Category: Travel

I’m not sure if it is universal, but museums in China and Japan are typically closed on Mondays (barring some national holiday that shifts the “rest day”). So, for my last day in Tokyo, I had to exercise a little creativity. The first order of business was to go to the Sumo stadium by 7:30 am when the ticket sales began. After a quick walk there in the bright sunlight, I was blinded by the sheer number of people already lined up, wrapped around the building and stretching out into the horizon. People must have shown up at 6 or even earlier to get on line. What the hell?! It wasn’t encouraging that at least three quarters of the line was composed of obvious tourists. While sumo wrestling would be interesting to experience, the idea of an entire stadium of gaijin is a bit off putting. On to plan B.

There were a few places covered by the Grutto Pass that are open on Mondays. The only problem is that they are a little far flung. Doing quick back of the envelope math, I decided to would be worthwhile to invest in a 1-day transit pass covering Tokyo Metro, Toei, and JR lines. I headed over to Tsujiki Market to kill a little. This is the famous market that people go to at 3am for a chance to watch tuna auctions. I had no interest in that, but had been thinking about getting there by 7 one day to find the fruit auctions. I was a bit late for either, and wondered about, kicking myself for having already eaten a breakfast when the market was essentially set up as a tourist trap selling expensive meals. It was overrun with foreigners as well.

Since the nearby Hama-Rikyu Gardens didn’t open until 9am, I had plenty of time to kill and located one more Aeon Bank ATM to confirm that my card does not work. I didn’t have any cash on me, but a couple money changers I passed advertised terrible rates.

The Tokyo bay adjacent gardens were nice and I covered them with a quick loop before heading over to the nearest station which provided direct access to the Mirakan (Museum of Emerging Technology). However, when I tried to swipe myself into the elevated train, I discovered that my pass didn’t work. I forgot that apart from two major subway operators, there are a handful of private rail lines in Tokyo. It’s a mess to have so many independent companies operating public transport. One “station” on the map is often several mutually unconnected stations of the same name. It would have been an extra 300 something yen to go a couple stops on that line. Completely ridiculous.

I decided to mix up the itinerary and head out to the Tokyo Sea Life Park, which is only accessible by JR line and almost as far out of town as Disney Land. The aquarium had several smallish hammerhead sharks, and apart from a couple of school groups was much quieter than the typical tourist favorites. To reach the Miraikan without shelling out more cash for transportation, I was able to get on a Toei operated bus outside the neareast JR station.

I was expecting the Miraikan to be super crowded, but it wasn’t. I got there just in time to watch the Asimo presentation. Asimo is the Honda-built robot. I think we are already on the 8th generation or so because I can remember news footage from however long ago. Asimo was crazy, as were the other handful of robots on display at the museum, including the baby seal one. The museum had displays explaining high tech material science, quantum computing, a module from the International Space Station, and lots of other fascinating interactive stuff. The “future medicine” exhibited included a hands-on laparoscopic surgery simulation.

As I was making good time, I knew of one more museum open on Monday. It was actually near the gardens I went to first. On the subway, I wasn’t paying attention and missed my stop. However, instead of going back, I kept on to Ginza so I could walk through that neighborhood on the way to the museum. I popped into a Family Mart just around the corner from the museum for a little snack.

The Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art is in an office building, and it felt weird to walk around in my shorts and sandals while various business people were going about their business. The exhibit was completely dedicated to some 19th century French painter whose name has already escaped me. It was a loan from his museum in Paris, but it seems they didn’t send over the good stuff. Most of the paintings looked unfinished and a fair number of them were preliminary sketches or other practice runs for a later piece.

I was pretty tired by this point, and took the subway back to the hostel to rest up a bit. I still had the unlimited subway pass, so I figured I should try to go to some more places at night. Of course, I also wanted to avoid the height of the evening rush hour, so I killed a bit of time at the hostel. I did grab a drink, and joined a group of backpackers who were pregaming for a concert. Around 7, I took off to go to Ikebukuro, which is pretty far to the northwest of town, and I’m still not sure what exactly is so special about it, other than being mentioned by name in Duolingo. I wondered around the streets to the west of the train station looking at the dining options, eventually grabbing a rice bowl. The restaurant’s namesake dish was quite tasty, offering three kinds of meat. I was bored and didn’t feel like spending tons of time on the subway just to make the pass worthwhile. So, I took a direct train to Akihabara, walked around a bit and headed back to the hostel on foot. Even when free, it is still better to walk then go one stop on public transport. Of course, that gave me the opportunity to pick up another snack on the way. I think my eating is getting out of control.

There were people in the cafe at the hostel, but it was really quite quiet. Apart from one person at the bar, everyone else was playing on their phone or computer. I watched a couple of Youtube videos, then went to bed.

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Breakfast (bread)	267
Metro Pass	1590
Ice cream	140
FM Mapo tofu & milk tea	526
Drink	116
Chikara Meshi (rice bowl)	680
Beer and chicken wings	600
Total:	3919 JPY (250.8 RMB) (USD 36.31)

Running Total: 35264.3 RMB (USD 5106)
Daily Average: 312 RMB (USD 45.19)

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Despite being “not a museum day,” I still saved 2620 yen in free admission to the four sites. Without the pass, I probably still would have sprung for the Miraikan. I think it might have cost about the same amount in transportation to go without the pass. Considering the average fare is about 200 yen, it takes a lot of running around town to make it worthwhile.

I didn’t have any particularly onerous plans for Sunday, deciding I needed a bit of rest from the monomaniacal museum mission, so I was hanging around a bit in the morning. The Australian guy came down just as I was packing up my computer to head out. I had met him the other night when I was drinking a beer outside the hostel. He had just landed in Tokyo with a JR Pass burning a hole in his pocket, but decided to stick around an extra day (or two) before shooting down to Hiroshima. He had gone to the festival at Sensoji, which the French girl whom I haven’t mentioned yet made a special trip about. He reiterated pretty much everything she had told me the last night. Very crowded, lots of energy, amazing experience, exciting to watch a large group of people carry an altar around. The videos and pictures shown to me didn’t convince me to go add it to my plans. Anyways, the Australian guy also talked about how he randomly met some Japanese people at the festival and went out drinking with them for a couple hours in hole-in-the-wall izakayas. Lucky him.

I went over to a Denny’s–yes, Japan has Denny’s, it’s insane–for a spot of “Sunday brunch.” The breakfast sets were reasonably priced but pretty a pretty awful simulation of American food. One slice of limp bacon, one tiny sausage, scrambled eggs (which were good), a salad (for some reason), and a pancakes instead of toast (that’s a nice bonus). The coffee was served in the tiniest mug, and when I saw the massive mugs used to serve lattes to the table next to me, I was seriously like wtf about the situation. One of the waitresses did come by once proactively to add a little coffee via pipette.

