Saturday, A Long Travel Day

Saturday morning we woke around 0530, Japan time and before the day was over we had spent 36 hours traveling and still weren't done.

We ate breakfast in the hotel, finished packing then checked out about 1030. Since our flight wasn't until ten minutes after midnight we didn't want to get to Haneda too early so we checked our bags with the concierge and walked through some of the back streets of the Minamiazabu area round our hotel.

Space is at a premium in Tokyo so, while there are shrines and public parks with open spaces, most of the space is tightly filled with buildings. The main streets have stores, restaurants, beauty shops and even a Maserati dealership near our hotel. The large blocks are divided into smaller sections with small streets serving smaller restaurants, smaller businesses and some houses. Houses are often only twelve or fifteen feet wide but extend back into the lot perhaps 30 or 35 feet and are often three floors high. This allows the maximum of street exposure for other buildings such as small restaurants and other commercial buildings.

As we walked around the back streets we came across what looked like an old fashioned yakitori restaurant/bar. It was still closed but had an Japanese and Engish menu in the window listing all the different skewers on offer. No time to sample the goods this trip. Maybe next time we're in the area.

During the past week as we've walked back and forth to the subway station, and again today as we walked around town, both Ikuko an I commented on the number of small children who were making there way to or from school or whatever business they had. They were walking along by themselves or with another small child with no apparent concern for bad guys. We've always seen school children going to and coming from but these children were five and six years old. It seemed so strange to see them on their own. Something you wouldn't see in our times in the US. 

Those young children did remind me of when I was in the first grade and waked about a mile each way to my elementary school when we lived in Alderwood during the War. I'm not sure what has caused the changes in the intervening seventy-some years but those earlier, more trusting days are still alive and well in Japan.   

Back at the hotel we retrieved our bags and caught a cab to Hamamatsucho Station, took escalators up a couple floors then caught an express monorail to Haneda International Terminal. A trip that I had expected to be an hour or more turned out to be about ten minutes in the taxi and 13 minutes on the monorail plus five minutes transfer time.

When we went through the security line there was a small family group ahead of us so the watching supervisor called us over to her window, scanned the Q-Code on the inbound page of our passports and sent us through the X-Ray line. I was asked to remove my laptop from my bag but nothing about shoes, belts, small bottles of liquids (drinking liquid bottles were banned) or other impediments to speed. We were through security quickly.

Haneda is the fifth busiest airport in the world but it just doesn't feel like it. The quick inspections mean people don't have to show up three hours early and the crowds around the departure gates don't build until 30-40 minutes before scheduled departures plus the terminal seems like it is more spread out. SEA seems much more crowded even though it is only the 31st busiest airport in the world.

So there we were at Haneda Airport with nine hours to kill until our scheduled departure at ten minutes after midnight. It seemed like a long time but not impossible and we would be home in Seattle by 2230 or so.  Little did we know what surprises awaited us.

About 1730 our flight showed up on the Departures board but it was listed as "delayed" with an estimated departure of 0345 Sunday morning. 

Fortunately Haneda is as comfortable as an airport can be. There are comfortable chairs, strategically placed dining areas with several cuisine choices in each area and there are even some pods of semi-recliner chairs with privacy soft walls on three sides so sleep is possible. Ikuko and I made ourselves as comfortable as we could, had dinner (sushi for me, curry rice for her) and even caught a few winks while waiting for the hours to creep by.

I must say that Delta made the delay as easy as possible by providing bottles of drinking water, sandwiches and other snacks and providing frequent updates.

Finally, about 0200 our flight arrived, passengers departed and the cleaning team did their thing. Our group of tired passengers boarded, got settled in and we pushed back at 0345. We made our way onto the taxiway headed for the end of the runway. Suddenly the plane slowed and stopped. After a few moments the captain announced that there was a problem with a fuel pump and we needed to return to the gate.

Fearing the worst we headed back to the gate, parked and waited. Finally good news. The trouble with the fuel pump was  not mechanical (necessitating a long delay as replacement was made) but something in the software and a "reset" did the trick. We headed out to the runway again about 0500 Sunday morning Japan Time.

