14 Things You Can Do Only, or Best, in Tokyo

I did this series on Instagram last year after I went with Jasmin and her family on a trip to Tokyo, which if I'm not mistaken numbers around my 10th visit. I've never lived there, but I perhaps know Tokyo better than I know any other large metropolitan city I've ever been to, and enjoy acting as Interpreter-in-Chief for friends and family looking to have a good time. Though we're not experts, Jasmin and I are happy to oblige on making suggestions for places to go and food to eat in the capitol of the land of the rising sun. So instead of making you visit my Instagram account and scrolling through to the pictures from last year, I'll go ahead and list them all here:

14 Things You Can Do Only, or Best, in Tokyo

1. #BESTINTOKYO // We spent our time in Tokyo with Jasmin's family, a family meetup vacation of sorts between the states, Guam, and the Philippines. At the most there were 14 of us, including 4 young kids who were a handful in a bustling foreign city. In the picture are all of us except for Jasmin's brother Will's family. We went to the famous Tsukiji Fish Market, the largest and busiest fish market on the planet for some world-class, Best-In-Tokyo seafood. My mouth is watering just thinking of the fatty tuna sashimi bowl I got at this restaurant, Tsukiji Sushi Ichiban.

2. #ONLYINTOKYO // After 2-3 visits, Jasmin and I are Tokyo Disney Land (TDR) veterans. So we were excited to try something new and see Tokyo DisneySea with the fam, the one and only nautical-themed Disney park. And we were joined by my Japanese bro Yuuki and our friend Xochitl! If only we had timed our visit not to coincide with a Japanese holiday and Spring Break... Note to self: Always check line wait times via websites BEFORE looking for rides to line up for. -.-

3. #BESTINTOKYO // All 14 of us together on the mountain! Technically it's not Tokyo, but if you're in Tokyo one of the best places to go for snowboarding or skiing is going to be Naeba Ski Resort, near Nagano where the 1998 Winter Olympics were held. Major props to our teenage niece and nephew who were not only seeing snow for the first time, but learned to shred it on a board from day 1. And the best part is, even at the end of March, we managed to get some decent snow!

4. #BESTINTOKYO // Forget Tokyo, here's how to get the best sushi of your LIFE: 1. Go to Tsukiji Fish Market on a weekday when trains start at 5am (lesson learned: not holidays), 2. Walk into the heart of the market, past the initial street bustle, 3. If the line for no. 1 寿司大 (Sushi Dai) is unbelievable and the much shorter line for no. 2 大和 (Daiwa) is an hour and a half wait, you can find a place like おかめ (Okame) with no line that will still give you the most amazing sushi you have ever tasted.

5. #BESTINTOKYO // When the 桜 / sakura / cherry blossoms bloom in late March through early April, this is where you want to be. The Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is a large park that offers the most beautiful scenes in the city. Then you'll just need to rely on the beauty of your subject. ;) It's open from 9:00-4:30 and admission is around $2. We went right when the sakura were just starting to bloom, so we didn't get the full experience - but we did get to taste some sakura ice cream!

6. #BESTINTOKYO #ONLYINTOKYO // This is it, folks. Tsuta is the only Michelin Star ramen (as of 2016). Their shoyu (soy sauce) and shio (salt) ramen will make you question the validity of every other ramen you've had. For me, this is #bestshoyuramen #besttokyoramen #top3ramen. Be prepared to wait, though. You need to put a ¥1,000 deposit on seat tickets for their 9-seat restaurant between 8-9am with EVERYONE who will be eating. Then come back at the allotted time to wait for an hour before finally going into the restaurant. It's worth it.

7. #ONLYINTOKYO ? // Daily Chico offers a cool treat, if you can manage not to drop it! Head to the basement of the Broadway Center in Nakano for an 8-scoop soft serve ice cream cone. Winona recommends the purple flavor! I think the blue ramune flavor is worth a try too. :D

8. #ONLYINTOKYO // An Otaku's dream come true. Tokyo is the only place you can go to see a 1/1 18 meter #GundamStatue (note the guy on the left for scale), which lights up from 5-11pm with steam spewing from its chest, and short video protections at 7:30pm, 8:30pm and 9:30pm. To get there head to Odaiba island, and it will be waiting outside the 2nd floor cafeteria of the Diver City mall.

