Tokyo to Nikko and Thunderstorns

We slept in until almost 6 this morning! Going out for our run, we saw a lot more people out walking, jogging and biking. Along the path by the river, there are a bunch of large replicas of works of art that had the Sumidagawa in them. Some very nice paintings and scenery.

We always love riding the Shinkansen, the bullet trains, in Japan. They are so futuristic compared to the trains we have, both with the interior comfort, and the exterior appearance.

K.I.T.T. on steroids

The trip to Nikko was quite uneventful, which is always a good thing when traveling, though the thunderstorms rolled in while we were traveling. We arrived at the Nikko JR station and looked around a bit while we waited for the shuttle to the hostel.

Nikko Station dates back to the late 1800's, and it is mostly the same building that it has been since 1910.

Old fashioned ticket counters

"Scout" (real name unknown) picked us up in a rather serious downpour and proceeded to drive us far more quickly than was prudent in any weather, let alone a thunderstorm, to the hostel. The Space River House. The name means nothing, other than the owner (the previously mentioned "Scout") probably has done a lot of drugs. It is a rambling series of lofts and other buildings connected to an old onsen resort. A really different, but interesting and nice, hostel. You never know what you are going to get with hostels. This one is quite good.

Main public room, what used to be the dining hall for the resort, complete with kotatsu and a stage. 

complementary iMacs in all the public areas, and very fast wi-fi. 

a view out the back window. The hostel is in the middle of the mountains, miles from anything else.

 a view from the outside

the central, outdoor public area. Notice the projector hanging above. There is an Apple TV and input jacks to stream from any device. How perfectly 21st century.

Scout took all the guests that needed dinner to Matsuya Shokudou (at the intersection of 149 and 164 for anyone in the area), where we had some of the best standard Japanese food we've eaten in quite a while. Sumi had some Vegetable Itame (Japanese stir-fry) and I had Gyudon (beef and onions over rice). Good flavors, no fish, dirt cheap ($12 for both of us). we were too tired and hungry to take pictures (again!).

Tomorrow we'll chance the rain and head out to the national park for some nature hiking.

Shopping in Ameyo and Seeing Kodo

Another nice early morning run started the day, with some actual sunlight. It's really quite something to run through the Sensouji temple grounds before anyone (even the monks!) are up and down across the old Orange Road district to get to the Sumidagawa.

Sensouji at dawn 

An empty Orange Road.

Today's plan was to do some shopping in Ameyo (Ameya Yokochou, or American Alley) and see Kodo's "Dadan" show in the afternoon. Since nothing in Tokyo opens until 10, we decided to hang out in Asakusa for a while, then take a stroll down to Ueno. For breakfast, we stopped at the local Denny's located above the local 7-11 on the main street. Only in Japan. The breakfasts were an approximation of eggs, bacon and toast. Everything in Japan is a little less cooked and a little too fatty for my tastes, but it was a good protein replacement after running. Apparently, you are given ketchup with your eggs in Japan (I know they do this in the US, but I always thought it was for the hashed browns), and while we didn't sample said delicacy, we got a kick out of the condiment.

Restaurant Table Tomato

We stopped at the local "Donki" (a discount chain called Don Quixote, but they can't pronounce their own store, so they call it Donki) for a look around. Imagine a Super Wal-Mart squeezed into a small four story building. They have food, toiletries, home goods, furniture, anything. And all slightly cheaper than the other stores. We spent about half an hour trying to find some lotion, shaving cream and band-aids. When everything on the shelves is garish pink and white, in Japanese and in no discernible order, it can take a while. We also grabbed some snacks for later this evening.

Kaaru, a corn puff-like snack. This one is curry flavored, according to the frog, and spicy, according to the Mexican Ranchero who has never tasted Indian curry in his life. Japan has some of the most outlandish salty snack foods you have ever seen. This one is tame, and quite good.

Coke Life. Actually a pretty good lo-cal soda, with real sugar (and sucralose). Available in the States, but not common. Here, it's everywhere.