After a smooth ride across the Pacific we arrived in LAX ten plus hours later about 2215 Saturday night PDT. Again we sat on the tarmac waiting. Another announcement told us that there wasn't a slot for us (probably due to the upset schedule) so we would go elsewhere and be bused to the Immigration and Customs area. 

By this time our scheduled connection to Seattle was long gone. We thought we might be able to catch a 2330 flight on Alaska but after the bus ride and entry to the Immigration area we kissed that idea goodbye. It took us 35 minutes just to get through the line at Immigration then another while to clear Customs so we finally got out into the night air and re-entered Delta's Terminal 5 a few minutes after midnight Saturday night. We had been traveling through two Saturdays (thanks to the International Date Line) for about 36 hours and still weren't home.

Tsukiji and Kabuki

Thursday was a busy day.

We caught a train from our local station just after 0730 and rode to Tsukiji Station which is close to the famous Tsukiji Fish Market.

The fish market covers several blocks near the central Tokyo waterfront. The interior part of the market is dedicated to working merchants and auctioneers who start early each morning. 

When we were living in Yokohama in 1968-74 I belonged to two rod and gun clubs, one was the Yokohama Rod and Gun Club where members were mostly Americans with a sprinkling of diplomatic personnel and some Japanese. The other club was Yokohama Tsuri Kai, composed of all Japanese members except me. I gained entry through a sushi master friend and enjoyed going fishing with that club once a month or so.

One time in the 1970 time frame when my sushi friend asked if I wanted to visit the Tsukiji market I jumped at the chance. We got there a little after three in the morning and I got to watch the professionals in action. 

On Thursday we walked through the small side streets that go around, into and through the market. Lots of fish and lots of tourists were on display. 

Just about any fish or other product of the sea can be found in this market

A typical little alleyway, lined with shops, leading into the heart of the market

Many of the restaurants had people out front promoting the freshness or variety of food or skill of the chef

This store was selling fresh sashimi cut from the tuna in the background

This store was selling "kujira bacon" (whale bacon). For some reason there
was no sign in English promoting this product.

About 0830 we found this little two-man sushi shop with 14 stools. We had to wait
about fifteen minutes to get a seat but the sushi was worth the wait. Note the man
in the foreground having a small bottle of sake with his breakfast sushi. 

Ikuko had this dish similar to "chirashi zushi" but made with tuna slices over sushi rice with sliced dried seaweed, pickled daikon, leaf and flower stalk of shiso (perilla plant) and fresh ground wasabi. I had chef's choice nigirizushi which was very good. It's not often we find fresh ground horseradish in sushi restaurants in America so it was a real treat to have it here. Altogether an excellent breakfast. 

After breakfast we made our way to the Kabukiza Theater where we had tickets for shows starting at 1100. We had thirty minutes to spare before time to enter so we stopped next door in a second floor coffee shop and had coffee or tea for ¥850 each (a little over $8.00). They were good drinks but not that good.

After the rest we went back to the Kabukiza Theater, rented translating devices and found our seats. 

This old street sign was preserved from an earlier era

This exterior holds true to the Fourth Period design

The theater is a little incongruous set among the huge modern buildings not far from Ginza Street

Kabuki came into existence around the beginning of the seventeenth century. As you may know, all the characters are portrayed by male actors. I found it amazing that the females, as portrayed, were so realistic.

There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, of an Egyptian tourist who fell in love with one of the "female" kabuki actors. He went back to the Kabukiza Theater many times trying to connect with "her." His unrequited love still makes a good story.

Everything you wanted to know about Kabukza

After the Kabuki plays finished about 1545 we walked around the Ginza shopping area. We were window shopping although in the basement (actually second basement B2) of the Mitsukoshi Department Store we drooled over all the beautiful food on display.

A little later we made our way back to the district around our hotel and looked for a place to enjoy dinner. We found a little Mom and Pop restaurant not far from our hotel where they specialized in oden. We ordered oden meal sets, except Ikuko who ordered the tai (red snapper) dinner and me, I ordered the grilled salted mackerel. I figured it would be good to finish the day with fish since I'd started with fish.