9. #ONLYINTOKYO // At 634 meters, Tokyo #Skytree became the tallest tower in the world in 2011. This is where you want to go to get the best view of the city. If you're looking to spend less than 2,000 yen you may want to check out the classic TokyoTower, or you can go to the 25th floor of the Bunkyo Civic Center free of charge and see Mt. Fuji on a clear day.

10. #ONLYINTOKYO // Sunshine City in Ikebukuro was one of my favorite places to go in Tokyo for one reason: #NamjaTown. Think of an inside theme park, but with food as the main attraction: tons of gyoza (pan-fried dumplings) stands, weird ice cream flavors (snake, fried chicken, etc.), and games. But when we went a couple years ago, it seemed a little watered down with the opening of a new theme park next door: #JWorldTokyo. They cover everything Shonen Jump from the #OnePiece Sunny-Go ship, to the #DragonballZ Saiya-jin ship, to #Naruto ramen, to #HunterXHunter life-size manga, and more! If you love the Shonen Jump stores in Japan, you have to check this place out.

11. #BESTINTOKYO // Every year in September (just in time for my birthday!), Tokyo hosts one of the biggest gaming conventions in the world: #TokyoGameShow. I went solo my first year in 2008, and with @jasmin671 and family/friends again in 2010. This con is massive (between 200,000 to 300,000 attendants) and has everything you'd expect from a Japan-scale expo: superb cosplay, game testing, giant robots, and of course lots and lots of Sega.

12. #ONLYINTOKYO // We have been down #TakeshitaStreet more times than we can count, so there must be a good reason right? #Harajuku is the fashion capital of Tokyo and a must-see for anyone looking to do some serious shopping (ladies?). And for others who may not be so interested (guys?), it's still got some of the coolest shirts I've found (like my Ronald McDonald Joker shirt). Sundays seem to be "Cosplay Day," and everyday is "Packed Liked Sardines Day."

13. #BESTINTOKYO // #UenoZoo is the biggest (and only?) zoo in Tokyo, and a great place to bring kids. Of note are the panda bears and the petting zoo, but beware of paying money to ride the train in the zoo unless you really don't feel like walking up/down a small hill. And it might not be the best place to go when the kids are frightened of any type of bear. #learningthehardway

14. #ONLYINTOKYO // I've saved one of the best places for the 14th and final recommendation in Tokyo: the #GhibliMuseum. This museum is heaven for anyone who appreciates #Miyazaki movies like #PrincessMononoke, #SpiritedAway, and #MyNeighborTotoro. You do have to book tickets months in advance, and when you arrive photos inside are strictly prohibited. But this museum is packed with goodies and games and exhibits that are worth experiencing once in your life.

And with that, I've concluded my Tokyo recommendations. If you're planning a trip, there are tons more places to check out than I've mentioned, like Akihabara, Ginza, and Asakusa. And no trip to Japan would be complete without seeing a maid cafe, eating okonomiyaki, and entering a Tokyu Hands. But over my 10 or so trips to Tokyo I've been to the 14 places I've shown (often multiple times), and can vet that they are cool experiences that may fall under the radar when planning a trip. Good luck and enjoy!

Video Blog: Japanese Home Appliances

Wow, I took a bit of a break from my last post, and right when I had a nice streak going too, huh? I've been rather busy these past couple weeks jumping head first back into my Japanese studies. I sort of re-discovered the site AllJapaneseAllTheTime.com, after reading this article a while back. For those familiar with the site, maybe it's self-explanatory what happened. I felt motivated to take Japanese to the next step, dropped hobbies relating to English, and immersed myself in it, I daresay more than I did even in Japan. lol It was a magical thing. Perhaps I'll make a post in the future to do justice to this site and what I'm doing now.

But for now, I want to get back on track to Japan documenting. :p

And do I have a treat for you! Today I will cover two of my most popular videos on YouTube. They'll take a closer look at some things that are considered perfectly ordinary parts of everyday life in Japan, which from a gaijin (foreigner) perspective might actually, possibly, sort of be kind of cool. If you watched the first video of my house in Japan, you will have seen both of these briefly. I do apologize for the sound, my camera is not good at picking it up even from a foot away apparently.