Deciding Denny’s wasn’t really a good place to while away an hour on my computer, I returned to the hostel before setting out for the day. I took my backpack with my computer and headed over to Shinjuku. I had discovered there were two museums in my Grutto pass in the area, but got off the subway a couple stations early in order to walk through the heart of Shinjuku. There was a shrine mentioned in the Lonely Planet with a Sunday flea market, so I went a whole 50 meters out of my way to take a gander. There was, in fact, a bit of a flea market going on, though there were no more than 8 vendors with their “modern antiques” and various other curiosities laid out. All of the visitors were white and I didn’t loiter.

I zigzaged my way over to the Metropolitan Government Building, which has a free observatory on a top floor. There was quite a queue to get in the elevator going up, but I made good use of my time by reviewing Japanese on my phone. I noticed that the two whities in front of me were in deep conversation with a Japanese girl. It’s strange, I have been noticing more and more that foreign tourists all seem to have their own personal Japanese tour guides hanging out with them. I wonder if I smell bad or something.

Though the air quality monitor said that pollution levels were at record lows, the horizon was hidden by a bit of haze. At least, Mt Fuji was not viewable, though it can reportedly be seen on a clear day. The line for the elevator to go down was quicker. Of course, I stopped to look at some memorabilia for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the atrium. It’s funny how I seem to “just” miss all the Olympics (which seriously are always in Asia these days): Beijing in 2008, Pyeongchang in 2018, Tokyo in 2020, Beijing again in 2022.

I finally headed over to the two target museums, which are both housed in a building called Opera City (there was a ticket counter for symphony performances, so I guess it wasn’t a misnomer), only stopping twice to try ATMs. I’m getting increasingly worried about the cash situation, and spent some time researching ATMs in Japan which can accept chip-based bank cards. The tip was to try Aeon Bank. Still, no luck.

The Art Gallery in the Tokyo Opera City was quite interesting. The main exhibition was a video by an American artist who recreated a Japanese tea ceremony with all the sort of bricabrac that modern artists use to build “sculptures.” After watching the video, all the sets and props were laid out in the galleries for us to examine up close. The permanent collection (a donated private collection) was fine, but what was most interesting is that the final hallway was a showcase for child artists. Seeing the juxtaposition of a few abstract expressionist paintings (which how many critics complain that their children could do?) followed by actual paintings by children really highlight how bullshit that complaint is.

I was getting pretty hungry so I headed down to the basement to peruse the food court. I went for a sandwich at Subways, and I feel good about that decision. It was a little pricey (especially as I somehow know the advertisement jingle “five dollar foot longs” despite a ten year American media diet), but I got the most “Japanese” sandwich imaginable–teriyaki chicken with soy sauce and wasabi as the dressing. Maybe I should have gone for the avocado sandwich.

The NTT-InterCommunicationCenter was amazing. Unfortunately, the present exhibition was free admission regardless of my Grutto Pass, so I don’t get to tally any additional savings there. There wasn’t a lot of “art” on display, but everything was multimedia and interactive. A lot of it eludes description, but I was blown away by some of the stuff in there.

Finished with the museums, I was prepared to spend the afternoon in the park, though I needed to swing by a grocery store to pick up a drink and some snacks. It wasn’t a far walk to this giant wooded park, which was mostly the grounds of the Shinto Shrine as well as a martial arts dojo. Groups of people were out practicing their staff work or archery. I found a space on a lawn amidst dozens of picnickers, laid out my sheets, and took a nap. When I woke up, and was snacking on some potato chips and a Dr. Pepper, I noticed a loudspeaker announcement saying that these were sacred grounds and all forms of recreation are forbidden. No one seemed the least bit fazed. Sure, there is a temple somewhere in the woods, but it might as well be a million miles away.

Getting restless, or feeling a little guilty, I packed up to walk around and actually see the Meiji Shrine. It was packed with tourists, and as I entered one of the side gates, I stumbled across a wedding procession. I felt bad that everyone had their phones out recording. Having entered via a backway, I exited through the main entrance. A section of the path is flanked by a wall of sake jars and a wall of Bordeaux barrels all donated for consecration purposes or something like that. Shintoism is weird.

The park I was really looking for is adjacent but not connected, so after swinging around on the streetside, I found the real party. The concentration of picnickers was ten times as dense, street performers staked out their corners, and merriment filled the air. Without even doing a loop of the garden, I decided I might want some refreshments of a more adult nature, but shied away from buying slightly marked up but still reasonably priced beer from the official snack carts. My stinginess was actually a good thing, as I crossed a pedestrian bridge heading south out of the park right into the middle of a street music festival where various stages competed for one’s attention while people were seriously pounding down alcohol.

I carried on to a 7-11 to restock and passed back through the street festival. I could have stopped there, but since I had a picnic blanket, I would prefer to lay on the grass than stand around or sit on a concrete bench. Heading back into the park, the only issue was were to stake my claim. Ideally, I would be near other drinkers so that would maximize my chance of socializing, but ultimately I picked a nice partially shady spot next to a pond with a pair of fountains. I drank in peace and quiet, enjoying nature and meditating on life. I found contentment in my solitude and didn’t mind the gusts of wind or occasional stray rain drops.

After the sun fell behind the trees, I decided to leave the park. As I walked in a state of satori, I noticed that I must have been moving very slowly because people were constantly overtaking me. It didn’t perturb me, and I continued to hold on to the state of perfect awareness. The neighborhoods to the east of the park, Harajuke, are well-known as a fashionable shopping paradise. Figuring, I might as well check off another item from the list of Tokyo “sites”, I grabbed a roadie from a Family Mart and continued to ride the wind up and down the streets with various boutique retailers.

Reaching the next subway stop, I alighted to return to my neighborhood. Despite all the snacking, I figured I still might need a proper dinner, so I popped into a Coco’s Curry House and tried a hashed beef (hayashi rice). I still prefer curry, but figured it was good to mix it up.

Back in the hostel, I got into a conversation with a Canadian digital nomad. It was more like an interview because he kept asking questions and I chattered away about myself despite a few feeble attempts to steer the conversation away from me. Getting thirsty, I ordered a drink from the bar, finally having Japanese sake (first time this trip). It was properly served with the glass overflowing into a saucer that catches the extra sake. We continued talking for a while, but the sunlight and alcohol were quickly catching up on me. After losing the fight against the yawns, I begged his pardon and retired for the night.

