Yesterday, local members of my school's international department took us Californians on some tours around Tokyo. I was in the group that went to Asakusa and Ueno (both are districts of Tokyo).
We began at a train station where we all met before going on our various tours. The first picture is of an outdoor smoking section that has become quite common in Tokyo. I am pretty sure smoking on sidewalks has been criminalized to there are special designated places. I've even seen special smoking patrols by people who look like police.
Some of the buildings surrounding the train station look like this:
The signs on the buildings vary from pachinko casinos to student loans to karaoke to arcades.
Here's a fellow Californian buying a train ticket with help from one of the locals:
My group took a train to a ferry depot and then took a ferry to Asakusa (we could have taken a train but this was better). I chatted a bunch with a new classmate of mine named Yoshiko as we rode the ferry and saw some cool sights including Tokyo's Rainbow Bridge (not very colorful though), Tokyo Dome, and some of the skyscrapers.
Asakusa was quite busy being that this is a 3 day holiday and people come from all over Japan and Asia to see this place. We mainly spent our time checking out street vendors and the shrine.
Then in Ueno we just checked out more street vendors and saw a little of Ueno park.
We all met up again where we originally met and headed to a restaurant where we were being treated to a drinking social. Here we are ordering food on the LCD touch screen:
Toasting (the two Japanese girls on the right are locals):
And that's how the day went! I think I am being taken to Ikea today, but we'll see. See ya later!
Oh ya, I met a girl that went to high school in Japan less than a mile away from where I did!
Since I arrived I have been staying at a hotel and have been attending seminars at my school. Jumping back to everyday life in Japan has been no issue at all. At times it doesn't even seem like I am in a foreign country. It is an entirely different experience now that I am here being able to speak Japanese as opposed to how it was in high school. Also, here in Tokyo people are much more used to seeing foreigners so I don't get starred at that much at all.
My first days in Tokyo have been relatively comfortable. I don't notice any air pollution or bad smells, it really doesn't seem that crowded to me, the public transportation is easy to understand, and no other things that I initially worried about seem to be problems. However, I am just getting over some severe jet-lag. Before tonight, I slept just 4.5 hours my first two nights away from California (3 hours on the plane, and 1.5 hours the next night). That led to a very difficult day yesterday, but I am happy to say I have already gotten 6 hours of sleep tonight and will probably get at least one more hour in soon. It is currently 3:30 AM Japanese time.
I had some free time yesterday and went and got my foreign residency card. I was most impressed with how there was a picture booth in the lobby where you could take your own passport pictures and it was only $5 for 4 pictures! I also got the key for my apartment and will go check it out and hopefully meet my roommate from China today.
Before I go I wanted to make a quick comment on the efficiency of Japanese toilets. Lots of toilets only fill the bowl a little assuming you will only deposit something in liquid form. As soon as you sit down though it assumes there will be a need for more water so it fills up a little more. Then, when it comes time to flush you have the option of a big flush, or a small one. I also really like how this hotel puts stationary soap and shampoo containers in the shower the hotel isn't throwing away its hundreds of miniature sized containers every day. Oh yeah, the toilets have a funny warning in English that says: DO NOT splash water or detergent on the product (This may cause fire ot trouble). I might get a picture of it up later.