Japanese Washing Machine

Video notes:

• Like I said in the video, "washing machine" is sentakki, but it can also be sentakuki.
• There are various reasons that Japanese don't own dryers. First and foremost, they're rare and expensive, so if you see one in a home you know that the family is pretty well-off. Another reason is that the Japanese don't want to waste electricity needlessly (which can be seen in bringing hand towels everywhere instead of having hand dryers in bathrooms), and better still is that over a period of time dryers will wear down colors and fabric. Either way, from much of the world's perspective Americans are weird for having them. lol
• The rest is self-explanatory.

Japanese Showers

Video notes:

• I was going to say that the reason this one had so many hits was probably because people thought I was taking a video in a public shower. However, the washing machine video had even more hits so I don't know WTF is going on.
• The shower room is called ohuroba.
  
• I say shower specifically and not bath because I never actually took a bath while I was there, unfortunately. Wish I had that time to relax, but the most I did was plug it up one time while taking a shower to make sure that I wasn't wasting as much water as a bath anyway, and it was pretty clear that a shower was the way to go.
• It got annoying at times having to turn off the shower while lathering up, but through the cold nights it certainly built up discipline and reminded me how I was saving water. haha
• Someone on YouTube asked why I didn't wash myself outside the bathtub and then soak in it afterward. Obviously there's the water issue, but I told the person that when my host parents explained how to use it, it sounded to me like if I was going to use the shower I should do it in the tub and keep the water from getting on the floor. So I did that and they never mentioned anything else about it the rest of the four months I was there. In hot springs however, which I'll cover in a later post, that person would certainly be correct.
  
• As I mentioned in the other video blog, privacy was a matter of closing two curtains and shutting an unlocked door. But as I covered, the Japanese have a high respect for said privacy, so no problems.

A short post, enjoy.

Japan Checklist

UPDATE 3/26/10: Turns out JapanesePod101 decided to do the same sort of blog post that I did in August. It covers a lot of what I mentioned below, but in greater detail for those really interested in getting to Japan. The blog post is called Valuable Information on Getting Starting Living in Japan and the second part is here. Part 3: click. This is really good stuff!

Those going to any country for a substantial period of time are going to want to be sure they've covered their bases. Passport? Check. Visa? Check. Clean pair of underwear? Working on it. Depending on where you're going and for how long the specifics will change, but before I forget I wanted to set out and create a very general list of things to keep in mind when going to Japan. Obviously if you're sponsored by a school or program you're going to be filling out all their paperwork as well, and that's a huge pain by itself, so you shouldn't have to worry about forgetting to tie up the odds and ends. Syk3 has got you covered. (image heavy)

DO BEFORE LEAVING:

• Passport [ryoken/pasupooto | for everyone] - if you're thinking about going, get one or make sure yours is up-to-date. It's a no-brainer.
  
  
  
• Pictures [everyone] - if you're getting a new passport anyway, take extra photos because you're going to need them later for official forms.
  
  
  
• Get a job, a school, or a friend [everyone] - you need something to do when you get over there.
  
  
  
• Certificate of Eligibility [those who need a visa] - unless you have an organization that takes care of this for you, you need to fill out a form and wait for them to send you this certificate, which can take around 6 weeks but makes obtaining a VISA a LOT easier.
• VISA [sashou/biza | staying longer than 90 days] - required to do things like take classes, earn money, and basically anything that isn't strictly related to visiting Japan. If you don't have one, you can stay up to 90 days. If you do have one, then you're limited by the type of VISA, such as Student, Instructor, Journalist, etc.
  
  
  
• Power of Attorney [staying for a while] - a legal document that puts control of your home country assets in the hands of someone trustworthy while your away, in case something needs to be signed on your behalf, etc.
  
  
  
• Credit Cards [everyone] - some people forget to do this, but make sure you call your credit card company if you plan on using it in Japan. Otherwise they may not be able to get in contact with you, and end up blocking all the charges. And you don't want this to happen just when you're about to buy that brand new color tamagotchi, do you?
  
