Senses working overtime
Konichiwa!
As I travelled into Tokyo from Narita airport yesterday, I was overwhelmed with the fear that I wouldn't be able to navigate any further than the safe_zone of the couple of blocks around my hotel. It could just have been a symptom of the jet-lag - I've coped on my own in foreign cities before - but there's something additionally daunting about seeing signs written in a language that doesn't contain any characters vaguely resembling our alphabet.
Fortunately, the greater fear of not making the most of my short weekend here won over and I brazenly strode out of the hotel this morning - in entirely the wrong direction for the subway and amused the concierge by returning 10 minutes later to ask for the help he had offered when I walked out of the door the first time. Anyway - I needn't have been so worried, the subway has signs in English (apart from the ones telling you that the exit the guidebook had instructed you to use is closed. I now know the Asakusa station intimately - and recommend exit 3 as a useful alternative to exit 1 if trying to visit the Senso-Ji temple) - and, when on the train, each station is announced before you get there - also in English.
It's actually good fun trying to work out what the Japanese signs mean - at the aforementioned Senso-Ji temple - I whiled away half an hour watching the locals pay some money to shake a tin from which they then pulled a stick with a number on. This number related to a draw containing a slip of paper telling their fortune. A fortune cookie without the calories, if you like. I eventually had a go myself - I apparently had "Regular Fortune: One's fortune are not decided yet." I say 'had' because I then copied what I'd seen the majority of people doing and tied the paper around a bar nearby. I've now read that this has the effect of negating the fortune if you didn't like it (my kind of religion - speaking of which, it's nice to find 'The teachings of Buddha' sitting alongside the Gideons bible in the hotel room). I also joined in with wafting smoke from a cauldron onto myself (it apparently has health-giving properties) - the only change I've noticed so far is that I smell like I've been standing next to a bonfire all day; my jet-lag headache shows no sign of disappearing.
I'm currently sitting in an internet cafe in Shibuya (at the other end of the Ginza line - when I said it was easy to negotiate the transport, I haven't actually had to change subway lines yet!). This area is like Piccadilly circus on acid - overloaded with shops piled on top of one another (literally - this cafe is on the 7th floor), hoards of people, flashing neon signs and piped Japanese pop music. It's mad - but I love it! It's a really good job that my rucksack is packed full to bursting as there's so much kitsch nonsense I would happily bring back to add to the clutter I already have.
Time for me to go back to the hotel for a quick nap before I take on the Lost-in-Translation style bar on the 40th floor (I'm treating myself - my accommodation in Sydney is backpacker-style). Hope I can work out how to use my space-age toilet this time. It took me half an hour of pressing dozens of buttons in a different order only to discover a regular flush handle hidden behind the electronic gizmo. I managed to turn the seat-warmer on though, which heated up the entire bathroom a treat (a useful gadget if you're in Siberian climes; not so great when it's 26 degrees plus outside and the air conditioning only seems to work during the daytime).
As I travelled into Tokyo from Narita airport yesterday, I was overwhelmed with the fear that I wouldn't be able to navigate any further than the safe_zone of the couple of blocks around my hotel. It could just have been a symptom of the jet-lag - I've coped on my own in foreign cities before - but there's something additionally daunting about seeing signs written in a language that doesn't contain any characters vaguely resembling our alphabet.
Fortunately, the greater fear of not making the most of my short weekend here won over and I brazenly strode out of the hotel this morning - in entirely the wrong direction for the subway and amused the concierge by returning 10 minutes later to ask for the help he had offered when I walked out of the door the first time. Anyway - I needn't have been so worried, the subway has signs in English (apart from the ones telling you that the exit the guidebook had instructed you to use is closed. I now know the Asakusa station intimately - and recommend exit 3 as a useful alternative to exit 1 if trying to visit the Senso-Ji temple) - and, when on the train, each station is announced before you get there - also in English.
It's actually good fun trying to work out what the Japanese signs mean - at the aforementioned Senso-Ji temple - I whiled away half an hour watching the locals pay some money to shake a tin from which they then pulled a stick with a number on. This number related to a draw containing a slip of paper telling their fortune. A fortune cookie without the calories, if you like. I eventually had a go myself - I apparently had "Regular Fortune: One's fortune are not decided yet." I say 'had' because I then copied what I'd seen the majority of people doing and tied the paper around a bar nearby. I've now read that this has the effect of negating the fortune if you didn't like it (my kind of religion - speaking of which, it's nice to find 'The teachings of Buddha' sitting alongside the Gideons bible in the hotel room). I also joined in with wafting smoke from a cauldron onto myself (it apparently has health-giving properties) - the only change I've noticed so far is that I smell like I've been standing next to a bonfire all day; my jet-lag headache shows no sign of disappearing.
I'm currently sitting in an internet cafe in Shibuya (at the other end of the Ginza line - when I said it was easy to negotiate the transport, I haven't actually had to change subway lines yet!). This area is like Piccadilly circus on acid - overloaded with shops piled on top of one another (literally - this cafe is on the 7th floor), hoards of people, flashing neon signs and piped Japanese pop music. It's mad - but I love it! It's a really good job that my rucksack is packed full to bursting as there's so much kitsch nonsense I would happily bring back to add to the clutter I already have.
Time for me to go back to the hotel for a quick nap before I take on the Lost-in-Translation style bar on the 40th floor (I'm treating myself - my accommodation in Sydney is backpacker-style). Hope I can work out how to use my space-age toilet this time. It took me half an hour of pressing dozens of buttons in a different order only to discover a regular flush handle hidden behind the electronic gizmo. I managed to turn the seat-warmer on though, which heated up the entire bathroom a treat (a useful gadget if you're in Siberian climes; not so great when it's 26 degrees plus outside and the air conditioning only seems to work during the daytime).
posted by Sarah at 10:28 am
2 Comments:
Glad I happened to pop by and catch your update. I hope your enjoy your trip!
Sounds fantastically bonkers. Glad you finally sorted the toilet conundrum.
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