I can't believe I almost missed out on my trip to Japan.
Before coming to Korea, there were a couple places I knew I wanted to travel to while I was here. Japan was never on the list. I don't know why. I had nothing against Japan. There just wasn't anything I had in mind that I wanted to do there. When my friend Jen asked (or more like told me) if I wanted to go to Japan, I kept shooting down the idea. One was because I didn't want to spend more money on another trip quite yet and the other was because Japan never made that list. It wasn't until after my trip to Bali that I decided to book those tickets to Tokyo! I wanted to travel again. I didn't want to go home and think about that one time when I could have gone to Japan but didn't.
We had three days off this week for Chuseok, a holiday in Korea similar to Thanksgiving, which gave us a five day weekend and plenty of time to travel to another country. My travel buddy and I were off to Tokyo for four days.
After what seemed like a never ending subway ride from the airport to Asakusa, we finally made it to our hostel (my first hostel experience, by the way) around midnight. The most important thing to note is that we spotted a Denny's on our walk to the hostel and had no problem deciding we would go there for breakfast the next day! Man, I have missed real breakfast food. It was delicious. And we may have gone there again two days later.
After Denny's on Wednesday, we walked around Asakusa for a bit and spotted a market and the Tokyo Skytree. I didn't buy anything at the market but wish I did because I didn't have another chance to buy souvenirs except for a tiny shop in the airport that didn't have exactly what I was looking for. Nothing I can do about it now, though.
Market
Skytree in the background and me hating taking pictures by myself!
We had some more time to kill so we found some parks to walk around and Starbucks to get the caramel frappe I love before heading over to the sumo wrestling tournament. There's a two week long tournament that takes place in September, so of course we had to go!
Sumo!
Delicious dinner! Soy sauce pork & vegetable ramen.
Thursday we took a break from the typical sightseeing/exploring and after grabbing some Mister Donut for breakfast, we headed over to Tokyo Disneyland. Because why not go to Disney?! So fun.
Splash Mountain
Driving on the right side of the car and apparently not paying attention.
Once we left Disney, we headed off to the second placed we stayed: a capsule hotel. We figured we had to at least try it since we were in Japan. We ended up really liking it except for the bathroom. We had our own little space to sleep, but as far as the bathroom went, it was like jjimjilbang style (a public bath house in Korea that I never plan on going to), so I definitely chose the wash my hair in the sink option in another room full of sinks.
The next morning, we were up and ready at a decent time so Jen asked if I wanted to go to Denny's again. "Is that even a question?" of course was my response! After some more pancakes, we were off to Hakone, a town with views of Mt. Fuji! It was about a 90 minute ride on the express train and then another 40 minute train ride to a cable car which finally took us to the ropeway, but it was awesome. We could see Mt. Fuji from the ropeway and then also on the lake cruise. It wasn't as visible as it is other days I would assume, but I'm still glad we went. My favorite was the ride back on the ropeway because the sun started setting. It was gorgeous.
Mt. Fuji in the background.
Mt. Fuji on the right.
Finally, we were off to Shibuya on Saturday, another part of Tokyo. There were two things we wanted to see there: the statue of Hachi and the famous crossing. If you've seen the movie Hachi then you'll know the dog that I'm talking about. A good but sad movie (based on a true story) and the dog is amazing. There is a statue of him in Tokyo in honor of his story. I had to get a picture with him!
Hachiko
The traffic lights at the famous intersection next to Shibuya Station all turn red at the same time, so people are crossing from every possible direction, yet still no one bumped into me (I'll get to that later). Of course one thing I spotted was the giant Forever 21 sign, so after crossing we headed into the six story Forever 21. We have one in Seoul, but I have yet to go to Seoul. This could have been dangerous, but I only bought three things (a new purse, tank top, and leggings). I could have been in there all day, but I had a plane to catch! Whenever I make it to Seoul, going shopping is definitely on my list of things to do.
Shibuya Crossing
The saddest part of our trip was heading back to the airport. Luckily I got a window seat on the plane, though. It was so pretty with all of the clouds below us and to add to that, a little bit into the 1 hour and 40 minute flight, Mt. Fuji was poking through the clouds!
Looked even prettier from the plane!
One reason I love Japan is because the people are incredibly kind and friendly. This is probably what I will remember the most from this trip. We have several stories where people came up to us and asked if we needed anything or even to give a gift. Here's a little glimpse:
1. After the sumo tournament, a lady came up to Jen in the bathroom, handed her a box and said, "Please use." Hesitating for a second because we weren't sure what was happening, Jen took the box and thanked her. Once we went outside, she opened it up and there were two of these cups in there. The box had sumo print all over it, so we assume she bought them there. Maybe this very kind lady wanted us to remember our trip to Japan? I'm not sure, but it was so thoughtful. And because Jen is so nice, she gave me one of them.
2. After eating dinner, we were walking down the street but decided to go somewhere else, so we turned around quickly and started heading the other way knowing where we were going. A guy stopped us to ask if we needed help finding anything because he saw us turn around.
3. We were walking around one of the areas we stayed in one night and stopped to take a picture of something. We were there for a few minutes and a guy got out of his van and came over to ask if we wanted him to take our picture. Turns out that wasn't what we were doing, but it was so nice of him to check on that for us because no one else was around. He didn't have to get out and do that.
For the stories we have when we were the ones who approached someone, they were always so happy to help and smiling along the way. There were quite a few other things I noticed from the trip and I think a lot of this stems from their kindness. The stories also show some (maybe a little unfortunate where Korea is concerned) differences I've noticed between Japan and Korea.
1. No one stared at us. Not walking down the street. Not on the subway. At least we didn't notice it. I had just commented a few days before going to Japan that I would like to have one day in Korea where I'm not stared at on the subway. It was so nice to be "left alone."
2. No one bumps or runs into you (like I mentioned at the Shibuya Crossing). This amazed me because I've gotten used to being pushed out of the way or hit and no one acknowledging that they feel bad for doing so. In Japan, they waited patiently for people to get off of the subway before they walked onto the train.
3. Everyone was very orderly when walking up or down the stairs and standing on the escalators. Check out this straight line on the left so that people can actually walk up on the right if they are in a hurry! Well done, Japan.
4. Things close early at night or early compared to Korea. People aren't out late and probably at home with their families or sleeping (making is less likely to be worn out I'd assume).
5. I was impressed by everyone's English. Anyone we talked to was able to understand us and help us out right away (except for one guy but that's only one guy!).
6. They show their individuality--hairstyles, clothes, tattoos, piercings. I loved seeing that.
I think it's apparent that I can go on and on about this trip. And to think that I almost didn't go...I really would have missed out! I owe a big thank you to Jen for bugging me until I booked my tickets. Not only is she a great friend that I made in Korea, but she's been a great travel buddy too. She was so right about Japan. I may not have wanted to spend more money so soon, but there is so much to gain from traveling and experiencing new cultures. Despite the differences I just mentioned between Japan and Korea that I have experienced, I am so glad to be living in Korea this year and to have the opportunity to see other countries along the way as well. Whether the cultures are difficult to ease into or refreshing, there is always something to learn and take away from them. I couldn't be more grateful.
