The Texans in Tokyo

Written by DIWYY guest writer, Jenny Quattlebaum Knowles, who recently honeymooned in Japan in March 2010.

“Why do you think I wouldn’t go to Tokyo?

“Because you said you’d never go any other place on earth that they don’t speak English.”

“Whatever. I’d go to Tokyo.”

“Fine. Let’s do our honeymoon there.”

That was the romantic conversation that sparked the idea to go to Tokyo. When I met him, my husband had not yet traveled overseas, and had limited travels to the southern U.S., growing up in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Since then, we’ve been to London, and he had a two-year college fund-raising career as a long-haul truck driver, seeing over half of the 50 states and parts of Canada most Texans like me will never see. So, I have catching up to do. Naturally, there is no travel challenge he won’t consider, and his mistrust of foreign lands has tapered off. So, in August of 2009, it’s booked, we purchased our guides, got married, and prepared for our adventure.

Fast forward to the beginning of March. We’re doing daily countdowns to our trip, practicing our greetings, and marking pages in the books of the places we want to go.

I compiled a list of items that I wanted to accomplish while I was there:
1. Try to convince the natives that I am a professional wrestler
I am six feet tall, and height/weight proportional. (in a dark, German, massage therapist kind of way)
2. Buying yarn, fabric and lovely paper products
3. Eating sushi for breakfast
4. Catching a Japanese man while attempting to grope me in the
subway, then picking his hand up in the air and calling attention to him.
5. Use the Japanese style loo (it was a goal, but I didn’t think I have the thigh strength to do this.)

Arrival
After the 14-hour flight from Houston, we arrived at Narita airport, greeted by thermal sensors scanning us for elevated body temperatures (they are very serious about bird flu and swine flu over there – we even had a note in our hotel room to report to management if we came down with illness) and then we proceeded to immigration to try out our “Arigato” skills.

First contact with the graciousness of the Japanese people: Everyone kindly directs you to where you need to go with a wave/flourish. They don’t point – it’s offensive. It’s a habit that’s nice to have removed from your daily visuals.The next task was to book our Narita Express tickets on the JR line into town to the Tokyo station. With it, we purchased a SUICA Card. The combination saves you money, especially if you’ll be traveling around the subway system. It’s a proximity card that works on all subway lines, JR lines, and in any shops that carry the SUICA logo – and you can recharge it at any station. If you have a day that you’ll really be running around a lot – be thrifty and buy a day pass – they’re ¥760, and most trips on the subway are ¥160.

Hotel
We arrived at the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka, just southwest of the city center, to be again greeted by wonderful service. The staff spoke much better English than I did Japanese, so I indulged them in plenty of practice. I never had a stall in communication, and had my trusty Japanese-English phrase book for pointing if needed. We’re more of the La Quinta / Best Western types, so we awkwardly accepted help with our bags. We were taken to our room where the air conditioner was kindly cranked up for us, our slippers were laid out and we were wished a good afternoon.

Getting out
We switched around our necessities and I got my camera, passport wallet, sunglasses and tissues ready to go in my purse. Paul threw on the backpack, and we went out to hit the subway – my favorite mode of transportation. (It would be my luck that I live in Houston, where mass transit is sadly very low-income transportation. No one really uses it because it’s efficient.) There are 13 different subway lines in Tokyo, as well as a few train stations. It’s logically organized, and takes little time to familiarize with.

Blending is not really an option – during our trip, we saw few gaijin like us, and none as big in stature. Thankfully again – the Japanese don’t point, and with the exception of a few elderly, they don’t stare either. Ignorance is bliss, so if they were chatting about us, we rarely knew it. Paul heard the word Yankee once, and on principle, I was faux-offended by that, only because I am a seventh-generation Southerner.