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Denny’s	592
Subway	486
Snacks	373
Ice Cream (Ministop Peach softee)	120
7-Eleven booze and peanuts	633
Family Mart drink	207
Hashed Beef	629
Sake	300
Total:	3340 JPY (213.76 RMB) (USD 30.97)

Running Total: 35013.5 RMB (USD 5072.8)
Daily Average: 312.6 RMB (USD 45.29)

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So, the Grutto Pass only got me free admission into one museum, but it was an expensive one valued at 1400 yen.

There were several museum in Ueno Park that I wanted to visit, but would have only saved 100 yen here or there on their admission ticket prices with my Grutto Pass. However, somewhere along the line (back in Nara, actually) I became aware of a thing called “International Museum Day,” and having dutifully checked the websites of Tokyo National Museum, The National Museum of Western Art (which I learned about from the Kawasaki exhibit), and the National Museum of Nature and Science to confirm that all three were honoring the holiday by offering free admission. For good measure, I added the Ueno Royal Museum to the list. Unfortunately, the Klimt exhibit was only offering a discount equivalent to the Grutto Pass for Museum Day, so it was a no go.

With the earliest museum opening at 9:30, I had plenty of time in the morning to putz around and walk the twenty something minutes up to the general area. I passed by the Western Art Museum to start at the Science Museum, and was surprised to see the line of people waiting to get in despite there still being nearly an hour until it opened. I figured I was going to have to put up with huge crowds throughout the day, but I saw that as an ominous sign.

I walked straight in to the Science Museum, and while I was disoriented about where to go–there are two separate buildings, one specializing in Japan, the other not–I popped straight into a cinematic experience in a 360-degree theater. I’m not exaggerating about the 360 degrees. The theater was a sphere with the audience standing on a narrow platform between two sets of doors. I worked my way through every hall of the science museum at a brisk pace to soak it all in. Highlights include the old telescopes, clocks, and other historic scientific instruments in one hall, the nearly complete fossil of a triceratops, and the cloud chamber where one can background radiation in real time. (Incidentally, I had just listened to a RadioLab episode about cosmic rays and they were talking about a cloud chamber, so it was cool to see one in person). I took regular breaks to sit down for a few minutes and preserve my standing energy because milling about museums is far more tiring than walking long distances.

I headed over to the Museum of Western Art, where one had to queue to get an entrance tickeet. I got my ticket, then decided that I should grab a spot of lunch first, so I wandered over to the train/subway station area to find a cheap bowl of noodles. I had cold soba with a sesame sauce. It was nice and not too filling. While I was in the area, I also found a Big Camera store to finally track down the 500MB IIJ Mobile recharge card to keep my data service valid until the end of my trip. I was starting to debate whether to just go Wi-Fi only for the last 10 or so days, but figured it would be helpful.

Going back into Ueno Park, I stopped by the Ueno Royal Museum first to find that the current exhibit had free admission anyways, so I could have gone there on my last visit to the area. The exhibit was mostly massive monochrome ink paintings of European cities. It was pretty nice, and I had a long sit in one of the nicely air conditioned rooms.

I headed back to the Museum of Western Art and after dutifully snapping a couple pictures of the famous Rodin sculptures in the front garden, i.e. the Thinker and the Gates of Hell, headed straight in. The permanent exhibit occupied less than half of the floor space, but it was an impressive collection. As I should have already stated, the founder of Kawasaki started collecting western art to help Japan “modernize” its art scene during the Meiji restoration and this Museum is the by-product of his efforts. There was an entire room just of Monet, maybe 20 paintings, and the other rooms contained a veritable who’s who of the western cannon.

The museum was fairly crowded, which helped me move a bit slower and soak in the high culture, but I had one more museum to hit and it was the main one. The Tokyo National Museum is the museum if you are just going to do one. The Museum consists four separate buildings and a garden. The main building focuses on Japan, but I hit the Asian building first, which covers all non-Japanese Asian countries. Obviously, there was a lot of Chinese stuff, but it stretched as far as India and Egypt in its inclusiveness. The museum galleries were various historical artifacts, mostly selected for their aesthetic value. I was slightly disappointed, especially in the Japan building, to find that the overarching emphasis of the museum mission was to present the artifacts as art rather than historical record. One can glean a lot of history from the National Museums of China and Korea, but I learned nothing from Japan. A third building, which mainly housed a special exhibit, had a permanent exhibit on archaeology, which had a few notes on history, but neither told a story nor painted a picture of Japan’s historical development.

The middle of Ueno Park had a festival going on with two lines of white tents selling all kinds of drinks and snacks. Before entering the National Museum, I took a stroll through but didn’t nosh on anything. I was impressed by how many people were sitting around eating skewers and chugging alcohol. There were booths selling craft beer and dozens of kinds of sake. I was planning to drink that day, but didn’t want to get trashed before going into the museum. On the way out of the museum, I still gave the pop-up market a wide berth. It was still high afternoon, but I was ready to go back to the hostel. I decided to save myself some effort and hopped on the subway back.

I chilled until dinner time, where I walked up to Akihabara to find a Saizeriya’s, which is a Japanese chain of cheap Italian restaurants. I used to love going to it in Shenzhen and it was a treat I had been looking forward to since I stepped on the shore at Fukuoka. There was a location in Nara, teasing me every day as I passed it by. I ordered a ton of food (margherita pizza, grilled asparagus, pasta, a cast iron plate with chicken, corn, and potatoes, a piece of flatbread) and a half-liter carafe of red wine. Unfortunately, I allowed myself to get caught up on my mobile phone, mindlessly nibbling away the feast. I realized I had finished everything without really experiencing any of it and I was disappointed in myself. So I ordered a plate of chicken wings to eat while finishing the wine, but it was a minor consolation prize.

Back in the hostel, it was quiet again. There were parties of people on Wednesday and Thursday night, but as soon as I start drinking again and on Friday/Saturday, not a soul to be seen. I was finally starting to see some fellow backpackers at odd intervals, stopping to chat for five minutes as one of us was on the way in or out, but still the anti-social atmosphere of the hostel continued. I hung out in the cafe, furtively drinking a bit more and hoping for something to happen, but ultimately gave up and went up to bed.

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Apple danish	84
Cold soba	420
SIM recharge	1500
Beverage — Salty Lichi	118
Saizeriya	2413
Alcohol	275
Total:	4810 JPY (307.8 RMB) (USD 44.6)

Running Total: 34799.8 RMB (USD 5041.8)
Daily Average: 313.5 RMB (USD 45.42)

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There is a question as to whether I should count the free admission from Museum Day as part of my Grutto savings. The three museums normally cost 1920 yen. Grutto would have given me 100 yen off each (300 yen total). Either way, I definitely would have visited the Tokyo National Museum and the Museum of Western Art, and was happy to both save an additional 900 yen by planning out my museum visits strategically and being also able to visit the science museum, which is actually worth a visit.

