Tokyo: Shibuya and Tokyo Disney

Wow, what an amazing weekend. The reason for the late update? I simple didn't have enough time to detail all of my experiences in one go! Hope y'all are ready. Grab some popcorn and a coke, because I think this is going to be my longest blog yet!

I started out waking up at six thirty in the morning. I did some last minute packing and then headed downstairs where I had a very delicious breakfast with Okaasan and Otoosan. Then, my host mother drove me to Maibara station, about a fifteen minute ride from the house, but it saved me a walk in the rain, a train exchange, and figuring out the Shinkansen on my own. Okaasan got a small ticket, which allowed her to come onto the platform with me. I was about twenty minutes early, so we sat down and talked (in Japanese) about what I planned to do in Tokyo. Suddenly, Okaasan pointed at the tracks and said "Asoko de" (over there), so I looked in the direction and saw a Shinkansen train coming. It wasn't mine, just another one that was passing through, and as it passed, it was very windy, very loud and very thrilling. It reminded me of being in one of those roller coasters that takes off very fast, like the Rockin' Roller Coaster or the Volcano ride at King's Dominion.

The Shinkansen train (also known as the Bullet train) is an experience that I think everyone should have in Japan. It's very expensive, about $120 each way from Maibara to Tokyo, but the idea of knowing that you have traveled 227 miles in just around two hours is the amazing part. It's about equal distance from Fort Lauderdale to Daytona Beach, Florida. About 3/4 the length of the Florida panhandle. A trip that Yahoo Maps says takes three hours and forty minutes.

On the Shinkansen, a lady usually walks up and down the train every so often with a cart filled with snacks. There is a first class train, normal trains, and a smoking train. Because I bought my ticket last, I had to sit in the smoking train, but it really wasn't that bad. You have a tray table and a place overhead to store your bags. There is also a bathroom car every four or five cars or so, where there is also a "various" room, which can be used for things such as feeding and changing clothes.

I arrived at Tokyo station at eleven ten in the morning, and after some confusion through the phone with my friend, Ayami, we switched to English and she was able to find me. Together, we went back into the station and took a train to Shibuya, a popular shopping district in Tokyo. We mostly spoke Japanese, and I got to practice my short form a lot.

Language Note: Japanese has two main levels of politeness. There is casual, (short form) and polite form (kedo). There are also ways to make your polite form even more polite, but usually the polite form suffices. The only time I have used the super polite form is when I say "Thank you" to a person who has helped me. In which I just extend "Arigatou Gozaimasu" to "Arigatou Gozaimashita".

Japan Note: Tokyo, like New York, has subsections that are known for specific things. For example, in New York, there is the Upper East Side. This is a popular district known for the rich inhabitants and the fancy stores that line the streets. There is a similar district in Tokyo, called Ginza. In Tokyo, there is also Akihabara, the electronics and anime section. Roppongi, on the other hand, is known for the foreign embassies and night life. I was not able to make it to these specific parts of Tokyo, so I will list the other sections later as I visited them.

Shibuya is known for being very crowded and the shopping district that is mostly associated with young people. Shibuya, a little less than ten miles squared is home to more than 200,000 people. That averages to about 20,000 people in one square mile. It's CROWDED.

The somewhat funny part is that you have to factor in the Meiji Shrine. Emperor Meiji (the man famous for the Meiji Restoration which catapulted Japan from an average Asian country to a threat to Western colonization in the late eighteen hundreds) along with his wife, is enshrined at the shrine, which is surround by 700,000 squared meter forest, (about 175 acres) which basically means that Shibuya is even MORE crowded than the numbers first indicated because I doubt anyone is living in Emperor Meiji's forest.

The even funnier part? I wouldn't mind living there. I crave action and the big city feel, which is exactly what you would get in Shibuya, but I would probably have to pass on this one. I just can't see myself paying roughly $2,000 a month for a 25 meter squared studio apartment. And that's starting. If you even want one bedroom, be prepared to go up at least another thousand.

Once we got to Shibuya, I put my backpack in a locker in the station. For one day, and 300 yen, you can leave your bag in a locker, which can only be unlocked by a key which is already in the lock. The only way you can get the key out is by locking the locker. The only downside is that once you open the locker up again, you have to pay 300 more yen. (That way they can stop people from "sharing" lockers). So, if you forget something in the bag in the locker, you have to shell out three more dollars to get it out.

And so, Ayami and I headed to "Ichi-Maru-Kyu" Japanese for "109", which is a famous shopping center in the middle of Shibuya. On our way, we stopped at Baskin Robbins (The Japanese love their ice cream) and we grabbed what we called "hirogohan" (lunch). Then, we walked to Ichi-Maru-Kyu, but we had to take a detour because food isn't allowed in the building. So we walked up and down the street, looking for Purikura, the Japanese photo booth activity. Purikura is really really popular in Japan. It's something that everyone knows and that everyone does. (Even the guys). We didn't find any, and had finished our ice cream, so we headed back to Ichi-Maru-Kyu and went in to do some shopping.