Dinner Thursday night was at a local restaurant. My mackerel dinner is the one with the beer.
The dinners look good, don't they?

Tokyo Water World and Shopping in Sugamo

Tuesday we hopped the subways again to visit the north end of Tokyo Bay and the reclaimed land there. In that area the roads are wide and straight and the sidewalks are lined with planters. This time of year the azalia hedges are in bloom.

Left side of sidewalk

Right side between sidewalk and road

The building you can see in the distance is one of several huge malls in the area with several floors of shops, entertainment areas and restaurants.

Too much good ramen makes my belly bulge

We surveyed the view of waterfront and bridges and then found a restaurant to have Kyushu style Ramen. I had one of the Fukuoka specialties, pork bone soup ramen with soft boiled egg, picked mustard greens and pork belly.

I don't know how many restaurants there were in the mall but there were restaurants serving cuisines representative of most parts of Japan.

There were other restaurants from around the world, including many of the fast food restaurants from America

I guess some people come out here just to have some food from back home, wherever that might be.


Shopping in Sugamo, The Old Ladies' Harajuku.

Harajuku, an area in Tokyo, is the Japanese (some say world) capital of youth fashion. Sugamo, not far away, is the place to go when you're older and slower. We're older and slower so we went there Wednesday.

Jizo Dori (street) from near the station is about 800 meters long and lined with some 200 shops that cater to older folks.

Beginning of the shopping street not far from the station

Most of the stores that line the street are small but they are all interesting. Many of the stores featuring rice crackers, pickles and other edibles give out samples. It gives the potential buyer a way to try out the goods before buying. I like the system but I suppose the FDA or EPA or ECC or TSA or some other alphabetized government agency would prevent such a sensible way of doing business in the US.  

Not far into the street there is a small temple, Kokanji Temple, which features a Tokenuki Jizo statue which shows the Jizo Bodhisattva, thought to heal all sorts of bodily ailments. People queue up to wash the statue with small towels which are then placed next to the painful part of the body in hopes of a cure.

First water is poured over the statue 

The statue being wiped so the clothes can be placed on the body to cure ailments

A little after noon we waited in line for a table at a popular restaurant. We had some excellent meals of fried fish or shrimp or both. I had grilled salted mackerel teishoku (meal set) and a large (633 ml) beer. It's getting harder to find the large bottles in popular tourist areas. I guess the restaurants make a better profit on the standard 334 ml size.

One of the many stores selling edibles. These small pancakes will be filled with sweet bean paste like sweet sandwiches

The final product, bean paste between branded pancakes ready for sale. Great with hot green tea

After lunch we bought some sweets to take back to the hotel and then boarded our train for home.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Monday saw us traveling to Shinjuku to visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. It was finished 25 years ago at the cost of around one billion US Dollars so a popular nickname is: "Tax Tower" but it is one of the best places in Tokyo to see the city from on high.

The building splits into two towers at the 33rd floor. We visited the south tower and enjoyed a great view because the usually smoggy Tokyo air was a little more clear than usual.

All of Japan's buildings are designed to withstand earthquakes. The TMG Building has a system of four columns, a column inside each corner of each tower is cross braced internally then at each tenth floor there is  matrix of horizontal cross bracing.They seem to be able to withstand the level 9 earthquake that is forecast to hit within the next 30 years.

The view from 202 meters above the city

The green area is the grounds of Meiji Jingu where we visited yesterday

The north and south towers rising from the 33rd floor

A beautiful city administrative building

While walking on the street I saw this sign. Wish we had these rules in Seattle, especially the one about no flicking cigarette butts. I pick up trash along the sidewalk outside the VFW building in Ballard (Seattle) and on a recent day I picked up 49 cigarette butts that people casually flick onto the sidewalk. I guess they think those butts will magically disappear. I like this idea of not throwing them down in the first place.

After visiting the TMG Building we walked a few blocks to visit the Ten-Thousand-Year Store. It reminded me of an old Army-Navy surplus store with lots of bargains from the low-labor-cost countries.

Back across town on the subways to our hotel where we called it another good day of sightseeing in the great city of Tokyo.