  
  
• Guidebook [everyone] - always a good idea for things to do, or referencing hotels and such in the area. I recommend the Lonely Planet series, which I didn't use as much as I would have liked but it had a ton of useful information.
  
  
  

DO UPON ARRIVING:

• Alien Registration Card [gaikokujin tourokushou | staying for a while] - the most important form of identification while you're away, and should be taken care of immediately. After visiting your local city hall [shiakusho], they'll give you a temporary certificate until your card is finalized.
  
  
  
  
• Insurance Card [hokensyou | staying for a while] - national health insurance is required for anyone hoping to receive treatment in Japan. Often times programs will require you buy separate insurance, but this becomes null and void when you arrive, so apply for a refund if this is the case. Insurance is around 40,000 yen/month.
  
  
  
• Cell Phone [keitai denwa | staying for a while] - extremely cheap, and extremely necessary in Japan. The cheapest plans are for 2-year contracts, but even for 1 semester I was only paying around 1,500 yen/month. Phones themselves may set you back around 20,000 yen for something that the states won't see for another few years at least. More on phones in a later post.
  
  
  
• Name Stamp [inkan | staying for a while] - this is the replacement of signatures in Japan, used most often (almost exclusively, in fact) by banks to sign forms. A cheap one goes for around 1,000 yen, and can include up to 4 characters. I had three: 愚令倶 or gu-rei-gu. The first kanji means foolish or stupid, the second means cold, and the third means group; all-in-all it gives off a yakuza kind of feeling, and when people in Japan read it they're like, "Oooh, cool! Scary, but cool!" Thanks goes out to my host parents for helping me come up with the kanji!!
  
  
  
• Bank Account and Cash Card [kouza and kyasshu kaado | staying for a while] - unless you plan on paying an international transaction fee every time you access your American bank from the local 7-11 ATM, you're going to need to open a bank account in Japan. This is required if your program needs to deposit money into your account, or if you rent housing. Otherwise, Japan is a cash economy and you'll need your cash card for ATMs, plus you won't have to worry about conversion rates if you exchange a lot of money into your bank account up front. In my experience, places that accept American credit cards are rare.
  
  
  
• Commuter Pass [eikiken | staying for a while] - if you find yourself using public transportation every day to commute to school or work, you won't want to buy individual tickets, and you can purchase a pass up front. It's valid for unlimited trips between your stations, but you need to buy separate ones for the train, subway, and anything that's owned by separate companies. If you're part of an organization they may give you a form to receive a discount, but you'll probably still be paying around 10,000 yen/month.
  
  
  
  
• Phone Cards and Postcards [tereka and hagaki | everyone] - keep in touch with family and friends back home, but don't pay too much to do it. The postcards should be relatively cheap, but if you aren't careful the phone cards could run you 10,000 yen in a week (I'm not kidding). Your best bet is getting a card that can be refilled with minutes, like Brastel.
  
  
  

REMINDERS:

• Clothes [staying for a while] - people in Japan are smaller than in the states, so keep this in mind if you plan to buy clothes over there. Stock up, or you just might have to search for an expensive specialty store.
  
  
  
• Gifts [everyone] - Japan is a society that revolves around exchanging gifts as expressions of gratitude. This should not be underestimated. Don't forgot to bring something for your Japanese friends or host parents if you have them, preferably of something that highlights your home town.
  
  
  
• No Tissues [everyone] - if you walk around for a half an hour in a busy commute area, I guarantee that someone will offer you free tissues with advertisements on them. These are substitutes in Japan for napkins, and there are TONS of them, so leave yours at home.
  
  
  
• No Manga [everyone who can read Japanese] - if you can read, or are practicing reading, Japanese manga, leave yours at home and save room in your luggage for when you buy it in Japan. It's dirt cheap, ranging from 100-400 yen.
  
  
  

Any questions? Good, let's go to Japan.