I started by taking the subway a couple blocks north (it was definitely walkable, but didn’t want to exhaust myself at the start) to Asakuna, where sits the Senso-ji Temple, reportedly one of Tokyo’s busiest. Despite being barely 8 am, the place was fairly and the whole street walking up to the temple was lined with booths. Fortunately, it was still early and the booths were just barely getting set up for the day, otherwise it would have been a nightmare to visit. I later learned, that Friday (today) was the first day of a three day weekend at the temple. Given my aversion to crowds, I did well to swing by before the festival kicked into high gear. The temple itself was impressive, but after lighting some incense and looking around perfunctorily, I took off.

I headed over to the Sumida River to walk along the riverside, enjoying the view of a few notable buildings on the other bank, such as the Tokyo Sky Tree and the Suntory Brewery, which has a golden (turd-shaped) flame sculpture on its top.

I was heading to the sword museum, but as I was a bit early, I took a brief stroll through a neighboring garden and walked over to the Sumo Wrestling hall on the next block to see what was up. So, I was smack dab in the middle of a two week sumo wrestling tournament with matches going on everyday. One could reasonably buy a ticket and hang out inside for as long as they wanted. Unfortunately, they were already sold out for the day.

The sword museum was nice, but utterly failed to adequately teach anything about the differences between the various samurai swords. Despite the current exhibit being designed to teach about the “shapes” of the swords, I couldn’t see any difference in curvatures across 1000 years of swords.

There were two other museums in the neighborhood, so I hurried over to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, which turned out to be massive. This is definitely a must-visit museum and throngs of tourists were everywhere in the cavernous, elevated museum. Entire city blocks of structures were recreated inside the museum, which covered in detail every aspect of life in the Edo period of Tokyo, from how water was delivered and the finer points of the economic systems to how sushi was larger in the past and the rice had a reddish hue from the vinegar. The museum also covered the Meiji restoration and modern eras in only slightly less detail. One could easily spend 5-6 hours trying to read every sign, all rendered in Japanese and English in print but with computer terminals at various points providing translations in Korean, Chinese, French, Spanish and a dozen other languages. It was a sensory and information overload, so at some point I powered down and took it in holistically. I could go on and on about the museum, but it is better to just experience it in person.

The next museum was dedicated to an artist I thought I was unfamiliar with–Sumida Hokusai–but learned is the creator of the 36 views of Mt Fuji and countless other famous ukiyo-e prints. The permanent exhibit (to which my Grutto Pass entitled free admission) only occupied about 15% of the floor space of the museum, but it was still a sufficient exhibition with tons of art work and interactive terminals providing lots of information about the artist’s life and works.

Three more museums arranged like a southern constellation were within walking distance. I headed to the furthest one–The Museum of Contemporary Art–first. On the way, I passed a Ministop and bought a peach-flavored soft-serve ice cream because it was on sale to introduce the limited-run flavor. That served as my lunch. I’ve been popping into quite a few convenience stores because I am running low on cash and trying to find an ATM that works with my bank card and my 30-day data is about to expire unless I buy more to top it up.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, sits in the corner of an enormous park that I didn’t bother walking around. The art was a bit modern for my taste with installations and book length explanations for each piece.

The next museum was the Fukagawa Edo Museum. Fukagawa is the name of the neighborhood, which was quite prosperous in Edo times. There are still Buddhist temples on every block. The small museum was basically just a Colonial Williamsburg, recreating a whole village with volunteers on hand to explain things if needed. I just looked around a bit and enjoyed the virtual sunset and rainy weather effects.

I paid a whopping 150 yen to visit the lovely Kiyosumi Gardens, which were halfway between the final two museums. It was quite nice, but I guess all these Japanese gardens are starting to look the same. The novelty has worn off, but they are all still serene places to stroll about.

I swung by the Basho Museum, which was really outside my domain. It was dedicated to a literary figure who did a fair amount of calligraphy, but whether it was my lack of understanding of context or the accumulated exhaustion, it all flew over my head and I was happy to be pushing on to walk back the kilometer and a half to the hostel.

It was still daylight and I was already back. It was wonderful. I popped over to a supermarket to get a snack and a can of beer to break my alcohol fast while I recharged my literal and metaphorical batteries. Getting hungry, I went back to the tonkatsu place and had an early dinner. I grabbed more beer and dessert (despite being satisfied) on the way back. Feeling bad about sneaking beers into the hostel, I ordered one drink at the bar as well.

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Breakfast	285
Peach ice cream	120
Kiyosumi Garden	150
Beer and snacks	573
Tonkatsu	950
Beer and chocolate cake	544
Ginger highball	300
Total:	2922 JPY (187 RMB) (USD 27.05)

Running Total: 34492 RMB (USD 4989.27)
Daily Average: 313.56 RMB (USD 45.36)

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I saved 3100 yen on the six museums not paying for admission to any of them.

In the morning, I got a taste of Tokyo rush hour. It wasn’t so bad. The subway cars were a bit crowded, but the whole system moves efficiently and I found myself on the other side of town relatively quickly. It just sucks how expensive the transportation costs are. The minimum cost of the Tokyo subway is still more than the maximum cost of the Beijing subway.

I had done a bit of research to maximize the efficiency of my day and I arrived at the first place just as it opened. The Institute for Nature Study is basically just a big park and the Grutto Pass only gave me a small discount on its otherwise reasonable ticket cost. There wasn’t anything spectacular to see and I was honestly surprised at the lack of signage that could serve an educational purpose of identifying trees and such. Its not that the Japanese/Latin names would mean much to me, but it seems they are really failing on their fundamental mission.

It didn’t take long to do a loop around the park and walk to the museum next door, which meant I was there about ten minutes before they opened. The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum is the former residence of some prince who had a thing for art deco. The building was a work of art in itself and perfectly matched the ongoing exhibition exclusively featuring the works of Kisling. I was pretty pumped that I got free admission despite it being a special exhibition, but I really enjoyed myself. The museum is also notable for its gardens.

The Meguro Museum of Art, a couple blocks west, had an exhibition of Vienna School printers or something of that sort. Less my cup of tea. I followed the Meguro river north some distance to the Sato Sakura museum, which is completely dedicated to art involving cherry blossoms. The Meguro river is one of the prime cherry blossom viewing spots in Tokyo. I really enjoyed the museum and was glad it made it on to the itinerary.

