4PM) we were exhausted and opted for a nap.
Our nap turned out to be a very long slumber. We set an alarm and woke up at 5:30, then 6:30, then 7:30 each time deciding that we were too exhausted and need edto sleep longer. At 7:30PM we decided to turn off our alarms and just sleep. We woke a total of 17 hours later at 7am feeling alive and well. We showered quickly and decided to pack up and check out of the hostel. I popped my daily vitamin and immune system booster that I’m taking and began to snack on the grape like fruit (I think it is a mix between a grape and a plum- very tasty) that we had bought the day before at the fish market. I was pretty hungry at this point especially because it had been 19 hours since I had eaten anything and the sandwich that I had for lunch the day before was much smaller than anything that I am used too). I continued to pack by bag an all of a sudden got very light headed. Luckily our locker was right next too a balcony so I quickly opened the door to get some fresh air. As soon as I did I got very nauseous and started to throw up into the drain on the balcony. Luckily Jess had seen my struggles and grabbed my water and some tissues for me to clean up with. I used some of the water to clean the mess on the balcony, oops, I was glad that we were leaving! We checked out and left our bags downstairs and went off for some last minute Tokyo site seeing, we went to the Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shine. We walked all around and saw a wedding reception, it was beautiful and so peaceful. We then took the subway back to the hostel to grab our bags. We made a quick stop at a little café across from the hostel to grab a quick bit since I still hadn’t eaten anything after my little incident. We both opted for the breakfast ham and cheese. The bread was very fresh, yet again a very small portion, thee was a single slice of ham and some kind of liquid cheese (more like mayo than cheese to me) and a piece of lettuce, it was small but very tasty. We grabbed our backpack and were off to the train station. After several transfers we made it to Tokyo Station and boarded the train for a three hour ride to Osaka, which is where I am currently updating my blog from. In Osaka we will change trains and catch another train which in two hours will take us to Kokura where we will visit my friend Ami and spend the night at her apartment. I met Ami when I was abroad on Semester at Sea we traveled to Rio together and had a lot of fun. I think our other friend from SAS Corey might also be meeting us for dinner. I am very excited for our mini SAS reunion. Well time for me to quit typing, my battery is about to die on my netbook. Hope all is well at home and stay in touch.
Love, Katie.

En Route to Tokyo

Friday October 16h, 2009
En Route to Tokyo!

