Japan Day 1 - Everything in Japan is Better

I think I woke up around 4:30 am today. It helped that we went to bed at 8pm. We're trying to use jetlag to our advantage and be early risers and get ahead of the crazy crowds in Japan. I'm trying to do an 8/9 bedtime 5/6 wake up every day we're here. We were a bit unsure of what to do in the morning. Waking up at 5am has its perks but of course also has its drawbacks. It will come more in handy in Osaka where there’s more to do early in the morning that’s open and gets wildly crowded as early as 6am. We got up early and were able to spend some time planning our day, not be in a rush on the train stations (which is critical when they’re so damn confusing) and more or less get ready for the day with no rush. Right now, the sun is setting around 7:30ish pm and rising around 5ish am so its really perfect for us to always have daylight. In particular, we weren’t 100% sure what to do in the morning or what to eat. We ended up at a Lawsons and each got an onigiri and a pastry. The onigiri were very good and frankly better than most fish you can get in the US. The entire breakfast was under 500 yen so I think cost us like $3 US. 

We then made our way to the train and up to Odai station (north Tokyo). We walked around the area for a while and walked to see the river. It was beautiful, I’m always struck by the sheer number of people that live in these apartment/condo buildings and in addition I’m always impressed by the sheer number of people who take public transit and walk in Japan. For a city of 14 million (with another 37M in the greater area) and the largest city in the world it really has next to no traffic. It's so clean here too. You could probably eat off of every surface in our airbnb if not just straight up lick it. The hand soap and provided shower soap, shampoo, and conditioner are also top notch, and we have one of those fancy toilets. The toilets are hot here too, like hot to the touch when you sit on it which is a luxury I never knew I loved and will miss upon my return to the US. I don’t remember that from 2017 but I guess I was just less old back then. I really wonder at the amount of energy and related cost spent in Japan every day or month or year on just keeping toilet seats hot. Its even in public bathrooms. I don't know how to turn it off for the environment's sake at our Airbnb and I don't really want to risk it to be honest.

Basically everything in Tokyo makes me happy. Its like the opposite of Texas, everything is small and cute here including the people. The school kids here are literally the cutest. I think Japanese kids are even cuter than French kids. They all wear their little uniforms and little hats (my favorite are the straw with the bow) and then they have their little matching backpacks and then some of them have little safety flags on their backpacks. Its a sight to behold. Since we're up so early we get to catch rush hour both walking on the streets and on the subways and its a treat to watch the little kids going to school. One of the incredible things about Japan is that they have an incredibly low rate of any crime against children, and so even very young children take the subway system and go to school on their own. And on another note, the subways are so clean and quiet. Like seriously there is no trash anywhere here and whats even more impressive is that there’s also basically no trash cans. We brought a reusable bag to put our trash in for the day and then bring it back to the airbnb to throw away in our own trash bin. I don’t know what the locals do but I can only assume it's something similar. 

We ended up googling the trash thing, its a combination of things but basically you're not really supposed to eat in public outside of restaurants in Japan. Most people therefore have very little trash going around with them anyway and eat and throw out their trash at the point of purchase. Additionally they have a strong "your trash your responsibility" thing going and have next to no public trash cans which is quite incredible. We have tho, because I'm not really sure what else to do with take away or 7-11 food. We do try to limit it though. However I think one of life's great pleasures is to take take out to a park and eat in leisure so I don't know what to tell you there. Japan's one great weakness.

The other thing here is just the sheer number of people. Like you can hardly fathom it coming from Portland or Oregon in general. There are So Many PEOPLE. Like literally all day, ALL DAY, there are people everywhere. And they all walk. Part of the reason there’s no traffic is because the train system is so good here. Its hard to understand, extensive, and crazy, but so good. They don’t need to drive generally and that also influences the fact that they walk everywhere. I think that must contribute to the general health of the population is how mobile and physically active they are. I just admire this entire city for working as well as it does. I recall on my last trip at like 4 in the morning, I have no clue why I was out at 4am, but I remember it being 4am and there were so many people walking around as if it was 4pm. Joggers, party goers, students, adults, old people, it was wild. I think I may have checked the time to make sure it wasn’t 4pm thats how unreal it was. It felt like one of those surrealist paintings. 

Anyway, back to our morning. We accidentally ran into an amusement park during our morning walk and they had these amazing and gigantic owls as well as capybarra and kangaroo! We stared at them from outside the fence. I won’t lie, I was a bit against the way the owls were chained into their enclosure because animal cruelty and all, but I won’t lie again and say that they were so cool to look at. Finally, to pass the time we went to this little local tea/cafe and got tea. It was shockingly good and the lady was so nice to us. We can say like 3 things in Japanese, and frankly they take one look at Sam and don’t even try, they just speak english to us. I remember back in 2017 that sometimes people would speak Japanese to me (someone told me it wasn’t that they mistook me for Japanese but because they were just hoping because even the people who deal with tourists all the time feel self conscious about their english) but not Sam. He is a beacon here. We saw one other red-headed tourist the entire day and other than that he was a one man attraction lol.   

At 10 we went to this lady’s house for a cooking class. It was fun if a bit basic. For someone who didn’t know much about japanese cooking or perhaps who hadn’t done much of it it would probably seem a revelation. However I make gyoza at home all the time and we made a 10 hour ramen and tare in January so it was nothing terribly new. However, having access to an actual Japanese person and going into her home was something special to be sure and I really did enjoy the class, plus it was a good lunch. That lady makes a killing I’m sure too because she prices it for American tourists (primarily, one couple who was with us was from Guatemala) and I suspect that its overpriced accordingly. Not that I mind, seeing her actual house was worth it lol. 

We then went to Nippori station and were going to hang out but weren’t sure what to do so we made the long walk to Senso-Ji temple. Its an extremely touristy area and we were kind of overwhelmed. The area near Odai and Nippori are less central and less touristy so Senso-Ji was a shock. There were about a million people but we had a good time walking around and seeing the place. It is humongous. We got these cheese curry buns to try and they were really good. We then walked around the Kappabashi kitchen shopping street and I feel like we’ll likely try to go back on our last day to buy things because that place was awesome we just aren’t ready to carry things yet. 

Last we took a train to Akihibara just to walk around. Again very touristy and full of gadgets and anime so it was a fun time to walk around if not a bit overwhelming. Everything is so good here its shocking. We came back to the airbnb, had dinner at a self order ramen place and came back to pass out. Its not really self serve but you go to a kiosk and select what you want and it prints out these coupons which you then hand to the staff inside. Its mostly a way to avoid interaction I think? Can't tell if thats the point or the product but I like it. It wasn't quite as sectioned off as places I've been to in the past where they have blinders on each seat and a hanging cloth at the front so you literally don't talk to anyone. This place was just a counter around a kitchen so it was fun seeing what they were making and such.