Heading down to Ueno, we walked down Kappabashi-douri and stopped at some of the now-open plastic food stores.

 The items are expensive, as they are essentially little plastic works of art, but are always fun to look at.

A Curry Rice with Egg Spoon Keychain

The fruit bowl is a mini-masterpiece.

Taking a shortcut through the subway tunnels, we spotted a rather unique vending machine.

Arriving at a bustling Ameyo, we were on a mission to find a cheap suitcase to carry our souvenirs and such.

Ameyo is really the closest thing to a night market Tokyo has. Everything is cheap, not all of it is legal and you can find anything. It also houses a few active shrines that are set back among all the shops.

 Ameyo is also one of the better street food sources in Tokyo. Fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh and salted meats and fish, spices and restaurants of all kinds are found here. Most of the food we saw we either couldn't use (no kitchen to cook in) or wouldn't touch (whole, dried, salted squid on a stick), but we did stop for some fresh pineapple on a stick

You buy the food and eat it right in front of the stand. You do NOT walk and eat. Bad manners in Japan and something you will rarely see. They had a bucket with water and a hose to clean yourself up after eating the fruit.

We stopped in the Ueno Yodobashi Camera to look for some games, and came across some interesting looking items.

No surprise, a ton of Super Mario games and toys

A lot of "nano-blocks" sets, small lego knock-offs. Sumi wanted the Hello Kitty cafe set, but it was really too much for what it was ($25 for a little box of blocks).

I managed to find the original Lost Legacy card sets here, which surprised me. Otherwise it was mostly just browsing and killing time until lunch, which was one of Sumi's favorite places. Oushou Kurea, a gyoza diner chain.

Gyoza lunch set - $9

And on our way to the concert hall, we stopped at Vie de France for some dessert.

It was hot outside, all right?

Panda Pastries. Again, only in Japan.

Arriving at the Asakusa Koukaisho a half hour before showtime, there was quite a crowd already there.

Of course, no photos or video allowed at the show, but we did get a chance to take some shots of the stage before the performance started

A very good show. A few random notes. Apparently, in Japan, if you think the emergency exit lights will ruin your stage show, you can have them turned off. Japanese seats are consistently JUST too short for me. At 6 feet tall, I rarely feel like a giant. An exception is when I'm in a crowd of older Japanese people. We were seeing a Monday matinee show, so the average age was probably about 60. I towered over nearly everyone. Waiting in the crowd to get in, I saw no one that stood past my shoulders. The younger generations are significantly taller, so I usually don't stand out quite as much. Except for the white skin. And long hair. And blue eyes.

Tomorrow we head out for Nikko, an area filled with temples, a wildlife sanctuary, a national park, waterfalls, lakes and, usually, tons of Japanese tourists.

The Unbearable Lameness of Jetlag

If there is any positive about jetlag, it is that you are able to get up far earlier than you normally would. This is, of course, only advantageous if you have a reason to be up early. Fortunately we do. Marathon training. It gets very hot and humid in Tokyo this time of year, so the earlier we can get our running in, the better. We got ourselves up and out around 4:15, with sunrise coming about 15 minutes later. It was a very hazy, humid morning, but still quite cool without the sun.

Leaving our hotel and heading east towards Sumidagawa (The Sumida river), we got a look at the neighborhood we were in. It is your typical Asakusa neighborhood, with nice, working class homes, restaurants, shops. And love hotels.

A 3 hour "rest" for $35

The Hotel Shirobara....Part 2? Sounds like a horror movie title

There are three love hotels in the same block as our hostel, meaning we are in a very quiet area. No one wants to draw attention to themselves going in and out of one. As we leave the immediate area, we get a great view (when the clouds aren't so heavy) of the new Tokyo Sky Tree.

Nice view just before dawn

In a few blocks, we came upon the always beautiful Sensouji temple. This famous temple is always crawling with tourists. Except before dawn, when it's just us, the police officers in their koban and an occasional senior citizen out for a walk. It was very peaceful and really cool being able to see the temple grounds empty. A nice way to start out run.