Maid Cafes

One thing that you (probably) won't find in America, but is quite common in Japan, is a maid cafe. Yes, the place often associated with smelly otaku and every type of fanboy. Where girls dress up as maids and work to serve you hand and foot, sometimes literally cutting up your food and putting it in your mouth. Many outsiders may look at this scene as fulfilling some sort of sick fetish. To the Japanese, however, it's just another theme restaurant that happens to be popular, like ones with ninjas or prisoners. Sure, your friends might laugh when you mention that you're going (as some of my Japanese friends did), but they would go too... if you invited them.

So Jasmin and Erin mentioned their intentions of possibly opening a maid or cosplay cafe of some sort in the states, to bring a little Japanese love back home. And based on that, I decided to do my own hands-on research to help them out, and while I was at it invite a friend along for the ride. When I met up with him, however, he was with 2 other friends already, and I met another one at the train station, so that made 5 of us. Onward to the maid cafe!


I'd only been to a cafe like this one other time in my life, and that was with Jasmin, her cousin, and her cousin's boyfriend at a cat-themed maid cafe in Akihabara, Tokyo (which we found no thanks to the maids handing out flyers by the train station). Perhaps we didn't get the full service because we were with our partners, while most customers were guys who came in alone and looked depressed. The good part was that we were able to get away with one forbidden photo of our parfait before we were told to put our camera away. So to make sure Jasmin would be okay with this trip, I taped a picture of her to my shirt, right above a note card that read "I'm with her." XD


Maid Cafes consist of 2 main areas - an entrance/waiting area, and the dining area. When you first enter the doorway, the waitresses bow very deeply and say "irasshaimase, okyakusama, goshujinsama," which translates as "welcome, honorable guest, honorable master." The waiting area is actually a must, in order to welcome guests this way. These waitresses were dressed in cute maid costumes, long and modest to match the Victorian theme. The dining area continued this theme as a house, complete with fake window and nice curtains, and dressers where frames held pictures of waitresses in assorted costumes.

We were initially seated in separate areas (2 & 3 people), but when another couple left the maids pushed the tables together. Looking at the table provided a lot of insight into what kind of restaurant we were dealing with. There were bells with red ribbons for when we wanted something or were ready to place our orders. Next to the bells were cups of sugar to add to tea or other drinks, inside of which were cute colorful stars served with a heart-shaped spoon. The other silverware was lined with fancy embroidery, placed with the utmost care and delicacy. Hand wipes are also provided, but this isn't anything fancy as it's done virtually everywhere in Japan (no point to hand sanitizers ~_^). For those opening a Japanese-theme cafe, however, this point should be acknowledged and is a must do.

Which brings me to the food. As per usual in Japanese restaurants, water is brought out right away (another good idea for the US), but here there is a strong lemon flavor despite there being no actual lemon (it's poured from a large pitcher). The waitresses bring out a menu and initially hold it up and turn pages for you, then give it to you to look through yourself more carefully. Being a themed cafe, there's more emphasis on dessert than real food, but they have that too. On the menu their categories include: Regular Food, Hot Drinks, Cold Drinks, Daily Tea, Flavor Tea, Cake Set, Parfait, and Dessert. Their regular food includes things like curry, hamburgers, and toast, and runs between $5-10. Parfaits are their specialty though, and those average around $6 for a delicious combination of fruit, ice cream, cake, possibly cereal, etc. When it comes to pouring sauce like ketchup or chocolate on food, the waitresses will ask for suggestions on what to draw.

My friends and I discussed important things to keep in mind for theme restaurants like this, and whether it's maid or cosplay the costumes are going to be very important. They could, and should, be changed as time goes on, and we could even come up with various themes like anime, video games, and superheroes. However, since this is a place where people are working, these costumes should be provided by the employer to represent a group atmosphere. If people came in with their own, then the application process would become much more complicated and they might be turned away on the basis of a bad costume alone.

One thing that would be important to change is a stance on taking pictures. Inside the restaurant makes sense to prohibit because it could cause a disturbance, but in Japan even in the entrance way it's not allowed. I took one by the sign that included no part of the restaurant whatsoever, but since it was in the entrance way they made me delete it. So uncool.

Who would like to see us open a maid cafe in the states?

BTW, just found this article on a maid cafe in the states. Check it out.