Done with the Meguro section, I headed southeast to Ebisu noticing how swanky and upscale the neighborhood had become. Garden Place is the main hub there with a department store, condos, museums and a central plaza that was being set up for some Aladdin-themed promotional event. the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (TOP) only provided free access to one of the galleries, but it was a nice change to get a taste of a different artistic style.

The Yebisu Beer Museum was also right there with free admission to see a small exhibit detailing the history of the brand and beer in Japan. Yebisu was one of the first beers in Japan and the local train station (and by extension the neighborhood) was named after the beer. I wasn’t drinking yet, so I didn’t get to spend money at the on-site bar for some samples.

I followed the train tracks north to Shibuya, stopping at a brand new ramen restaurant which had a line out the door. The noodles were discounted for the launch, so it made sense that people were queuing for a bowl of noodles at 3 pm.

There were two more museums in the Shibuya area to hit before they closed up at 5 pm–one a private collection of porcelains and the other hosting a special exhibition on the lives of women in the Edo period. Both were quite nice. As I was cutting through the neighborhoods to reach the first of the museums, I came across a bunch of go-karts with “Not Affiliated with Nintendo” written on them. A group of foreigners in costumes (pajamas) were getting instructions on how to drive. I had heard that “Mario Karting” through the streets of Tokyo was a thing, and while I wouldn’t seek it out, I was glad to stumble across it. I loitered about until the group took off, but refrained from snapping any photos.

After finishing the museums, I wondered some of the streets around Shibuya on the way to the train station to dutifully snap my photo of Hachi (the faithful dog). Above Shibuya crossing, it looked like Starbucks was the only proper vantage point to take in the busy crossing, so I splurged on a super sugary drink and hung out at the Starbucks from 5-6 pm. Of course, all the tourists were blocking the window, so I sat where I could and just enjoyed my snack until I was ready to get moving again.

Having eaten lunch at 3 and just finishing a matcha scone, I wasn’t particularly hungry, so I abandoned the original plans to grab a dinner in Shibuya. I still walked up and down a few of the streets to take it in, but I was getting tired and wanted to get back home.

The subway back was pretty fast, and I popped into a fast food joint for a beef bowl for a simple dinner. That didn’t stop me from snacking later.

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Nature Study Institute	210
Ramen	500
Starbucks	961
Pasmo top-up	1000
Yoshinoya beef bowl	480
Snacks	248
Total:	3399 JPY (217.5 RMB) (USD 31.44)

Running Total: 34305 RMB (USD 4958.44)
Daily Average: 314.7 RMB (USD 45.50)

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I visited 6 museums covered by the Grutto Pass: 5 free, 1 discounted. I wouldn’t have gone out of my way for any of them without the pass, but I would highly recommend Teien. I saved 5000 yen for the day.

With the Grutto Pass in hand and a limited amount of time, museums are going to dominate every day of sightseeing in Tokyo. The only really question is which day’s post to title “Museum Mania” since it really applies to a week’s worth of walking around. Looking over the map, I picked Ueno for the first full day because it had the highest concentration of sites, pretty much all located within a park.

I didn’t have much time in the morning before I needed to head out the door. In order to save time, I hopped on the subway, dutifully purchasing a Pasmo card (which will save me a couple yen per trip) and heading to Kyu-iwasaki-tei just as it opened at 9am.

Kyu-iwasaki-tei is referred to as a garden, but it is basically just a 100 year old mansion that one of the early leaders of Mitsubishi built for himself. It was interesting to see the Frankenstein architecture stitching together a 19th century English country estate with a traditional Japanese home.

The next stop was the Shitamachi Museum, which happened to open just at 9:30. A small museum dedicated to documenting the life of the common people in the Shitamachi region in the early 20th century, there were a few reconstructions of houses and shops tucked away in the gallery.

I wouldn’t have made a special trip to either of these if they weren’t included for free in the pass, but I was happy to briefly tour them. Nearly 10am, the sun was already high in the sky and it felt pretty warm. I briefly stopped at a Buddhist temple on an island in the middle of the lake at Ueno Park and continued on to the zoo because I figured I might as well take a look at the panda. Since the panda was on the clear other side of the zoo, which was also divided into two parks connected by monorail/footbridge, I took a wide loop to enjoy most of the rest of the wildlife.

The zoo was enjoyable at first, but by the time I got to the other section, I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people and the difficulty in seeing any of the animals–Asiatic lions were on holiday, the tiger, the polar bear, etc were all no where to be seen. I had to queue for half an hour to get a glimpse of one of the pandas.

Exiting the zoo, I took a left turn to the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and was also surprised to see a 40 minute line to enter. The special exhibit was all about Gustav Klimt and it cost a cool 1500 yen even with my discount pass. There was no permanent exhibit to see (for free) and it didn’t seem worth stressing myself out for that. There were a couple other top notch museums in the park that my pass would only give me a 100 yen discount off the 600-1000 yen entry ticket. I couldn’t believe how many people were around given it was the middle of a school/work day. I wanted to get away from the crowds, so decided to exit the park to hit some sites to the north.

On my way out of the park, I passed the Music Hall of the former Tokyo Music School and popped in for a quick minute. The galleries were of no interest, but it was cool to watch a guy tuning the organ in the main hall. There were a couple universities north of the park. One of which had a gallery included in the Grutto pass. I figured it was worth paying the small admission fee because I hadn’t scratched my itch for art at the University Art Museum.

There was a food truck at the entrance with a long line. The line was much shorter by the time I exited the museum and I decided to grab a lunch of (Indian) curry, rice, and naan.

In the afternoon, I walked over to a Calligraphy Museum, passed through Tokyo’s largest cemetery (a popular place for viewing cherry blossoms, though that season has long since passed), and finally the Asakura Museum of Sculpture, which was more interesting for its architecture than the sculptures. It was the home and workshop of a bronze sculptor and a very interesting house with a rooftop garden (including a full grown tree) and a couple sculptures perched on the roof like gargoyles. I’d call it one of the highlights for the day.

That pretty much finished the planned itinerary of museums for the day, but the Tokyo-go-go-go continued. I was around the corner from Yanaka Ginza, which is an old fashioned neighborhood with lots of interesting shops. I didn’t spend much time there, passing through a couple streets fairly quickly, before reaching the apex of my day’s walk and turning around to work my way back. I saw a Shinto shrine on the map (Nezu Jinja) and decided to give it a visit. On the way, I realized there was another freebie museum, so I took a quick detour to hit Mori Ogai Memorial Museum (dedicated to some author I’ve never heard of). The building was far more interesting that the displays. Nezu Jinjia, reportedly one of Japan’s oldest shrines, was very beautiful in the late afternoon sunlight.

