Travel Japan
The coronavirus pandemic decimated international travel. But with the rapid spread of vaccinations, the industry looks set to spring back. It can’t spring back immediately, of course, because the revival of the air travel industry requires several steps: re-hiring and re-training ground and air staff; inspecting, servicing and testing aircraft that have been sitting idle for months and months; deciding on and creating an industry-wide and global vaccination documentation system; devising response protocols for new and different scenarios, etc.
But domestic and international travel will revive. I’m waiting for it. I’m counting on it.
Over the last twenty years, Japan has worked hard to build itself as a tourist destination. It was counting on international tourism for its economic benefits. And then the 2020 Olympic Games came along and it was like a dream, like the icing on the cake. But the dream soured with the global pandemic.
An acquaintance of mine in Canada is planning a post-pandemic sightseeing trip to Japan in December 2021. He contacted me to talk about things to do and places to see in Tokyo.
Frist of all, remember that every place on earth is mostly just like every other place. If you’ve got gravity and air, that’s most of the comparison right there. Tokyo is exactly like Guelph, or Toronto, or Ottawa, only more. Much more.
There’s lots to suggest about sightseeing in Tokyo. Shelves of books are published on the topic, and the internet is pregnant with loads of instantly accessible information. It’s a fantastic city. I’ve been here for 32 years and I’m still discovering it. The city itself boasts about 14 million people, but the Kanto Plain - the coastal plain where we are - hosts several large cities shoulder-to-shoulder - Tokyo, Kawasaki, Yokohama, etc. The Kanto Plain is about the size of southwestern Ontario from London to Windsor, and the combined population is over 42 million. So, if you go up to a skyscraper observation deck and look out, basically you’re looking at all of Canada (plus several million more) laying at your feet.
There are plenty of affordable hotels. If you travel with the aid of a travel agent, the agent can do a better job than I of finding affordable hotels. The APA Hotel is a familiar chain of reasonably-priced lodgings. The owner is an ultra-right wind nationalist, but …
If I narrow my story down to half a dozen sightseeing spots, it means a lot of criss-crossing the city. There are English-language guided bus tours available and lots of English signage. The commuter subway and train systems might look confusing and even chaotic at first, but relax and use your head and it works out okay. Japanese revere punctuality, and if a sign says that a train will arrive at 7:02 and depart at 7:03 they mean it literally. There is no tipping here. Not in restaurants, not at the airport, not in the taxi, not anywhere. No tipping. Don’t lose your temper or become upset in front of Japanese. They don’t like confrontation. Always carry a hand towel in your pocket. A small pack of tissues would be a good idea, too. Foreigners visiting Japan should have no problem using their credit cards here, and if you need cash, it can be done through Japanese ATMs directly from you bank accounts at home. ATMs have a language selection (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, English and Portuguese are the usual choices). So, either 1) insert your card and then choose a language; or 2) choose a language and then insert your card. Japan remains a largely cash society, but digital means of payment are becoming more common and popular (especially as a hygiene strategy during the coronavirus pandemic). Payment without direct contact between store clerks and customers has proliferated.
Don’t try to open or close taxi doors yourself. Opening and closing the doors is the driver’s job. He operates the doors remotely from the driver’s seat. In Japan, vehicles drive on the left side of the road, so remember to look to your right for safety before crossing a street, not the left. For me, personally, it’s disorienting when I visit Canada and have to deal with left-hand-drive vehicles on right-hand-drive streets. (I adapt quickly, though.)
If you want to eat Japanese food, keep in mind that serving sizes here tend to be small-ish. This is especially true of sushi. To feel full, it is easy to eat, and eat, and eat, and eat, until finally you are over-full without realizing it. There are neighborhood ramen (noodle) shops all over the place. I haven’t been to one in quite a while, but a dinner there typically consists of a big bowl of boiled noodles in a soy sauce broth with a side-dish of Chinese gyoza dumplings and some chahan fried rice. Another popular eatery is a gyudon (beef bowl) restaurant, like the popular Yoshinoya - the largest gyudon chain in the country. Gyudon is a bowl of rice topped with meat and sometimes vegetables or an egg. It’s nutritious and it can be prepared quickly. Gyudon is Japanese comfort food.
Japan has American fast-food chains like McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Wendy’s. The Japanese fast-food restaurant I prefer is MOS Burger. Um-um, good! And, there’s one just down the street from my apartment. Denny’s is here, if a western-style family restaurant is more your thing. Japanese family restaurants that a foreigner would enjoy include the Big Three: Jonathan’s, Saizeriya, and Gusto. All good. All with bilingual menus that have photographs of the food.
