Japan: Part 2

Southern Tokyo Bay

We took the bullet train from Kyoto to the outskirts of Tokyo. Going over 200mph, it was an experience in itself. It is mind blowing that Japan has had this high tech of train for over 50 years and California still can't get its act together.

Hakone is an outdoorsy area outside of Tokyo where you can take in some of Japan's less urban activities. We met up with my cousin, Kevin, and his wife, Magen, who are currently living in Japan. We got to see Mt. Fuji on a nice day and ate hard boiled eggs that were blackened from being boiled straight in the volcanic sulfur. Legend has it eating them will add 7 years to your life.

That's Mt. Fuji behind us

We walked through thousand year old Japanese maple tree forests and took a pirate ship across a peaceful lake.

We stayed with Kevin and Magen in Yokosuka (1.5 hours south of Tokyo) and we all went sunrise surfing on the Shonan coast. I had no idea that Japan is so big on surfing but we had the best surf of our trip here with perfect waves, warm water, and friendly local surfers.

They took us to see a giant Buddha (the 3rd biggest Buddha in Japan, NBD) and Sinead and I went to an onsen, a naturally heated public bath house where you spend hours relaxing and soaking.

It was great to catch up with Kevin and Magen in a new place!

Tokyo

Our last stop in Japan was Tokyo. We had been warned that Japan was expensive, but relative to San Francisco, everything is cheap, even Tokyo.

Tokyo has everything from robots who greet you when you walk into the store to shops with miniature puppies to fawn over. There is an efficient subway system, neon lights, and trendy cafes but overall it was less futuristic than I had anticipated.

I spy a tourist

We stayed right in the heart of Tokyo near the busiest crosswalk in the world. It is also home of the legendary dog named Hachiko. He was a real dog who would greet his owner at the station every day when he got off work and continued to go wait at the station every day for 9 years even after his owner died suddenly. Throughout Japan his story represents loyalty and fidelity. Clearly this dog got to my and Sinead's heart.

Rather than going to museums or doing traditional tours, Sinead and my style is more to just explore different neighborhoods and check out some of the parks, shops, and restaurants/bars. We wandered through the alternative Harajuku, hipster Shimo-Kitazawa, trendy Ebisu, and comic/anime central Akihabara.

Checking out the 8 story comic book store

I'll never understand action figures. But there were a lot of them.

J-pop is huge here and we went to a tribute cafe for one of the most popular J-pop girl bands. It was as entertaining and over the top as you would think. It was the second best thing to being able to go to one of the live concerts (we tried to get tickets but they are too popular that you had to buy them within the first 5 minutes of going on sale).

Yokocho are small alleys that are lined with restaurants or bars that can only seat 4-10 people. Once Sinead and I discovered these, we were hooked. From Golden Gai in Shinjuku to Nonbei yokocho in Shibuya, we couldn't get enough of the intimate atmosphere of these places. Especially when the bartenders busted out in song...

  





Speaking of singing, let's talk karaoke. Since most karaoke places are private rooms that you rent out with friends and we have no Tokyo friends, Sinead and I didn't just want to serenade each other. Luckily we instead got to publicly embarrass ourselves with karaoke at a lesbian bar in Tokyo. It turns out everyone practices and is legitimately good at singing and they don't just scream pop songs into the microphone. We were out of our league. The gay scene in Tokyo was really fun though and people are generally open-minded about everything though the laws don't reflect it.



Tsukiji Fish Market is one of the biggest fish markets in world and we got to go into the backstage wholesale market area and see the fresh fish being sliced and prepared. We got to pick out some of the freshest local tuna, shrimp, salmon, and eel and then have the best sashimi prepared. (We didn't see the tuna auction at 4am.) It was delicious. However, there is a such thing as too much raw fish and both Sinead and I reached that limit even though it was such good quality fish.

We had to actively avoid getting run over by these carts carrying fish parts around.

300 pound giant tuna!

On the left part you can see the fattier toro part, while the right side is the less fatty cut.

The finished product: seared tuna, tuna sashimi (fatty and less fatty), salmon sashimi, unagi, raw shrimp, and sardines.

We had some snacks from the outer fish market too.

At the local shrine, Sinead got a bad fortune. Like really bad. Not sure how this bodes for our engagement...

Tokyo had plenty of other great food options for us to try. We had Japanese fusion foods including wagyu beef burgers and udon with carbonara sauce or tomato cream soup. They really know how to prepare all food well.

And since they put a Japanese flare on everything, there was the cutesy food. I really appreciated it.

Eating the emojis

Before every meal in Japan, you say "itadakimas" which is similar to "bon appetit" but is much more meaningful. From what I understand, it comes from Buddhism and essentially means "I humbly accept this food and I appreciate all the work that went into making it." You are acknowledging that you are appreciating the gift of another animal's life and showing gratitude for the farmers and workers who made it possible for you to eat. I love the thoughtfulness of this concept.



Though it didn't stop us from exploring at all, it was mostly overcast while we were in Tokyo. Luckily it cleared up on our second to last day so we could enjoy a view from the 44th floor observation deck of Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. It was cool to get a different perspective of this giant city.

The last thing we did in Tokyo was go to a Tokyo Giants game. Sinead kept saying it felt like an alternate universe because it was so similar to the San Francisco Giants (same uniforms and all) but the Japanese version.

Dragons, not Dodgers

The fans are very organized and polite in their cheering. There is no booing and the opposing teams take turns standing and doing constant chants when their team is at bat (a specific chant for each player). There were noise makers and mini umbrellas involved.



There were girls running (literally running - the hustle was extreme) up and down the stands with kegs of beer and whisky on their backs to serve you right at your seat.

And then there were the bento boxes. You could still get hot dogs but really the food at these games is about the bentos. And instead of sunflower seeds or peanuts, people snack on edamame.

If you're in Tokyo, I highly recommend catching a game.

And just as with the 2017 SF Giants, these Giants lost.

After 3 weeks in Japan, we had the perfect send off when as the plane left the terminal, the air traffic controllers line the runway and waved us off and bowed as we left. It was a very fitting way to leave such a respectful country and melted my heart a little bit.