We’ll its official, we’re definitely on our way! The last 72 hours has been nothing less than a whirl win of goodbyes, ending of jobs, last minute errands and packing. Monday was closing at the Oarweed followed by the always exciting end of the season party. I was surprised by my friends (aka the best friends in the world) with a cake frosted to look like the globe with candles on all of the countries that I will be visiting. It was wonderful-- did I mention I have the best friends in the world? We continued to celebrate closing day until late in the evening. Tuesday morning I woke and started to actually believe my time in Ogunquit was quickly coming to an end. I went to Cove Café for my last breakfast shift of the season and since it was rainy, cold and clear that there were no tourists left in the state of Maine I got to leave a little early at 10am. I made a quick stop by the Oarweed to my very last goodbyes to the people who have made my time in Ogt so great the past four years, and of course to deliver to the order of breakfast sandwiches that they had just ordered. By 11am I was back at home, busy folding the countless loads of laundry that I had done the night before and trying to lay everything out on my bed in some kind of order. I had one last long shower in my shower of dreams, loaded my car and was off to start my adventure. I made stops in Kittery, Portsmouth and even Woburn to pick up some last minute essentials. I made a stop at my aunt and uncles house in Woburn and was able to spend the evening in the company of my dad’s whole side of the family. It was great to catch up with everyone (my aunt and uncle, my cousin colleen, her husband Chris as well as their two little boys, Cameron and Colby, my cousin Erin and her husband Matt, and my grandma.)! It was great to see the family, and inform them about my blog and skyping abilities- sounds like I may be talking with my uncle Jimmy more the next few months that I do when we live 100 miles from each other!
Wednesday seemed to fly by. I slept till 10am, which I later regretted, but felt at the time it was necessary since I have been functioning on so little sleep the past month and wanted to rest up a little before my trip. I spend the morning finishing copying my important documents (passport, license, health insurance cards, credit cards) and putting it into two packets. One that I can leave at home for my parents in case I run into a problem and they need to access any of my information as well as a copy for myself in case anything gets lots or stole (lets just hope they don’t get lost or stolen together). I like to be prepared for the worst but hope for the best, we‘ll see what happens on this adventure! The afternoon flew by quickly as I ran around getting last minute items like picking up my malaria medicine from Walart, buying toiletries, new sneakers, and snacks. I was able to squeeze in a little time to see the people in Amherst who mean the most to me. I visited my grandma at her condo, grabbed a coffee with Sam at Starbucks (who surprised me with a bag of goodies which have already come into good use on my flight… thanks Sam!), and a wonderful last meal at the Olive Garden with Kaily. I spend the evening attempting to pack and organize my life. Around 2am I realized that I was missing a few things and made a last minute to Wal-Mart. Knowing I needed to leave the house at 4:15am to make it to Logan in time for my flight I quickly tired to finish up all of the things on my to-do list. My mom popped her head in my bedroom and screamed when she realized that I was still not packed and hadn’t yet showered. She seemed very surprised, although this is very common for me and it should have come to no surprise to her. Judging her my reaction I knew I had to quickly get my act together. I jumped in the shower and quickly got ready. I finished packing my bags to the brim and we were out the door by 4:30am (I thought that was very impressive, although my mom was aggravated). I drove all the way down to Logan and we arrived by 5:30am. I waited a bit for Jess to arrive then we entered the hectic United Airways check-in. A lady came up to us claiming that she could check us in. Of course I was the first passport that she grabbed and mine instantly had a problem that she didn’t know what to do about. Jess checked in just fine. I had to speak to another agent who finally got a boarding pass to print for me, although the agent could only seem to print the ticket from Boston to Chicago and not the ticket from Chicago to Tokyo, (Jess got her tickets all the way to Tokyo no problem). We asked the lady at check in if we could carry on our backpacks. She said we could, however as we entered security they yelled at us and sent us back to check-in our bags. We entered had to put our packs in big plastic bags then re re-enter a line to speak to an agent. Jess had no problem checking her bag in, but it took a few minutes longer for me, since I only had my ticket to Chicago, not straight through to Tokyo- just my luck. Finally we re-entered the security line and did all of the usual requirement, took off our shoes, I had to take my laptop out of the case, etc. I was worried because I had my toiletries bag in my carryon with numerous bottles of liquids (definitely not following the TSA’s 3-1-1 requirements that everything needs to be under 3oz and fit in 1 quart size bag. It just wasn’t going to happen for me, my stuff was just too packed in my bag, I said a little prayer as I put my bags through the x-ray machines and much to my surprise no one seemed to care! With all of the hold up and delays Jess and I only had about 10 minutes before our flight boarded. We decided to make a quick pit stop going to the bathroom one last time and grabbing a breakfast snack at Au Bon Pain. We boarded the plane and I fell asleep before we even got on the runway. Although I had a window seat I couldn’t seem to get comfortable kept waking up, but that didn’t stop me from repositioning and falling right back to sleep. We had about an hour layover in Chicago in which Jess and I tried to walk around the terminal as much as possible, We checked out of food options and enrolled with United frequent flier program (we should get a free US flight after traveling such a long distance with this airline-- oh and also if you’re a college grad and send in a college transcript you get like 10,000 extra miles or something, someone remind me to do that when I get home!). I grabbed a sandwich from Chilies to go worried that I would be famished on my 14 hour flight to Japan. Luckily that hasn’t been a problem at all. I’m currently still on board with about 30 minutes to go. I am pleased with the amount of sleep I was able to get despite being in a middle seat. Reality has officially hit Jess and I. We are the only Americans on the plane that we’ve seen to far. All of the announcements and packing of the food is in Japanese. Despite us standing out being the minority everyone has been really nice to us so far. The flight attendants switch to English when they offer us meals and always make sure to translate to us when we have that confused look on our face. The seats on the plane are average. We have personal TV’s which is nice, there are about 20 movie options somre are in Japanese and some are in English. I had high hopes that I’d get to watch “The Proposal” but after finishing out it was in Japanese with English subtitles I decided that my eyes were too heavy to read and watched “My Sisters Keeper” and cried my eyes out- what a good movie. We’ve been fed two meals so far. The first was really good in my oppinion I had terrikki chicken with rice, Jess had the salmon with veggies. We both were served noodles with soy sauce on the side. We watched the man sitting next to us slurpe them down noisily (meaning that they are tasty in Japaneses) but nearther of us were brave enough to try- mostly because it was the very beginning of our trip and the idea of laundry seems like a very distant thought. On our tray we also had a bottle of water and a piece of bread. The flight attendants have been offering alcohol all morning so we decided to split a bottle of wine. For dessert we were each given mini Hagendas ice cream cups, they were great! It did the trick for me and with a fully belly I fell right back to sleep. Upon walking up I decided I needed to read and get rid of the 3 magaine I took with me. They are making my very small carry on seem even smaller and will definitely not be coming off the plane . A while later I decided to eat my chilies turkey sandwhich because I was worried it was going to go bad without being refrigerated for so long. It was very tasty. I then watched “The Hangover” and relaxed falling in and out of sleep. A few hours later another meal was served. I didn’t like this one as much and was glad I was still pretty content from my sandwhich. I did decided to be adventurous and try everything (you’d be proud mom and dad) The main course was called (at least I think I heard) Japanese BBQ although it reminded be of nothing of American BBQ. The main dish had shredded carrots, murshrooms, and some kind of unidentifiable root like veggie that was pretty bland and tasteless. The bottom on the dish had rice. We also were given a fruit cup and some tuna fish which I enjoyed as well as Malinos cookies. Jess and I cheers and shared a bottle of champaign.

