Tokyo Travelogue

I learnt during my recent trip to Tokyo that in order to find and feast on good food, I had to be bold. Very, very bold.

Meaning, even if you do not speak a word of the language, go for it.

Meaning, if you find a hole in the ground or a flight of stairs leading into darkness and have no idea what's at the other end, go for it anyway.

That was how I found and feasted on the following -

Pork ramen on Sunday evening: delicious, only 1150 yen for dinner.Below: tonkatsu (i.e. pork cutlet with rice set) setto on Monday afternoon - only 850 yen for lunch.On Sunday evening, I was actually looking for the tonkatsu setto which had been advertised in the newspapers Life eats several weeks ago. Since it was in Shinjuku and so highly recommended, I was quite determined to have a taste of it, and so I found the outlet.

But I didn't realise it was closed on Sundays. SOBS!

And so, Sunday evening, 13th June, wandering around Shinjuku, what to do for dinner? Well, let's go shopping first, and so I went to Takashimaya Times Square and went up and down several floors looking for food. However, those types of food were not exactly the ones I was longing for. I wanted real Japanese eats. The kind in tiny Japanese places, with a chef behind the counter, preparing the tuna sushi right before your eyes.

Wandering around Shinjuku, by 730 pm, I was starving but still not yet ready to give in to those cheapo, fast food type Japanese foods that seemed to be all over the place. I came upon a doorway, with a flight of steps leading down to the basement of some eatery. There were pictures of some sort of cheap food, and so threading very carefully in order not to tumble down the narrow flight of steps, I went all the way down not knowing what I would find there. Wah, very brave.

Well, I peeped in at the door and saw a few young people with trays, standing at a counter. It looked like a fast food, self-service sort of Japanese eatery. Nope, I already had experienced that a few days earlier! Good tenpura, but no, not again! I hurried back up the narrow stairs and back to the road level before anyone inside the eatery spotted me and called out some sort of welcome.

Back to square one. Still hungry and looking for good food. I soon came upon another hole in the ground, and some pictures of bowls of noodles. All right, let's try again, let's go down this flight of stairs and see what's down there.

I came upon a tiny Japanese eatery and was immediately welcomed by a fat fellow in white apron. I looked cautiously around - there were just three customers - one fellow was at the counter busy slurping his ramen and two men were chatting busily over their empty bowls and smothering cigarettes. Some folk do not like second hand smoke and would beat a hasty retreat, but I had already been welcomed, and did not like to run away. I settled myself at the counter (usually when dining alone, the counter is the best place to sit at, not a table), and picked up the menu.The fat Japanese waiter was friendly and I noted two other men in the kitchen, not very busy. This tiny place was run by the 3 of them. The eatery could seat less than 25 customers if it was full, but it wasn't. The waiter handed me another menu, but it was written in Japanese and had no pictures. I beamed at him and said "wakarimasen" which indicated to him that I was some sort of dumb foreigner who could not read a word of Japanese.

He still continued to be helpful, and tried to explain with his limited English the smallish pictures of food on the menu I was studying. He pointed to one and said "chicken" and to another and said "pork". Ok, no problem, the pork ramen, please! Arigatou!

The slurping man at the counter finished his dinner and left. A well-coffed lady entered the place, and ordered her meal without even looking at the menu.

And so I waited, and took a few photos in the meantime. Thank goodness I took a bold move and found this cosy, friendly eatery at the end of the flight of steps. Really a nice place for dinner, although not many people. Does that mean the food was no good? I was about to find out.

The well-coffed lady who arrived after me received her order after me - also a big basin of ramen plus a plate of a few gyoza. I was greedy for gyoza - the dumplings, but the look of the big basin put me off - I wasn't sure I was able to finish it all. Well, as I started on my delicious ramen, so did the lady, and so did another customer, and the most extraordinary thing was - the well-coffed lady finished her basin and her dumplings in world record time, it seemed to me. She started eating after me, and finished, apparently polishing off everything clean, even before I was half-way through my food, paid for it and left!

I knew she polished everything clean because as the fat waiter was clearing the dishes, I looked and saw that the basin... er bowl had very little soup left, and there were no dumplings left over either. How DID she eat so fast?? Incredible, impossible!

