Today's plan was pretty basic. Step 1: sleep in. Step 2: go to Shinjuku to buy a Shinkansen ticket. There was zero problem with step one as I slept until almost 10 :00am (I know those of you in college in the states think that's still early for a day off...) I got up, had some breakfast, and did some homework.
Getting into Shinjuku I found a problem with step 2. The ticket office (in the station) only sells Shinkansen tickets for that day. I need a ticket for friday which means I had to go to the ticket office outside the station. Instead of searching for this mystery ticket office in Shinjuku I decided to go to Tokyo Station instead (where my bullet train leaves from) to buy my ticket. Conveniently Akihabara is on the way between Shinjuku and Tokyo stations (evil laugh.)
On the train to Akihabara I came to a few realizations about the train system here. First, it's getting a little tedious riding the trains everywhere. The basic routes are becoming bland, the novelty's wearing off a little I think. Second, train advertising here is a BIG industry, the current "popular" (aka in every car) ads are the following; One's for a new Starbucks iced drink (that you can buy at a convienece store) the ad reads, "It's Starbucks without the Starbucks. Convenient, eh?" The other being an ad for the Xbox-360 ( a soon to be released game system) from Microsoft. Obviously Sony (who makes the competing "Playstation") had a bigger market share here (being the home-team) so Microsoft has to push it's new system hard. I haven't seen any ads for the Playstation 3 (from sony), but it's not slated to come out til' next spring (the Xbox-360 comes out on 12/10/05 here) The third realization I had was that all the commuter trains are electric. I guess I really didn't give it much though before, but it makes sense in a crowded city.
I got off in Akihabara, but left by a different station exit than normal. I walked for a bit in a non-retail part of Akihabara for a bit. It was different, not all lights, mostly little street front businesses resellers and shippers and such. Eventually I wandered over to my normal side of town and did sort of my normal circuit of stores. I had a good idea of what I was looking for today so it was pretty much a search and destroy mission. I found most of what I wanted. One was this month's issue of "Young King Our's" manga (which was only $5.00.) It cool, in America $5.00 gets you a tiny little 20 page comic book, here it gets you 500 pages of comics! (a yen per page I guess)
I went back to Akihabara station and found the platform for the Yamanote line (which goes to Tokyo Station.) Waiting for the train I noticed the 2 billboards across from me were for computer parts! One was for a power supply, the other for the new nano-itx motherboard from EPIA. Where else (on earth) but Akihabara do you see billboards for computer parts? I love this town so much (gee is that the millionth thime I've said that? Probably, but it's still true.) Anyways staring in astonishment at the ads on the platform I eventually noticed the train wasn't coming. Turns out for the past 15 minutes the announcer had been saying that my train was pulling in on the opposite side of the platform due to track work on the tracks in front of me. As if to drive the announcers point home a worker walked by... on the tracks. This points out one of my fears about living here, not being able to understand instructions. Notably in an emergency situation. The best I've got is "Hmmm... everyone's screaming and running, I'd better follow them" if and bad stuff goes down. Ignorace is bliss.
I eventually got to Tokyo station and found the Shinkansen ticket office there... Only to be told I had to go to the ticket office outside to buy a ticket for friday... (scream) So, I found the nearest exit and went outside. After walking around what I assume is the back of the station I found the front entrance. The front of Tokyo station looks like an anachronism in Tokyo. It's built in the late nineteenth century style. Awesome brickwork. The interior's obviously been gutted and re-tooled but the exterior is very nice. After checking out the front (and seeing the main Tokyo post office (yay?)) I went into the ticket office. After a bit of confused basic Japanese conversation and a bit of money later I had my Shinkansen tickets. I wanted unreserved seats which are cheaper, but I'm not quite fluent enough to complain yet (and this way I will definitely have a seat, unlike sir Sparks who sat on the floor part of the trip.)
Having completed parts one and two of today's plan I decided to go check out a park I saw while I was circling Tokyo station. Turns out it wasn't a park as such, but a piece of the Imperial palace grounds. Who knew, TOKYO station is near the Imperial palace (the "center" of Tokyo). This was a part of the palace grounds I had not seen yet so I walked around a bit. I found the most photographed spot in Tokyo (the nijubashi bridge) and of course snapped some pictures. On the other end of the bridge from where I was (behind two sets of barricades) were a set of palace guards doing the "stand perfectly still and look straight forward" routine.
Looking on a map I decided I could walk from where I was to school and get on the train there saving me half an hours time and $1.50 in train fares. As I walked I found the central police agency, the National Diet building (like the capitol building in D.C.), the National Diet library (like the library of congress), the National Theater, and a really cool monument (to I don't know what.) Eventually I found familiar ground, got to the station, and went home.
Getting into Shinjuku I found a problem with step 2. The ticket office (in the station) only sells Shinkansen tickets for that day. I need a ticket for friday which means I had to go to the ticket office outside the station. Instead of searching for this mystery ticket office in Shinjuku I decided to go to Tokyo Station instead (where my bullet train leaves from) to buy my ticket. Conveniently Akihabara is on the way between Shinjuku and Tokyo stations (evil laugh.)