After jogging down the Orange Road, a famous shopping/theater district dating back about 100 years, we came to the Sumidagawa. Nearly all major rivers in metro areas in Japan have trails running the length of the rivers, and Sumidagawa is no exception. Paved running and cycling paths mixed with terraced garden walkways run for miles up and down the river. I had 8 miles to do, so I picked a direction (north) and went with it. Watching the sun "rise" (couldn't actually SEE the sun with all the clouds) over the river was quite nice.

So, being up early for a run is great, but finishing said run by 6:00am in Tokyo has its disadvantages. The city doesn't open until 10. When I say the city, I mean nearly all stores, most restaurants, everything. As a result, even taking our time walking to Ueno Station, walking down Kappabashi, the street famous for restaurant supplies, plastic food, and amusing signs

First, who is Dr. Goods? Second, why do they have a sign in front of a storefront, in English, asking someone to clean up after their dog? How many English speaking people own a dog in Tokyo and walk it down Kappabashi and leave the poo there? The number has to be very close to zero.

There was nothing open other than konbinis and the one restaurant that caters to foreigners, The Hard Rock Cafe. Now, the good news is they have decent breakfasts, so we had some good eggs, hashed browns and toast...and still had two hours before things opened up. We strolled down to Akihabara (about 1.5 miles), passing through Ameyo, the "night market" of Ueno 

Also not open until 10

and stopped a little further south to browse a discount supermarket (good prices and good-looking food that we couldn't buy, since we have no kitchen to cook in) and, with still over an hour to go, we stopped in a local bakery chain, Vie de France (that sounds Japanese, right?) and rewarded ourselves for our walking and running

Cinnamon roll and "Angel Puff Apple Cream Roll". Oh yeah.

When shops finally opened up, we did a little shopping and one of our favorite sports in Japan, people watching. There was some sort of event going on at a pachinko parlor

What's the only thing that gets an otaku out of bed early on a Sunday morning? Idol meet-and-greets.

and the Sunday Akiba Flea Market. They used to let people perform in the street, shutting down the main drag on Sundays, but stopped that. Now, there is a flea market that has a variety of stuff, largely anime/game stuff but clothing, housewares and other stuff as well. It's pretty big, too, spanning several blocks.

View from a balcony above of part of the flea market

Only in Japan will you have the same flea market vendor selling cute stuffed pandas and large Godzilla figures...

We also stopped in a couple of used stores, Hobby Off and Book Off looking for cheap collectibles, books and games. I found a vintage Japanese printing of Monopoly from the 1960's, by the look of it. I didn't pick it up (I already HAVE a copy of Monopoly, and we don't have the luggage space for big board games), but took a picture of the unique cover.

Hot dog restaurant near the station. Looks appetizing, right?

After a morning of walking and shopping, we took the train to Meguro for the best Indian food in Japan, Rasoi. I was too jetlagged and tired to take pictures of the food, but I think we have about 100 of them in earlier posts, so I'll spare you this time! Full and tired, we headed back to the hotel....and were both asleep by 5pm! Our goal tomorrow: make it to 6!

Adventures in Flight Delays

Actually, it wasn't as bad as the title makes it sound. Our flight to Toronto was delayed by over two hours (we blame Canada), meaning we would have about 20 minutes to catch our transfer to Narita, if everything went as planned. We spent the next two hours in lines getting transferred to a direct flight out of O'Hare (we blame Canada), then were the last people on the plane, as someone forgot to add us to United's computer system (we blame Air Canada). All in all, though, it ended up for the better (thanks, Canada!). The food was surprisingly good on the flight (Aloo Gobi for lunch and omelets for breakfast), it was a direct flight, and, leaving four hours later than originally planned, we arrived an hour earlier than we would have with our original flights.

