Japan: Day 1 - Tokyo

The official day 1(26th June) in Japan started a bit late: 11 AM to be exact. Actually I think I woke up at 5 AM and left the bed around 7 AM because my physical body was still in the Eastern Time. The time from US to Japan is the maximum and this time I really found it difficult to adjust soon enough. Generally travelling from west to east than the other way round and incidentally my whole trip has been from east to west starting and ending at Chicago.

There was one thing that I found interesting about the toilet. There was a tap on top of the flush with which one can wash his hands while filling up the flush. Later I noticed it was pretty common all over Tokyo. After having cornflakes, banana, ladoo and several biscuits for breakfast, Prakhar and I started to make my travel plan for that day. The original plan was to go to a park situated in the middle of the city, Korakuen and then go to Odaiba, which later changed to Asakusa and Skytree.

For going to Korakuen, I had to get off at Iidabashi station. But as soon as I exited the metro station, I did not expect to be amazed at such a scale. There was a high roller coaster cutting through building leading to a question whether that roller coaster was built first or the building. I was in awe for some time and stood there for 10-15 min just to see the ride whether it was functional and indeed it was! Tokyo Dome was situated just beside it which was a huge baseball stadium from the outside but where rock concerts are also held (Coldplay). After roaming there for a bit, I went to find the entrance to the park. Even though I could see the park just next to the Dome but the entrance was all the way around.

Massive roller coaster passing through buildings 

The entrance fees was 300 yen and the park was indeed beautiful. It was quiet away from all the city noise. The only sound that I could hear now and then was the sound of the children screaming from that roller coaster. The park was so dense with trees that I could hear the rustling of the leaves, chirping of the birds and sound of the wind while it was so quiet there. There was one particular bridge over the water through which a tortoise was peeking out as if to say hello or goodbye to every person passing over that bridge. Then there was a bridge named half-moon bridge which was semi-circular in shape and one can see the other half in the reflection from the water. Also there was a pathway just inches above the pond with many big fishes on the side as if to scare us. There were places inside the park where it was suddenly so dense and dark with trees and with only me around. The park was full of lovely trees although their names were written Japanese.

Gollum fishes

Tortoise bidding adieu and welcoming

Half moon bridge

Dense park

Now time for food came. Debating whether to take the boring metro or to fight with hunger and walk a little bit more, I decided to walk. Walking by, I came across a big crossing and had to cross a skywalk to go over the other side. There was a burger place which I decided not to go and entered a mall in search for food. There was a shop full of women’s cloth upon entering the mall. There was a Wendy on rooftop but still I thought that there ought to be more. Maybe it was written but I was not able to read. There was arrow pointing downstairs for more restaurants in Japanese. I went there and then came the kind of restaurants that exactly I had been hoping for. The ambient and the restaurant architecture all resembled to ones I had seen in movies. I decided to go in a Thai restaurant and ordered a stir fried spicy minced chicken with basil on rice which was delicious as soon as I tasted the first scoop. And the good part is that however tasty the food is, you don’t have to leave a tip even if you want as it is against the Japanese culture. “In many cases, maybe most, tips may be politely refused. Just remind yourself: a price is a price.”

Thai food

Thai restaurant

Following, I decided to go to Asakusa and Skytree instead of Odaiba as I was already getting tired and wanted to spend a fresh day and more time at Odaiba. As soon as I exited the Odaiba metro station, a 4 year back flashback started immediately. Last time when I came here, it was rainy all day and I was with 5 other friends. This time, it was sunny, I was alone and the crowd was much more. I took the usual route having all the shops but this time I actually saw what were the exact things that were there and tried to remember the spots where we took the photos of one other last time. Last time, I didn’t try that fortune sticks because we were like too ethical as it was written there to pay 100yen to try. This time, I saw many people do that thing without paying so I also did that. After spending sometime at the temple, I went to take the route for Skytree.

Asakusa entrance

Asakusa market

Sensoji temple

The initial portion and the final portion of my walk were quite similar to the route we took last time as I could remember the landscapes and layout of the area. I was already getting so tired that I had to take a brief rest every now and then with a total of 3. I was glad that I didn’t go to visit Odaiba in this kind of situation of mine. Although, this I didn’t happen to take a road which lead to dead end last ime. Finally, after a lot of walking came the Tokyo Skytree in its full glory. Last time, as it was raining, the upper portion of the skytree was covered in clouds and we couldn’t see even the full Skytree but this time it was not the case. The whole structure was fully visible. I didn’t go to the top and after spending some time at the bench, I took the metro for Shibuya.