I continued walking back south, swinging around the periphery of Tokyo University and popping by the Origami Museum (which is normally free). There wasn’t much by way of galleries and displays, as it is more of a place to buy paper or sign up for lessons.

At this point, it feels like I am just rushing through a list of X, Y, and Z, but I’m still not done yet. Inspired by the Lonely Planet, I went to 3331 Arts Chiyoda, an exhibition space. I didn’t actually see anything inside because I didn’t want to pay for the one exhibition on the first floor and it seemed most of the other galleries had closed up for the day.

I was about 2-3 kilometers from the hostel, and I made a point of walking through Akihabara on the way back. Akihabara is the otoku center of Tokyo with huge department stores selling all the manga/anime peripheral products one could imagine. There is also fierce competition of “maid cafes” where, I guess, patrons can ogle their scantily clad servers while eating ice cream. For the first time all day, I finally noticed tons of tourists wandering around. I’m not sure why people make a point of visiting the area, as if it was some cultural mecca.

I made it all the way back to the hostel and plopped down for a minute to rest a bit before immediately getting back up to get some food in me. I decided to double down on curry, looking up a Japanese curry place in the vicinity. It was good and filling, but nonetheless, eating triggered cravings for sweets and I caved in to temptation.

The evening was short and quiet, and I had another full day ahead of me, so I went to bed early.

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Pasmo (incl. 500 deposit)	1000
University Art Museum	230
Kemeer Curry	750
Cider (Japanese 7-up)	84
Hinoya Curry	840
Snacks	135
Total:	3039 JPY (194.5 RMB) (USD 28.11)

Running Total: 34087.5 RMB (USD 4927)
Daily Average: 315.6 RMB (USD 45.62)

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For the record, I visited 8 places covered by Grutto Pass. Seven of which were free admission, one discounted (430-200=230). I saved 3300 yen on admission prices. Without the pass, I might have still visited the Asakura Sculpture Museum (500), but otherwise, I doubt I would have paid for any of the other places.

The overnight bus was an interesting experience. The seats were comfortable (if not as nice as the deluxe buses in Korea) and reclined a fair amount. Each seat had a privacy curtain as well. Despite that, I got maybe 5 hours of sleep, waking up with tingling elbows several times throughout the night.

The gray sky was lit by an invisible sun as the bus navigated the quiet streets of Tokyo. We were deposited at the Shinjuku Express Bus Terminal and I followed the signs to the subway to beat the morning rush. The subway system is confusing but not unreasonably so. I arrived at the hostel before their reception was open, but managed to slip in as the laundry guys were picking up a couple bags of linens.

The first floor cafe had a handful of business people working away at their laptops and I got an ominous feeling about the residence. I made myself at home, changing from shorts into jeans (because the highs are almost 10 degrees lower in Tokyo than Nara) and no sunlight was on the forecast for the next week. As there was no access to water (hot or otherwise), I popped next door to a Lawsons and had a simple breakfast on a stoop.

Not wanting to waste the day, I headed back over to the hostel, which was unlocked by this time, and asked about baggage keeping. I took my stuff up to the 6th floor, locked it up, and headed out.

I walked about 30 minutes aiming for a scenic walk passing by a few landmarks, such as the Nihombashi (Japan Bridge) and the Tokyo Train Station, on my way to the Imperial Palace. I lined up to join a tour and would have enjoyed the wait if it didn’t keep drizzling. As they process about 300 people per tour–split into English, French, Chinese, and Japanese groups–the amount of time spent queuing and going through security was more than that on the actual tour, but whatever, it was free.

After the tour, I cut through the Imperial East Gardens (also free to the public and the grounds of the Edo castle ruins) to make a visit to the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. I took the plunge on the 2,200 yen “Grutto Pass” which provides free or reduced admission to 95 museums (parks, zoos, and aquariums) across town (and as far flung as Yokohama). It’s going to take a bit of work to get my money’s worth, especially as I have only a week, but I mostly wanted to emphasize museums anyways.

The MOMAT was located in park containing a cluster of museums, so I prioritized all of them for day one. The Crafts Gallery was closed, unfortunately, during installation of a new exhibit, so I went directly to the Science Museum. I would have skipped it, but being *free*, I figured it was worth popping in. Science Museums tend to range between being too kiddy or too grungy (worn down from too many kids). I had a lot of fun, watching a planetarium show, a liquid nitrogen experiment, and an experiment on electromagnetism (all in Japanese, but whatever, science is universal). I saw quite a few other foreigners wandering around, and I really wondered what they were doing there. You gotta attend the scheduled shows to make it worthwhile.

I headed out the north exit of the park, through some fancy old gate to visit to Showa-kan in a modern office building. Showa was the imperial reign name from the 1930s to the 1980s, and the museum/library/archives is dedicated to recording the hardships faced by common people during and immediately after the war. I’m glad I took a quick pass through to look at old photos and household items, but it made me want to rewatch “Grave of the Fireflies.”

For my last tour stop of the day, I headed over to the Yasukuni Shrine. That’s the one where all the souls of the war dead including some war criminals are kept. It’s a quite impressive Shinto shrine with some massive tori gates and basically nothing on it to indicate the potentially controversial status (other than one small sign telling foreign media not to record or interview anyone without prior clearance), so I could understand how an ambassador or foreign delegation could get taken there on a sightseeing trip and not realize the diplomatic damage they were doing by the photo-ops.

There was an impressive looking museum on the grounds (not covered by the Grutto pass), but I dodged the question of whether to shell out money for it by the fact that it closed just as I walked up.

I decided to walk all the way back to the hostel (about 3 km) and passed through a district that seemed to be all bookstores and another that was all outdoor sports equipment.

Back in the hostel, I formally checked in and hung out a bit letting my nearly dead phone charge up, but I was hungry and thirsty. I asked the front desk for a food recommendation and rushed over to a restaurant before it closed at 7pm. This tonkatsu place is one of those small Japanese restaurants completely run by the old couple that own it and a three item menu. It was perfect. A juicy breaded pork cutlet fried in front of me as I sipped on some miso clam soup and matcha tea at the counter full of salary men in their business suits.

The dinner filled me up, but I couldn’t deny my sweet tooth and took a stroll through a small grocery store on the way back to the hostel, picking up some Japanese snacks (red bean paste sandwiched between two mini pancakes).

I was pretty beat by the long day, and as the hostel didn’t seem particularly sociable (the downstairs cafe/bar running its business discourages guests from hanging out there), I went upstairs to get some early rest.