Japanese restaurants are famous for displaying realistic plastic models of their foods in a window out front, to help people see what the food is. I mean really realistic stuff. Foreigners have long been mesmerized by this. The plastic models, however, do not necessarily translate into English menus inside. At Ramen (noodle) restaurants, the menu will often be posted in Chinese character signs mounted on the walls. Other ramen restaurants have vending machines outside the door. You buy a ticket from the machine for the dish you want and then present that to the cook over the counter once you step inside. These days, you can buy realistic-looking plastic food models on key chains as a souvenir for friends back home, or as a curiosity.
Japanese food tends to be a little salty, compared with the overwhelming sweetness and greasiness of American food. Soy sauce is salty. In Japan there are some really odd mixes of foods and tastes - like, they adopted some Western foods with no consideration for Western tastes. This is especially true when it comes to sandwiches. Strawberry sandwiches; asparagus sandwiches. The fruits and vegetables food chain here evolved a bit differently.
Tap water is safe to drink. Don’t worry about it.
If you have GPS or Google Maps apps on your iPhone, you should have no problem finding places. Buy travelers’ health insurance just in case. Tokyo has two international airports: Narita, which is two hours outside the city in Chiba Prefecture; and Haneda, which is right in the city. (Haneda was the original international airport, and Narita was built in the 1970s.) There is easy bus and train access to downtown to-and-from both. Depending on what airline you use and what your point of departure is, you will arrive at one or the other. I prefer Narita, although it’s significantly farther away from the center of town. I have almost always used the Airport Limousine Bus rather than the train to go there, because I enjoy the slower trip. It gives me time to stare out the window and daydream.
Tokyo has no “downtown.” Instead, it has several commercial and commuter hubs which count as “downtown.” Most of these hubs are found on the Yamanote Line train. The Yamanote is a loop line that circles the center of Tokyo. There are 29-stations on the loop and it takes over an hour to ride it one time round. In olden times, these hubs were separate villages and cities outside the city of Edo (Tokyo). But as Tokyo grew and grew, it absorbed the surrounding towns and villages, retaining the meandering layout of rural roads and the plethora of village temples, shrines, and local festivals. That is why to this day, anywhere in Tokyo, you are never far from a Buddhist temple or a Shinto shrine. That is why even today, every part of Tokyo has its own character. Tokyo is an amalgamation of hundreds of agricultural villages. To this day, many place names and religious sites in the city have rural names, revealing their origins and some of their history. The narrow, meandering streets of rural villages remain a feature throughout the city. Some of the major hubs are: Shinjuku; Shibuya, Otemachi; Tokyo Central Station; Ueno; and Ikebukuro.
Japanese are not known for their English proficiency. It’s a bit of an embarrassment when we look at statistics from other Asian countries. However, because English is a mandatory high school subject, English awareness is widespread. Hotel and commuter station staff can help tourists. When you are out and about and need directions, high school students can be a resource. Just look for teenagers in their school uniforms. In addition, online dictionary software and translation apps on your phones go a long way.
In Tokyo, Asakusa is a premier tourist spot. Adjacent to the Sumida River, the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa is not just a temple, it’s more like a temple complex. You could easily spend an entire day just there. If you have teenagers, though, Shibuya is the place to be. In particular, Harajuku Station (half-way between Shibuya Station and Shinjuku Station, but in Shibuya Ward), features the Mecca of youth culture: Takeshita Avenue. The Electric City district of technology shops, manga and anime - another kind of Mecca - is at Akihabara Station on the Sobu Line. Major parks in the capital include Shinjuku National Park, Yoyogi Park, Ueno Park, and the Imperial Palace Outer Gardens. Major shrines and temples include Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, Meiji Shrine in Shibuya, Yasukuni Shrine in Ichigaya, and Sengakuji Temple, resting place of the 47 ronin, called the “Ako gishi.” The walking trip around the Imperial Palace moat west of Tokyo Station is a great experience. It takes some time. Check the opening hours on the internet and visitors will be able to enter to Imperial Palace East Gardens, site of the old Edo Castle keep and the shogun’s palace. Everything is gone now (lost to fire) except the foundation of the keep. But to stand and walk there is to stand in the footprints of Japanese history. Almost literally. Walking on the east side of Tokyo Station - the Nihonbashi and Ginza districts - is also a treat. The Ginza is one of the premier shopping districts in the world, like Fifth Avenue in New York, or the Champs Elysees in Paris.
Check out the two towers here - Tokyo Tower (1958) and the taller Skytree tower (2012). The Skytree was built to replace most of Tokyo Tower’s broadcast functions with superior modern technology. But Tokyo Tower is so iconic - and beautiful - that it remains a tourist draw.
Kyoto or Hiroshima might do well as alternative sightseeing cities. They are far away from Tokyo, but easy to access on the Shinkansen bullet grain. They are much smaller than Tokyo and easy to get around.
There is a lot of seismic activity here. The country is always rocking and rumbling. Even if a person visits only for a short time, she is likely to feel at least a little earth tremor action.