Our arrival put us into our hotel around 5 in the evening, and we wanted to get out and get some food, so we walked into the bustling streets around Akasaka to see what we could find. Wandering aimlessly scanning for roman characters or even price signs, it was a bit of a struggle, but we found a spot that said “English Menus!” and popped in. We were seated by a lively group of suits that were smoking, eating and having a great time. We ordered some sushi rolls and devoured about ¥4500 worth of food. (Two rolls and 4 pieces of nigiri sushi). While this was an affordable place for the area, Akasaka is known for being a little bit pricey, where everyone goes in their suits for happy hour and dinner on the company card. If you want a traditional hostess dinner, plan ahead or have your hotel concierge / host help you with booking. There are dinner clubs and bars that are members only, and they’re mixed right in with all the other restaurants.

Planning
I would recommend having subway station names to associate with your shopping or dining destinations or even landmarks like “on the same side of the street as the Sony building”. I overestimated how much I was going to have access to via my iPhone in wi-fi areas. Many stations and areas of town have unsecured wi-fi, but Google maps come up in Japanese, so they’re not much help. And the GPS – not too accurate.

Sadly, I missed out on the large version of the craft store, Yuzawaya and conveyor-belt sushi. However, we did make it to the Tsukiji Fish Market. Follow the advice of the guidebooks and wear your rubber-soled shoes out to a sushi breakfast. For ¥1500, you can enjoy a large helping of super-fresh sushi, delectable miso soup and green tea! The chefs where we dined were snarky and fun, even though we didn’t understand them. There are about 8 seats at each bar-style restaurant – aptly called stalls, because the entire place is about 5’ by 30’.

After breakfast, we set out for Shinjuku Gyoen Park. It was a little early for full cherry blossom joy, but I got my fill of up-close flowers to photograph. There are three styles of garden here, and you can even stop off and have tea at one of the two teahouses on the grounds. This is a great place for sun, sketching, and relaxing. Admission is ¥200.

Subway
Try to be around to witness rush hour in Harijuku station. So many people, and it is not noisy–mainly all you hear is footsteps. People don’t idly blab on the phone and run into each other because they’re not paying attention. Cell phone use is restricted in the cars – some people text or look at their phones, but mainly sit quietly in their bubble. For Star Trek nerds: the metaphors that compare Japanese citizens to the Borg are eerily accurate. Beware when you get off a train and another arrives that connects. You will see a wall of people scurry across to the train you just disembarked. It’s a little overwhelming the first time.

This leads me into the interesting tidbits section:
• Fashion: Despite the amount of walking and trekking around, most women wear heels everywhere. Ouch. Also, the books often mention the office ladies that wear conservative suits and heels. Very accurate, so it is understandable that they treat themselves to fancy Hermes scarves and designer handbags.
• Virtually no one in Tokyo wears sunglasses. My husband and I stuck out.
• No pointing. Even on directions or on a map, they have their fingers together.
• No chivalry in Tokyo. First one to the subway wins. But–if you offer someone the way in front of you, you usually get a bow. That’s nice.
• Guys can be super-fashionable. Japanese do not appear to have the homo- and heterosexual stereotypes by apparel, etc.

Exchanging money
In the March of 2009, the exchange rate was about ¥90 to $1. Keep it simple. Do as few credit card transactions as possible, and keep your ATM visits to a minimum. Post offices which seem to have the best exchange rates on their ATMS, which are international. Not all ATMs are international, so check before heading over. Most small restaurants are cash only, but you can purchase from grocery, and department stores with credit cards. My service fees were $2 each and my international exchange fee was 1%, but it varies by bank. Check with your bank or credit card company.

The biggest of the big
In a metroplex of over 33 million people, there is a door or stairway to explore with every step you take. Everything is tightly packed, but as clean as possible. I would love to have the job as a foodie in Tokyo, because it seems like I couldn’t see it all in a lifetime. Wandering the streets, you are bombarded with signs and adverts for food, drink and shopping. It’s a contrast that these people that have so much available to them, yet still have so many constraints that many Americans couldn’t fathom. I admire the Japanese greatly, and can’t wait to go back.

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