Anyway, in Japan, it was perfectly acceptable to slurp your noodles as loudly as possible to show the chef how good his food was. And in this little eatery, the kitchen and the chef was very near by. I had already shown myself to be a foreigner unable to read Japanese menus, but I didn't want to upset any Japanese chefs, and so I started slurping as well. It was easy. Making loud, rude noises as the ramen went into your mouth - no problem at all. Hmmm, oiishi!!!

Well, I tried to speed up my eating aftert the lady with the super-fast eating left, but it was quite impossible. The bown of noodles was really quite large. And the pork was good, wonderfully cooked, and each piece was large and very filling. I was greedy to try the gyoza and was still thinking of ordering some, maybe just two or three, after I'm done with my ramen. In the meantime, another male customer arrived, also ordered the same ramen plus the dumplings, and started eating.

It seemed a standard thing - have one big bowl of noodles plus the dumplings, but I couldn't. No more room. I had to finish all my food and not leave any behind, and that included slurping up the wonderful soup, and then I took out money to pay the fat waiter.

Maybe I would come back for gyoza another time. Or another trip. Maybe. Oooooh, it was good.

Well, the next day, I finally went to Ton Chin Kan for the tonkatsu setto. Busy place, and a very, very busy old man serving as the waiter. I upsetted him twice, and had to use the ultimate Japanese apology phrase - "gomen nasai" to show how sorry I was, otherwise I might have been thrown out and down the narrow flight of steps. Oh well, look out for this story another time.

I've known too many people who go to Japan or other countries on tour packages. Reason for their booking tour packages - convenience; just let the tour guide take you to this place or that place; hotels and meals are included.

Hmm. I do not like tour packages. Even the one about one and a half years ago - to the Holy Land (Egypt, Jordan and Israel). I would so much prefer to explore places, especially Jerusalem on my own.

Well, regarding Tokyo or Japan, I've discovered how easy it was to go on a free and easy trip, despite not knowing a word of the language. It was quite, quite impossible to get lost even in this vast city of 12 million people of Tokyo. Armed with a map of the subway/train lines, one can go practically anywhere, between 5am and 1 am every single day. How easy could it be?? Well, unless you are totally map-challenged and could not tell north from east, or could not read road signs. Or if you'd left your brains behind in your home country.

I've also discovered that not knowing the Japanese language was an advantage in Tokyo. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. During instances when I did try out some Japanese phrases, I got more confused than when I simply started with English. Every Tokyo resident I have asked directions or help from could manage some sort of English, but of course, do choose your targets carefully and wisely.

For instance, do not ask elderly ladies for directions. I never did. They ought to be left alone and not have to contend with confused tourists.

I've also discovered that the female species (of which I am one) are more map-challenged than the male species. During my whole Tokyo trip, I can recall only asking ladies twice to clarify directions.

The first time, if I recall correctly, was when we were all cramped in a lift, and were looking for the onsen, or hot springs spa. In the lift with us were two ladies, pushing a pram which did not contain any babies, but two black poodles. Oooooooh, so cute, so cute, and I patted the poodles on their heads. And then, to clarify directions to the onsen, I showed them the address and asked if we were heading in the right direction.

The older lady pushing the pram of poodles shook her head at once - to indicate she had no idea or could not help us. The younger lady, I shall assume is the daughter, looked at the address, and somewhat nodded and somewhat said yes, the onsen was nearby.

The second time I asked the female species for directions was when I had just finished a great leafy breakfast plus iced coffee at Doutor, and I was looking for the Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku. I decided to clarify directions with the two girls who were behind the counter of this popular coffee joint (even more popular than Starbucks!)

My Doutor breakfast.One of the many Doutor outlets all over Tokyo and the whole country.The Doutor outlet at the street junction.The first girl at Doutor - took one look at my map which I was pointing at, shook her head and called her colleague over. Her colleague was very helpful, and nice, and pored over my map for some time. I supposed, it was because the map was in English. Well, she tried to explain - all I was asking was which direction I should walk next - because this Doutor was at the corner of a junction and there were four roads. She took out a pen, and tried to pinpoint where we were, and then traced the path where I was to walk. Ok, that was good enough.

Now, do note at no point was I ever totally lost - I asked directions simply to clarify and ensure that I was indeed heading the right way, to save time. I was never totally lost in various parts of Tokyo, thank God.