Skytree from a distance

Passing over a bridge

Skytree from closeup

It was maybe a 20 or 30 min ride from Skytree to Shibuya and even for that time, I was not able to sit upright in the metro. I remember I was starting to lean either to my left or right after every few minutes. Overall, the second half of the day was full of nostalgia filled with my previous visit to Tokyo.

There was a dinner party at one of the Prakhar’s friend which was like 1 hour far so decided not to go there as next day, I had to go to Kyoto. Prakhar met me at the Komaba Todai-mai station to give me the keys to the apartment and showed me the way. I went home and in a little bit fell asleep as soon as I laid on the bed after eating some snacks but not a proper dinner. 

Japan: En route - Day 0

It was the much awaited ANA flight out of Chicago ready to be taken on 25^th June. Abhishek helped me board my luggage in the Reindeer shuttle (the second baggage was free as the driver didn’t carefully check the ticket). It was a carefully calculated risk either to lose 15$ or to save 10$. The bus duration was 1.5-2 hours full of Spotify music. I arrived at the Terminal 2 around 12:30 PM Chicago time but the ANA boarding was not to open until 2:45 PM and I had to sit there for another 2 hours. While waiting there, I met a person from Lisbon, Portugal who had come to Chicago for a conference and was doing a job or postdoc in Lisbon. Finally, the counter opened after a torturous 2 hours and I got my boarding pass after which I got through the security and immigration within no time.

Chicago airport

Endless waiting at Chicago airport

The flight was at 5:15 PM and I had to wait at the gate for another one and a half hour. But eventually, when the flight came, it was a super cool Star Wars ANA flight which I later realized was not so common to board on. To sum up, in order to make sure not to miss the flight, I started the journey to the airport so early that I had to wait at least 1.5 at every major step.

Star Wars ANA flight

The flight experience was also amongst the best till now. It had the maximum leg space that I had till now, the air hostesses were the kindest (or it’s just the Japanese effect), it had good food (with a menu beforehand), live camera giving the feed of the path in front of the plane and most of all, it had good and some of the latest movies. That was the reason that made me watch 3 movies in a single flight of 11 hours, my personal best. Movies included Logan, Madaari and John Wick: Chapter 2. Incidentally, while the plane was flying over North Dakota while Wolverine was also in North Dakota in the movie.

Just over Chicago

Although the flight started at 5:15 PM, there was daylight throughout the flight except maybe for the last half an hour or one hour after which the flight ultimately landed at the Haneda, Tokyo. It was by far the smoothest flight with the best service experienced by me till now.

Landing at Tokyo Haneda

The immigration was quick at Tokyo and got my baggage within 10 minutes. After some effort, I got my phone connected to the internet at Haneda and made contact with Prakhar. He informed me about the route that I was supposed to take and told me that I should stay at Shibuya for some time and then go to the Komaba todai-mai station as he would be late running some errands. I bought the tickets with the help of a Japanese helper and boarded the train. Fortunately, the train also had wi-fi. I got off at Shibuya, took the Hachiko exit with the two bags. Eager to come out of the Shibuya station to see the Hachiko statue, I was so glad to see the crossing. It was busy, crowded fully as expected although the statue was not so impressive. I expected the statue to be a lot in the center, rather it was behind a pillar and was kind of hidden from the view. Waiting there for about 15 min, I started to search for the Keio Inokashira line which I was not able to find. Not so desperately but badly wanting to speak some Japanese, I asked one Japanese group of youths for the direction. Initially, they also didn’t know where the line was but asking the station-master people, they understood the location and as expected of Japanese, they accompanied me to the Keio line.

Shibuya crossing

Boarding the Keio line, I got off at Komaba todai-mai station. As soon as I exited the station, there was Prakhar standing there smiling with his bike and talking to my dad. After he forced me to touch his feet, we walked to his home. I was on the bike but its chain soon fell off while changing gears rapidly on the uphill. So, we both started walking and soon reached home after a lot of turns in the narrow lanes.

Home was a lot smaller than I expected from seeing the photos. Upon reaching, push up competition and while I cleaned the room, Prakhar cooked the food. After eating, talking (in low voice) and packing the new things, I went to sleep almost immediately. 

At home