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Tokyo Metro	220
Lawsons breakfast	(358)
Grutto Museum Pass	2200
Mint Chocolate chip ice cream	140
Tonkatsu	800
Snacks	313
Obi Hostel (7 nights)	1005.73 RMB
Total:	1240.8 RMB (USD 180.46)

Running Total: 33893 RMB (USD 4929.23)
Daily Average: 316.75 RMB (USD 46.06)

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So the Lawson’s breakfast (one pastry, one coffee, one 2L bottle of water) was free because I finally remembered to use this thing someone handed me while I was a henro. I’ve apparently been carrying around a 1000 yen gift card valid at all major chain stores (convenience stores, drug stores, book stores, etc).

Nara, one of Japan’s ancient capital cities and an integral part of the history of Buddhism in Japan, is a must-do on any foreign tourists itinerary, namely for one reason–the hordes of sika deer roaming about the park that houses a number of temples and shrines. Of course, most people make it a day trip from their base in Kyoto or Osaka, but I am not most people, and I was delighted to find an array of affordable hostel options, which made staying a couple of days quite enticing. It also helped that the transportation onward to Tokyo dropped significantly in price if I waited out the weekend.

The hostel offers free breakfast, but certainly ranks as one of the stingiest free breakfasts available. Each guest is entitled to a single slice of toast–helpfully packaged and labelled individually–and a bit of margarine and honey as a topping. The hostel owners appear to be on the verge of cancelling breakfast due to negative feedback, but honestly any breakfast is better than none. Nevertheless, considering how cheap bread is, I don’t understand the impetus to not just provide a little bit more.

Of course, with free breakfast on the horizon, I really screwed up the interval fasting (aka Ramadan) because I can’t not eat free food (though I seem to be doing quite well at turning down free alcohol). I spent a few hours downstairs–much like Kobe there is virtually no activity in the hostel in the morning–before heading out for the day. I wore my hat and grabbed my walking stick, but left my backpack.

I did a loop around Nara Park, targeting the lakes over the deer where it is less crowded. I visited the main Shinto shrine (Kasuga Taisha) up in the “mountains” and followed some footpaths counterclockwise to pass by a number of Buddhist (sub)temples. It surprising to see how pretty much every temple/shrine has an entrance fee and for the most part I took a hard pass on shelling out all that money. Even a park that was basically just a grass lawn on a hill was protected by a fence with entrance tickets.

It was hot and the sun was strong, so when I reached that park (technically the area outside it where school children were picnicking among the lazy deer), I found a covered bench and laid down for a quick power nap. Carrying on, I got some free tea at a Buddhist compound that was open to the public before heading around to the main Buddhist temple–Todaiji. I shelled out the money to enter and was able to appreciate the giant Buddha statues inside the massive temple hall despite some crowds.

Like a salmon returning to spawn, I was heading against the current as the crowds surged towards Todaiji in the mid-afternoon. I went to the Nara National Museum and balked at the 1500 yen entrance price, opting instead to take a circuitous route back to the hostel–passing by Kohfukiji Temple–but not paying to enter the inner hall.

I bought salad in the supermarket and after hydrating for a bit, bought a discount ticket for the public bathhouse up the street as soon as the reception opened at 4pm. It was so hot outside, but I still like to go into the sauna. I couldn’t last long in there, but it was great. It was crazy how the entrance opens straight into the locker room with the front desk perched at the dividing wall between men’s and women’s sections. I’m starting to get used to old Japanese women seeing me naked, but its still a bit weird.

Bathed and cooled off, I hung around for the Cheers hour, chatting with the other backpackers as the filtered in for their free beer. While they ordered second rounds, I grabbed my salad and ate it. I had been thinking of going to a restaurant afterwards and entertained notions of getting a group together, but ultimately I grew bored of the company and just popped over to the supermarket to grab something more substantial from the deli section.

It was surprising to see the flock of vultures circling the boxed meals waiting for the discounts to be meted out and picking at the scraps of the day. I, myself, spent 20 minutes weighing options, ultimately buying some rice dish marked half-off, fried chicken, and a pack of cream puffs on sale. I ate them up in the back common room and I hoped for some quiet time alone, but eventually everyone else filtered in there.

I started researching and planning the rest of my trip in Japan amidst intermittent backpacker chatter. Still hankering for food, I ran across the street to get some chocolate cookies at the 7-11. When I finished them, I went to bed.

Donut	100
Bus Ticket to Tokyo	5980
Todaiji Temple	600
Salad + Drink	365
Sento ticket (public bath)	300
Dinner	800
Cookies	267
Total:	8412 (538.4 RMB) (USD 78.36)

I bought the one day regional train pass because it would cost me about 1200 yen to get from Kobe to Nara (my next destination), but as I also wanted to see Himeji (which was in the other direction and costs over 900 yen each way), the 2300 yen pass would be well worth the savings. In order to maximize the value of my one day traveling bonanza, I made sure I was on the train to Himeji in time for the 9am opening of the castle.

Himeji castle is probably the most famous castle in Japan and for good reason. It is impressive, reaching up to heaven from its perch on a hill like a Japanese version of Neuschwanstein. Appropriately enough it is nicknamed the “White Egret Castle.” The entrance ticket is a little pricey, but it takes a good 60-90 minutes to complete one circuit of the castle and its grounds. The only downside was the regular announcement over the loud speakers that the day’s weather was going to be excessively hot. It was good I got there just as it opened because tour and school groups were flooding in on my way out.

I sprung the extra 40 yen for the combo ticket including the next door garden. I was a little suspicious because the photos were rather lackluster, but the surprisingly large garden won me over by its charms. It was constructed as a collection of 12 distinct walled gardens, each perfectly crafted to highlight some theme be it pine, bamboo, or flowers.

After touring the garden, I decided to take a stroll along the moat of the castle to do a loop around the outside. It was good, though the “viewpoints” along the route (as marked by tourist maps) were unimpressive. I cut through the shopping arcade to get out of the sun on my walk back to the train station.

As I had the unlimited train pass, I decided to make a quick stop 3/4 of the way back to Kobe to get a good look at the Akashi bridge, which is something like Japan’s version of the Golden Gate Bridge. There is a seaside park with good views, but I didn’t feel like shelling out the cash to go up the the Maiko Marine Promenade, which is a viewing platform inside the bridge. I also passed on the Sun-yat Sen Memorial House which was a little pricey considering it was probably only in Japanese, and the house (a 100 year old building) only had a tenuous connection to the father of modern China.

I hopped back on the train to return to Kobe and returned to the hostel to grab my stuff. I took a minute to change into shorts because it was way to hot. I hopped on a train to Osaka, where I transferred to a direct train to Nara. It sucked how crowded the train was, which meant I was stuck standing in the doorway with all my luggage for the 45 minute ride. On the plus side, I was standing right behind the glass-windowed driver’s compartment, which allowed me to observe up close how to drive a train.