Oops, just remembered - I did ask a lady during another instance for directions to some place. It was hilarous. This happened at the onsen and we had finished our bath and I was waiting for my sister to be done with her massage in another part of the building. I knew there was a little eating place or restaurant within the spa, and went to the lady behind the counter to ask for it. I also knew, that "restaurant" in Japanese is quite similar to English - the Romanised Japanese version is written as "resutoran".

So I asked - where is the restaurant? Er... res suu TOR ran??

After repeating it a few times to the blur lady, she, whom I finally realised didn't know much English at all, very helpfully pointed me the way. She even came out from behind the counter and took me all the way there, and even repeated, "rest suu toran". Except that it wasn't. It was the restroom. The ladies toilet.

Well, I nodded amiably, said "Hai!" and then "Arigatou" and then returned to my seat to wait for my sister. I had no need of the um... restroom at that time.

Lesson to learn: Ask men for directions. Do not ask the female species!

Our best occasion asking for directions and getting it, was when we were looking for the Tokyo Opera City in Shinjuku. We left our hotel and knew we could walk to it on foot, except that... the map we had was quite basic and we were not sure which direction it was at. While strolling uncertainly on the pavement, I saw one lone Japanese man walking towards us, and mentally decided to waylay him as soon as he was near enough, to ask for directions to the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. He was compared to the thousands of clones of salarymen in their suits and ties, was actually dressed quite casually.

So, the unsuspecting man approached. I confronted him with a "sumimasen", which is a very good word to memorise for all tourists going to Japan. Just say "Sumimasen" loudly to any Japanese and you will catch their attention. They will either stop and look at you inquiringly, or make way for you.

So, this fellow stopped walking at my "sumimasen" and I put the little map under his nose and asked "Doko?" He peered at it this way and that, and when we spoke English amongst ourselves, he also spoke English... good English! When he found out we came from Singapore, he at once declared he had visited our lovely island twice, and his company has an office in Singapore. He spoke English!

Not only that, he was extremely helpful! He wasn't sure of the location of the Opera City himself, and so he whipped out his iPhone, or some sort of wonderful phone model, dialed his friend, and asked his friend who was at goodness-knows-where for directions to the Opera City.

It didn't stop there. This helpful Japanese gentleman, after confirming directions with his friend on the phone, told us he would take us part of the way, to our great delight. And he set off at a great speed, as usually all Japanese would walk, great strides, great speed, while some of us wearing killer high heels had big trouble keeping up. Along the way, we chatted, and he told me he would visit Singapore again in October. Well, you are MOST welcome!

He took us part of the way, as he promised, and then gave me back my map and pointed out the rest of the way to us. We made it to the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall in good time, with 5 minutes to spare before the performance of the Vienna Boys Choir.

Oooooh, because of such good experiences, I could not wait to visit the land of the Rising Sun again. Wonderful, helpful people, despite their some time limited English abilities! And, oh yes, I did find the real restaurant, not the restroom, at the spa eventually, and we had lunch there.

Friday 11 June (continued) - attended the Vienna Boys Concert at the Tokyo Opera Concert Hall in Shinjuku at 7pm. Then it was a slow stroll back to our hotel for the night.

Saturday 12 June - left early for the Tsukiji Fish Market in the morning. It sure was a busy place, and needed also to make a choice which sushi place to go in for the freshest seafood. Returned to the hotel by 12.30 pm to get ready for the afternoon Vienna Boys Concert - yup, the second one we are attending! We got free tickets for this second concert!

After the concert at 4pm, we watched the crowds with amusement as they ran after a few Vienna Boys who had come out to say hi and pose for pictures. My word, these were some crazy fans! Took the train to their hotel in the evening, and walked to the Roppongi area for shopping. Walked to Tokyo Tower for dinner before a very hasty trot back to the hotel to send the boys back for the night.

Sunday 13 June - Shopping Day! We headed for Harajuku for lunch and a day of shopping. Takeshita Dori was packed full of mostly young teens and many tourists. Then a quick stroll to the Meiji Shine for a look-see, and took the train back to Shinjuku for another round of shopping at Takashimaya Times Square.

Dinner was a huge basin of ramen with pork in a tiny basement shop which could seat about 20 people at most. Found it by being very brave and descending into the depths without knowing what was there!