I saw lots of stuff that I liked, and now I kind of wished that I wasn't so worried about money. The shopping center is about ten floors tall and filled with lots of modern Japanese teenager clothes. The one that we went to is for women, while across the street there is another Ichi-Maru-Kyu-2, which is for guys.

We looked at shoes, jumpsuits, pants and more shoes. The Japanese fashion is really cool, and I really like it a lot. The idea is to cover as much of yourself as possible while looking like you're wearing the least amount as possible. High heels with buckles and straps, hair accessories such as bows, headbands and barrettes. Off the shoulder tops with another shirt underneath. Shorts and skirts with leggings. Jumpsuits are really in at the moment, and I'm going to try to find one here before I return home. Also, the Japanese have an insane obsession with cowboy boots. I think I'm going to grab a pair of those too. For Johnny.

We left empty handed, and then explored Shibuya a little more before we finally found a Purikura photo booth. We did that twice, and I have a bunch of pictures that I'll show everyone when I get back.

After Purikura, we headed back to the station in Shibuya, and took a train to Tokyo station. From Tokyo station we took another train to Maihama station, which is where Tokyo Disneyland is located. All together, it took about fifty minutes or so to get from Shibuya to Tokyo Disneyland.

Once we got to Tokyo Disneyland, I put my backpack in another locker and then headed to the ticket station. We showed them our tickets, and found out that it was 100 yen cheaper that day so we were able to get 100 yen back. We then headed towards the direction of Space Mountain, where we were meeting four of Ayami's high school friends.

We finally found them in line and ducked under the rope to join them. We ended up cutting about ten people, which is really not bad because the wait was 2 hours anyway. I don't think we made that much of a difference. Some other people cut later, so I think it is something that happens every so often and people just let it go.

Two hours later, we rode Space Mountain. It was lots of fun, but my favorite part was waiting in line. Now, most of you guys are probably like, "What?!" but while waiting in line, I spoke only Japanese with Japanese college students. We used the most casual form, and a couple slang words as well. We talked about movies, music, America, parties and college life in general.

After Space Mountain, we all grabbed a churro from one of the stands and had a small snack. Then we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain. On our way we took pictures in front of Cinderella's castle. While in line for Big Thunder Mountain, after waiting for a little more than an hour,  a voice came on the intercom. I didn't understand most of what they said, but from the groans and disappointed looks on my friends face, I assumed the ride had broken down. And I was right.

But, for our trouble, we all got fast passes (which allows you to skip most of the line) and headed straight over to Splash Mountain. This was an interesting ride because all of the speaking lines were in Japanese, but once they started singing it was English. It was the same for Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.

After Splash Mountain, we came out to see that there was a parade going on, which meant that we couldn't move. We eventually managed to join a group, and got led to the Haunted Mansion. It was rather empty, so we got in with the first group. The lady who was working the ride asked me to put away my camera, in English. (Oh yeah, I got pictures of Splash Mountain)

Tokyo Note: That's the one thing I wasn't too happy with in Tokyo, was the English. Granted, Tokyo is Japan's biggest tourist city, and the place where most people go for vacations if they come to the country, but it bothered me that they wouldn't even try to speak Japanese with me. The store cashiers, Disney workers and train attendants automatically assumed that I only spoke English. If I go back to Tokyo, I think I might try to throw someone off and just speak French. So, if you do go to Tokyo, be prepared to be judged. Not in a bad way, but don't be shocked if everyone's first attempt to communicate is in broken English.

After Haunted Mansion, we headed over to the Teacups. We split into groups of three by playing Jan-Ken-Pon (Rock-Paper-Scissors), and I ended up with two of Ayami's friends. We spun the teacup around really fast, and I had to hold my stomach (not in a bad way) because I was laughing so hard.

After Teacups we walked towards the food area, (we made sure to do Teacups BEFORE we ate), where we had pizza for dinner. I had mushroom and sausage pizza, as opposed to chicken and vegetables pizza.

Culture Note: In Japan, pizza is everywhere. But they put EVERYTHING on pizza. Don't expect plain cheese here.

When we were all full, we headed near the exit as it was nearly 10:00 pm, the time that the park closes. We hurried and grabbed seats real quick on Pirates of the Caribbean, and I was shocked to see all of the new additions. Jack Sparrow is now an active member, as well as Barbosa and Davy Jones. It was quite funny, because you could tell what parts of the ride were new compared to the old parts. The new parts had more detail, because they resembled specific characters and props, while the old parts of the ride where generic pirates. I absolutely loved the movies, but I have to admit, I prefer the older version of the ride.

Finally, we left the park. We did stop by to grab some "omiyage" or souvenirs, (another thing Japan really loves). Then, we grabbed the half hour train ride back to Tokyo station, where we grabbed another train to Ibaraki, the suburbs of Tokyo. I almost fell asleep on the train, almost.

Well, that's Day 1 of Tokyo. I'll update tomorrow!