My hostel in Nara was literally right next to the train station and I rocked up at a perfect time to check-in. It’s a pretty good (and cheap) place to stay with a bar on the bottom floor, daily happy hour with a free drink, and decently sized dorm room that still manages to fit in a lot of capsule-style bunks. I crashed in the common room, but didn’t really have the energy to do anything, other than wait around until the 6pm cheers.

I popped over to a supermarket to pick up some salad for dinner (part 1) and socialized during the happy hour, only slipping away for ten minutes to scarf down the salad. Afterwards, on advice from one of the hostel staff, I went to a restaurant for oden, which is the general term for the boiled fish cakes (though I got a wide selection of tofu and radish and whatnot). The bar was still swinging when I got back, and I socialized a bit more. None of the Western backpackers had eaten dinner yet though it was maybe 8:30 by that point. I recommended an izakaya around the corner that looked like it had a big menu but didn’t join them as I had already eaten.

I plopped down at the bar to review a bit of Japanese, but got into a conversation with a fellow from Hong Kong. He was the second person from Hong Kong I’ve met in Japan and both of them were both absolutely floored that I could speak Chinese and was working on Japanese.

It kind of sucks to not be drinking (especially with the prospect of free and discounted alcohol), but I really want to keep the dry streak going a little bit longer.

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Himeji Castle and Kokoen	1040
Hostel (3 nights)	275 (RMB)
Salad	254
Oden	1400
Total:	447.4 RMB (USD 65.56)

Running Total: 31719.6 RMB (USD 4648.2)
Daily Average: 308 RMB (USD 45.13)

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A post shared by @danwu248 on May 9, 2019 at 3:42pm PDT

I woke up around 5ish and drank a couple glasses of water and two cups of coffee despite it already being after sunrise. I’m willing to abide by a 7am cutoff to start the daily fast, but it would be pretty ridiculous to adopt the habit of waking up at 4am to eat a big meal then immediately going back to sleep.

I hung out in the living room for several hours, working on my stuff. I was surprised by how long it took before I saw any signs of life among other people in the hostel–as in, I basically didn’t see anyone until around 11am when I decided to finally head out for the day to see some of the city.

I took the subway over to the Shinkansen station, which sits right up on the foothills. Behind the station there is a path leading to a series of waterfalls. According the the plethora of area maps posted helpfully at every corner, there were also trails heading full on into the mountains to reach temples, reservoirs, and parks. After appreciating the waterfall a minute, and checking out some lookout points to see the city and the water, I followed a short (800 meter) trail along the hills to come down into another scenic section of town–“Kitano” (technically “north barbarian”)–where there is a cluster of historic buildings that were part of a foreigner enclave that developed in the city after it was opened up to foreign trade. To actually visit inside any of the half dozen buildings would have been prohibitively expensive, but I strolled about enjoying the views from the outside and people watching. I noticed a handful of Korean and a truckload of Chinese tourists in the area.

I was slightly grateful for the determination to fast because I could pass right by all the ice cream shops without the slightest wavering hesitation. I headed downhill to check out a Shinto shrine (Ikuta) that reportedly dates back to 201 CE. I was surprised to see it so tightly packed into an urban section, but it successfully transports one to a remote mountainside.

I followed some shopping arcades west for a while, taking a detour through Chinatown, which was jam-packed with eateries offering all sorts of sit down meals and street food. I blew right by all of them without even casually perusing pricing.

I continued my stroll through the town, aiming towards an area called Harborland. It is one of the bits of land that jut out into the harbor, housing a large shopping mall, a ferris wheel, and a children’s museum. I wasn’t interested in any of that, but I was looking for a statue of Elvis Presley, which I had seen marked on a map. Lo and behold, there really was one… for some reason. For the last part of my day-tour I went looking for another feature marked on the tourist maps, a drawbridge.

On the way, I got distracted by a bit of public exercise equipment. I did a set of 15 pullups. I did the math afterwards, and it had been exactly 2 weeks since I last ran across a pullup bar (in Matsuyama) and busted out a set. So, despite losing quite a bit of weight with all the walking and sporadic eating, I haven’t lost any strength.

Before reaching the drawbridge (which wasn’t particularly interesting, despite anchoring the narrative), a group of school children were attempting to fish a baseball out of the water. I watched them for a while as one boy tentatively perched on the rocky embankment and tried to snag it with a tree branch. Just as I decided to intercede and was gathering up a bit of rope that was just lying there, they solved their problem on their own. I think the opposite of a hero isn’t a villain or an anti-hero, but a schmuck. At least, that is how I felt as a slunk off.

By this point, I had walked most of the distance back to the hostel, so I finished the journey on foot, getting back around 4pm. I plopped down on a beanbag and rested a bit, before studiously poring over the area map with restaurant recommendations. Two hours before I could eat, but food was all I could think of.

A portly Japanese man entered the cafe, and I went to fetch a staff member to help him. He ordered a soda and sat down in the living room intent on having an interaction with foreigners, i.e. me. He didn’t really speak any English, but we communicated a bit through the help of translators and L, the Japanese-American staff member, who was in and out of the room (as she had other work to do as well).

About twenty minutes to sundown, I went over to the supermarket to get a fizzy drink and a salad. It took me far less time to do the food run, so I was stuck staring at it for about ten minutes before breaking my fast. Meanwhile, I chatted a bit with one of the fellows from the previous night.

I devoured the salad, then set out to get some restaurant food as a second course. There were tons of options, but most of the recommendations in the area veered towards barbeque, yakitori, or fried skewers. I cross-referenced for something truly unique to the area and found a reference to “sobameshi.” One restaurant was highlighted on the area map for that so I went there. It was a full teppanyaki place and I ordered my sobameshi (stirfried noodles and rice, basically) and a glass of water. The alcohol menu was tempting and everyone else in the crowded establishment was drinking. Grrr.. The food was a decent sized portion, but not enough for me, so after much thinking and perusal of the menu (with the help of a dictionary), I also ordered a savory pancake thing. It was a long wait, and I ate it as quickly as I could because I was starting to feel bad for occupying space while potential customers were waiting at the door.

I swung by the grocery store on the way back and picked up a traditional Japanese sweet (skewers with mochi balls). There was a large group of people (several from the sister hostel) hanging out on the balcony so I joined them for a while. Eventually, it was getting too chilly outside and the conversation died down as various folks wandered off to do whatever. So, I went upstairs to bed.

Subway	230
Salad	295
Teppanyaki (sobameshi + negiyaki)	1360
Snack	84
Total:	1969 JPY (126 RMB) (USD 18.50)

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