Monday 14 June - checked out of hotel before 10 am. Went for hair cuts and last tour of Shinjuku with breakfast and lunch. It drizzled for the whole morning.

Returned to hotel by 1.30 pm to catch the Airport Limousine Bus to the airport. After checking in, it was one last round of shopping before our flight home at 645 pm.

Tuesday 8 June - woke up 3 am to go to the airport by 4 am. YaaaaAAAWWWNNNN! Our flight from 545 am to 1 am on Delta Airlines.

We caught the train to the city, reached Shinjuku Station and although we were prepared to be lost in it (the busiest station in the world with nearly 4 million people using it daily!!) but... most surprisingly, we had no problems. Had problems finding our way to the hotel, though. Finally, after about 20 minutes of dragging luggage down the streets, we saw a police post and asked for directions. We had "over-shot" only slightly, and retraced our steps, found the right road and checked into our hotel.

In the evening, we went out to explore our surroundings, and promptly got lost in the dazzling bright lights of the small streets in West Shinjuku. Found dinner at a Japanese fast food place, and did plenty of shopping till we had parted with several thousand yen.

Wednesday 9 June - Out of our hotel by 9 am to make our way to another hotel, to meet the Vienna Boys Choir! We had to take two metro trains and being unfamiliar with the transfer, we were slow and were nearly late! Caught the Disney Resort bus in the Roppongi area which was fetching the Vienna Boys (all 24 of them) to the Disneyland Resort for a whole day of fun.

It was drizzling that morning. Not the best day to visit Disneyland. At the theme park, the boys were split into groups of four and the one which belonged to us (i.e. two of the four boys were ours and the other two their friends) became our responsibility that day. Our first stop: the Big Thunder Mountain ride.

It drizzled intermittently that day, till the late afternoon. That did not dampen our spirits nor the parades and fun that was going on. And despite it being 'low season' plus the wet weather, the park was C-R-O-W-D-E-D!! Incredible! Big Thunder Mountain ride had a long queue of 90 minutes, but we took the Fastpass and came back later without queuing. Another popular ride, Splash Mountain, also had a long queue of nearly two hours.

The evening ended with the dazzling electric lights parade of a million lights, and the fireworks. Then, we said bye-bye to the Vienna Boys and caught the train home to Shinjuku.

Thursday 10 June - the boys had another day at the resort to tour Disneysea, but we decided not to join them this time. Our feet... they were hurting from too much walking the previous day! And so, we had a leisurely morning, and then headed out to an onsen i.e. a Japanese hot springs spa for a few hours of relaxation, plus massage. However, a couple of folk in our group who were not used to the um... Japanese custom of relaxing in hot springs bath did not quite relax.

After the spa, we returned to the train station and on the spur of the moment, decided to take it to Shibuya instead of back to Shinjuku. The highlight of the day - spending two hours at the Burbury Blue Label section of the department store and picking out handbag, wallet, dresses and other pieces of clothing without even looking at the price tags. Another highlight, coming upon the Hachiko Exit unexpectedly and being reminded of the famous dog. We simply had to take pictures with it... with the statue, I mean, even though it was suddenly drizzling again.

Friday 11 June - Our two boys would be singing in the Vienna Boys choir that evening, but they had a free morning, and so their mummy wanted to visit them at their hotel. We spent the morning with them, packing up a very messy er... room, because they had stuff they wanted us to bring back to Singapore for them. Well, they had a lot of stuff!

I headed for Tokyo Tower which was within walking distance from their hotel, and had lunch there. Checked out the temple nearby, and then explored the area before heading back to Shinjuku for a rest.

to be continued... see Part Two

There are just too many people who do not know much about planning for an overseas trip. Well, of course you do not need to plan anything in advance - until you reach the destination airport and then pick up all the free brochures you can find. But if you'd rather prepare for it before you even board the flight, here are some tips. You can start with these -

1) The first step is to read all about the country/city you are going to. Here are some examples:

http://tokyo-tokyo.com/
http://www.tokyoessentials.com/
http://picturetokyo.com/
http://japan-guide.com/
http://www.virtualtourist.com/