I spend my remaining two hours writing this blog entry, filling out my customs form and resting up for my exciting day ahead of us. I’ve been taking my “no-jet-lag” pills and seem to be in pretty good shape. Japanese time is currently 1:15pm on Friday afternoon, and home time is 12:15am early Friday morning- which is quick a time change! I feel great now, we’ll see how I am tonight. We’ll were about to land and I need to attemp to stuff all of my belongings back into my carryon somehow. We are unsure exactly how to get to our hostel from the airport, but are going to attempt to pick up our Japanese rail pass from the ticket agent in the airport and go from there. Here’s the the start of our adventure! Stay tuned, I’ll be updating frequently.

Up and Running

Hello Friends and Family!

I officially leave in 10 days... and I couldn't be more excited! I have been busy working all summer at the Oarweed and have even picked up a waitressing job at Cove Cafe serving Breakfast. Some days I've been working a total of 15 hours... It will all be worth it when I am on the journey of a lifetime!

During my final days in the states I will be working everyday until the Oarweed closes on Columbus day, saying goodbye to friends and family (thank goodness all of my OGT friends fly in for Columbus day, all of my UNH friend will be taking the trek to Durham for homecoming, and my family is close by), as well as getting my ducks in a row (numerous phone calls, doctors appointments, vaccines, and shopping adventures). I am almost looking forward to my 16 hour plane ride to Tokyo to get some rest and relaxation!

all of the stuff I need to fit into my little backpack!

Well, of course I'm tight on time and need to head to the Oarweed... so that its for today... Sorry the website is still a work in progress. I will spend some time over the next week getting it personalized and look for my posts while I'm traveling. I just got a netbook and will have internet access 24/7 on my trip so I will be keeping everyone up-to-date!

Love,

Katie