A correction is in order here. A couple posts ago I mentioned the Pasmo system where riders could use their smartphones to pay fares on the train system. Smartphones can be used to buy tickets (and many other things) but the Pasmo system is different. The system uses a card, prepaid and readable by RFID, that is good on most of the public transportation systems here. Smartphone readers are also available but this Pasmo system is more convenient for mass transit. 

Meiji Jingu and Shibuya

The aroma from this arrangement filled the lobby of our hotel

Nice looking mangoes going for about $5.25 each at a nearby store

A small shrine just down the street from our hotel

We have a view of a roof-top garden from our room

We decided to visit Meiji Shrine on Sunday so we walked to our local subway station where we caught the train to the next station, transferred to a different line then transferred one more time before arriving at the station in front of Meiji Shrine (Meijijingu-Mae).

As shrines in Japan go Meiji Shrine is a youngster. Construction was begun about one hundred years ago after the death of  Emperor Meiji and was completed ten years or so later. Despite its youth Meiji Shrine is important because the Emperor Meiji was Emperor during the Meiji Restoration when Japan emerged from its self-imposed isolation and became a modern nation.

The grounds cover 170 forested acres in the heart of Tokyo and can serve as a refuge from the crowded city. As we entered from the heat and crowds of the city we were surrounded by cool breezes and the fresh air of the forest.

The main torii of Meiji Shrine

Visitors write prayers on small pieces of cedar and hang them on the pegs.

Part of the main grounds of the Shrine

Entrance to the main building

After visiting Meiji Jingu we headed back to the subway and rode one stop to the heart of Shibuya, one of several major shopping areas in Tokyo. 

A main intersection in Shibuya. When the walk light flashes hundreds of people flood the street.

Haneda to Minamiazabu

I forgot to mention the good water at the hotel in Haneda. There was just a hint of cedar smell but I couldn't detect any taste but that of fresh water. There was an explanatory note in the room.

Also forgot to post a photo of one of the many flower shops we saw in Kawasaki. No matter the time of year flowers are always available.

Street-side flower vendor's goods

In place of the real flowers, above, most restaurants have realistic displays of plastic foods showing their best dishes 

Saturday we checked out of our hotel in Haneda with its tasty water and headed down to the subway system to make our way to our new hotel in Minamiazabu.

Multi-lingual self-serve ticket dispensing machine

First stop at any station is the ticket machine This machine accepts cash, has directions in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean and dispenses tickets in values allowing travelers to go to any stop on that line. If you aren't sure which of the thirteen subway lines (with their 216 stations) that serve Tokyo you need to take to reach your desired destination there is a helpful map showing all those plus the main Japan Railway Line, other JR Lines, private railways and a couple of the main streetcar lines.

Tokyo's thirteen subway lines are color coded with numbered station markers which make it easy to get around

We bought tickets for the first leg of four, fed those tickets through the automated ticket reader and went to the platform to wait for our train. The ticket readers scan the magnetic code embedded in the ticket and punch a hole in each ticket and return it to the traveler at the other end of the scanner. When you go out of the destination station you feed your ticket into the scanner and if the fare is correct for that station a green arrow lights and out you go. If the fare is incorrect two batwing gates swing out blocking progress and you head for the fare adjustment machine or conductor's office to make amends.

Ticket readers scan the magnetic code and allow, or block, passage

These subway signs show destinations, times and track numbers. The times are departure times and are very accurate

In the Tokyo subways many stations have new safety gates to prevent accidents during rush hour. The gates are closed until the train stops then open allowing passage then close again before the train departs.

In many stations safety gates line the boarding area

We rode four different lines as we worked our way to Hiroo station in minamiazabu, near the New Sanno Hotel, our home for the next week. It was interesting riding the different subway lines through Tokyo. We were traveling light with only carry-on bags so navigating the escalators and stairways wasn't a burden and we traveled during the middle of the day on Saturday so the trains weren't crowded.

In some of the photos you see the word "Pasmo" which indicates you can touch the reader with your phone and the fare, or other charge, will be deducted from your on-line account. This same system works for vending machines, store express checkout lines and many other situations where small amounts of cash might be needed.