After reading all the above and getting bug-eyed, you can then copy and print what interests you and what does not. For instance, Disneyland interests me. Disneysea does not. For someone else, oh well, it's the other way round. But let me explain -

I've been to the real, original Disneyland before, more than a decade ago. Spent two days there. We also spent two days at Universal Studios Hollywood, and another day at San Diego Seaworld, but the one I still remembered, and had the most fun, was Disneyland. Two days not enough! And since Tokyo Disneyland is supposed to be a copy of the original one, I am planning to ride It's A Small World as many times as I like (oooh, I can still picture those cutey dolls!), and go knocking at Mickey's house, and knock at the Haunted House as well... Disneysea, on the other hand.... um, anything to do with the sea or lots of water, I'd stay far away from, or else drug myself till too sleepy to enjoy it anyway. Thank you.

2) After reading and feeling that you've been there already even though you have not, it's time to explore maps. Travellers used to buy printed city maps, or get them for free at the airport. Nowadays, maps are a dime a dozen on the internet. Copy, paste, print before you even get there, and you can even use Google satellite pictures for a bird's eye view of the city!

Google Maps
Tokyo City maps
Tokyo JR Train station maps

This, however, is not for the map-challenged i.e. those who cannot read one but depend on the sun or the mountain for navigation. I am glad to say my family is not map-challenged, and so, even for the busiest subway station in the world, which serves nearly four million people daily (eeps, that's the whole population of Singapore??) I print a map so that we can find our way in and out of it as quickly as possible.

In fact, if you can't navigate from a map, please don't go free and easy trip! Or if you do, please speak the language so that you can ask people for directions every ten steps.

3) For stuff which you have questions about and can't find on the websites, checking out the travel forums is a great idea.

Japan Guide Forum
Virtual Tourist Forum

And if you still have some odd question you can't find the answers to, you can ask the forum without even having to get registered. I did, I asked two questions about Tokyo at the Japan Guide Forum, and got very useful replies almost immediately.

4) In Tokyo, the cheapest way to get around is by the train or subway. To find out more about trains -

JR Japan Raily Company website
Tokyo Metro website
Train and subway times and schedules

Hyperdia.com is the most useful Tokyo itinerary planner I've found on the internet. Once you have decided where you are staying (i.e. where your hotel is) and where you would like to go, use this website to find out the shortest or cheapest way from Point A to Point B. Of course you need to know the name of the train stations at both Point A and Point B.

For instance, to take the train from Narita Airport to Shinjuku, type in the station names in the boxes:You will get several Route Options, such as this: If the above seem too expensive, you can look for the cheapest option:5) And finally, do learn a couple of phrases of the local language just in case you get lost and lonely and feel like crying! The most useful I've found online is this:

http://japanese-phrases.sakura.ne.jp/

Because they provided audio for each and every word, you can download and/or play it back a zillion times instead of trying to pronounce those Romanji words yourself. Download the audio to your mobile phone if you still really, really can't pronounce the language. And then, when you do get lost and feel like crying, you can look for a helpful local, point your mobile phone at him/her and play the audio for whatever you want to say. Easy!

While spending the last few days planning the free and easy itinerary for our Tokyo trip next week, I could not help but realise from the online forums and internet postings that most people actually do not do very much planning for a trip. Well, I supposed they liked the challenge of going to a completely new place, and not know what to do and see next, huh.

Not me. I'm quite a planning freak. And I do so with the idea that I am not rich enough to go to that very same country or city again in this same lifetime, and so I should make the best use of my few days there.

The first free and easy trip I ever planned for was a holiday to Sydney Australia more than a decade ago. Those were before internet days and so I purchased a travel guide to look through it. And I realised before that holiday that 'planning' ran in the family - my brother was also going along that trip and unknown to me, he had also purchased a travel guide, but not the same one. And so, to our glee, we had two different travel guides of Sydney to explore and plan waaaay before we ever set foot into Sydney. Yup, we had a good trip. It rained every other day, but the wet weather didn't faze us since we had a whole list of things to do and could pick and choose the best ones - like a buffet.

So now, going to Tokyo - a most challenging city. Twelve million people, is it? And we don't speak the language? I've got the buffet i.e. the maps and itineraries ready. Where to eat, where to go, what to do... we will pick and choose.

Go to my Facebook page to view over 100 photos of our food adventures in Japan!