Everything else about this trip has been amazingly easy. The customs and immigration lines were short in Narita, which never happens. Exchanging our cash was very fast. American Express has stopped issuing traveler's cheques, which was how we used to bring our money over, because the exchange rate was better than cash. The result of this was to spend almost half an hour with me signing fifty cheques, then one of the Japanese bankers signing all of them (well, stamping them with a hanko), then handing behind him to his superior to verify them, then handing behind HIM to the guy in charge of the bank branch to verify it again, meaning everyone counted my traveler's cheques about three times. The cash was put in a machine, which counted it, and boom, done. I think it's worth the 2 cents on the dollar for that.

We got to the Keisei Skyliner, the fast train to Ueno, got our tickets and boarded all in about ten minutes. Transferring to the Ginza line in Ueno took about the same, and in just over one hour we were standing in our hotel room.

This is starting out as one of the most boring blogs I've written. Nothing went very wrong and what did go wrong ended up being better in the long run. As the twenty hour day is setting in, I'll post more interesting things with some pics tomorrow about the neighborhood we're staying in and the local sights.

Off and Running

Well, we're off on another trip to the Land of the Rising Sun (say that to a Japanese person and they'll most likely look at you funny).

Despite constant loud laugher and occasional screaming from what sounded like a middle school slumber party in a nearby room at our hotel, I was exhausted enough from the combined end of the semester, trip to the Origins Game Faire, thesis work and trip preparation that I was up, well-rested, at 5:30 ready to go.

Sumi got to sleep around 3:30. She was a tad less ready to go.

Nevertheless, we were at the shuttle on a rainy, Chicago morning heading to O'Hare or the first leg of the trip. With summer construction underway, many of the terminals were restricted to small vehicles, so we were dropped off a good ways away from the terminal. There was a helpful, if slightly late, sign *on the bus* telling us to leave 15 minutes earlier because of this. We usually give ourselves two hours for international flights, so we weren't too concerned.

Getting to the airport, it was very quiet, especially for O'Hare. No line for automated check-in, no line for security (!) and, we ended up taking part in a pilot program for the TSA. They are "testing" a new, experimental security screening process that allows you to keep your shoes on, keep your stuff in your bags and not get biometrically scanned. In other words, the way we used to get screened fifteen years ago. They think this program just might speed up the security lines and improve customer satisfaction, but they will have to study it for several months before they can be sure...

As a result of the lack of crowds and the miraculous new security procedures, we were sitting at our gate almost two hours before takeoff. The O'Hare free wifi is, as usual, not working, so Sumi got on her iPad and logged into work (she has a LOT of work to get done before the 1st. Happy vacation!) and I got to blogging.

We are not doing a cycling trip this year, and as a result are only bringing carry-on luggage. This is, of course, quite convenient, but has the added side-effect of making us constantly feeling like we've forgotten something. We are, instead, taking part in a week-long intensive Inadani Taiko workshop in Iida city, a small city in the middle of several mountain ranges, southeast of Nagano. The workshop starts next week, is six hours a day of instruction and rehearsal and culminates in us giving a performance at a local Taiko festival. During the workshop, we will learn technique and maintenance on taiko, as well as some introduction to koto and shakuhachi (which I am very excited about). Combine intense taiko workouts, mountain air and marathon training (started up again last week), I will most likely be a quivering blob of jelly at the end of each day, and am anticipating sore muscles and blisters, but looking forward to it, nonetheless.

This does give us a full week in Japan before the workshop starts, and we plan on being more typical tourists that usual during that time, spending some time in Tokyo, of course, visiting the historical mountain area of Nikko for a few days and finally, if we're lucky, seeing the Ramen Museum in Yokohama. Sumi also found out that Kodo will be performing at the Taito-ku Community Theater, the same small theater we saw Taro Kobayashi perform in last year. As the theater is walking distance from our hotel, we picked up some tickets for a matinee on Monday. After seeing them at the Chicago Symphony earlier this year, it will be quite a change seeing them in a theater on the second floor of a public library.

That is the plan anyway. In any case, we are off!