On the train to Akihabara I came to a few realizations about the train system here. First, it's getting a little tedious riding the trains everywhere. The basic routes are becoming bland, the novelty's wearing off a little I think. Second, train advertising here is a BIG industry, the current "popular" (aka in every car) ads are the following; One's for a new Starbucks iced drink (that you can buy at a convienece store) the ad reads, "It's Starbucks without the Starbucks. Convenient, eh?" The other being an ad for the Xbox-360 ( a soon to be released game system) from Microsoft. Obviously Sony (who makes the competing "Playstation") had a bigger market share here (being the home-team) so Microsoft has to push it's new system hard. I haven't seen any ads for the Playstation 3 (from sony), but it's not slated to come out til' next spring (the Xbox-360 comes out on 12/10/05 here) The third realization I had was that all the commuter trains are electric. I guess I really didn't give it much though before, but it makes sense in a crowded city.
I got off in Akihabara, but left by a different station exit than normal. I walked for a bit in a non-retail part of Akihabara for a bit. It was different, not all lights, mostly little street front businesses resellers and shippers and such. Eventually I wandered over to my normal side of town and did sort of my normal circuit of stores. I had a good idea of what I was looking for today so it was pretty much a search and destroy mission. I found most of what I wanted. One was this month's issue of "Young King Our's" manga (which was only $5.00.) It cool, in America $5.00 gets you a tiny little 20 page comic book, here it gets you 500 pages of comics! (a yen per page I guess)
I went back to Akihabara station and found the platform for the Yamanote line (which goes to Tokyo Station.) Waiting for the train I noticed the 2 billboards across from me were for computer parts! One was for a power supply, the other for the new nano-itx motherboard from EPIA. Where else (on earth) but Akihabara do you see billboards for computer parts? I love this town so much (gee is that the millionth thime I've said that? Probably, but it's still true.) Anyways staring in astonishment at the ads on the platform I eventually noticed the train wasn't coming. Turns out for the past 15 minutes the announcer had been saying that my train was pulling in on the opposite side of the platform due to track work on the tracks in front of me. As if to drive the announcers point home a worker walked by... on the tracks. This points out one of my fears about living here, not being able to understand instructions. Notably in an emergency situation. The best I've got is "Hmmm... everyone's screaming and running, I'd better follow them" if and bad stuff goes down. Ignorace is bliss.
I eventually got to Tokyo station and found the Shinkansen ticket office there... Only to be told I had to go to the ticket office outside to buy a ticket for friday... (scream) So, I found the nearest exit and went outside. After walking around what I assume is the back of the station I found the front entrance. The front of Tokyo station looks like an anachronism in Tokyo. It's built in the late nineteenth century style. Awesome brickwork. The interior's obviously been gutted and re-tooled but the exterior is very nice. After checking out the front (and seeing the main Tokyo post office (yay?)) I went into the ticket office. After a bit of confused basic Japanese conversation and a bit of money later I had my Shinkansen tickets. I wanted unreserved seats which are cheaper, but I'm not quite fluent enough to complain yet (and this way I will definitely have a seat, unlike sir Sparks who sat on the floor part of the trip.)
Having completed parts one and two of today's plan I decided to go check out a park I saw while I was circling Tokyo station. Turns out it wasn't a park as such, but a piece of the Imperial palace grounds. Who knew, TOKYO station is near the Imperial palace (the "center" of Tokyo). This was a part of the palace grounds I had not seen yet so I walked around a bit. I found the most photographed spot in Tokyo (the nijubashi bridge) and of course snapped some pictures. On the other end of the bridge from where I was (behind two sets of barricades) were a set of palace guards doing the "stand perfectly still and look straight forward" routine.
Looking on a map I decided I could walk from where I was to school and get on the train there saving me half an hours time and $1.50 in train fares. As I walked I found the central police agency, the National Diet building (like the capitol building in D.C.), the National Diet library (like the library of congress), the National Theater, and a really cool monument (to I don't know what.) Eventually I found familiar ground, got to the station, and went home.
I made haste on the last leg of the trip so I could see the start on my current favorite anime (Bleach). I managed to make it into my room just as 6:00 hit. I turned on the TV and... my show starts at 6:30 (sigh). So I watch the 6:00 show and have some instant ramen. 6:30 rolls around and... my (samurai) show has been replaced by something with fuzzy bunnys and stuffed animals that talk... BUT! I see commercial proclaming that my show hasen't been cancled, just moved to the 8:00pm time slot, hooray!
Tomorrow's my half-day day so I get to sleep in again. Then tomorrow night I have Kendo practice. Then friday night after class I leave for lands down south. Man my schedule fills up fast. I've been so busy it's hard to believe it's already been a month...
Ja Mata Ne.
P.S. It seems the program I use to upload pictures is offline right now. I'll try and upload again tomorrow morning (tonight for those of you in the states).
posted by Dockett at 9:30 PM
1 Comments:
Good luck in your travels big man
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