Leaving today on a late flight out. Taking an Uber to the airport to drop off luggage and will head back into the city for the day.
The cab ride is so strange. Silent. Absolutely no small talk. so weird. Kirk struggled to keep from helping the driver with the luggage. So hard for him to not be able to help as there was a lot!
There are lockers at the airport so super nice to be able to drop off luggage and leave carry-ons at airport to free us up for the day.
The train ride from the airport back to the city was nice. It was relaxing and we were actually able to take in the view.
Had tempura for lunch in Reno. Kirk had his with rice, I had warm soba noodles and the kids both had cold soba noodles. Delicious!
Food portions are humungous here! Not sure how all these tiny Japanese people can put it all away. The kids too seemed to be able to eat everything, but Kirk and I found it super hard to finish our meals, we mostly failed.
The kids and I spent the rest of the day basically wandering around Akihabara, while Kirk headed over to Ginza to do a little more (window) shopping.
There was a very cool toy store in Akihabara that we remembered from our previous trip(s) that we tried to find... we couldn’t remember the name, but we ran into it by accident - Kotobukiya.
Before leaving Akihibara, the kids hit up a few claw machines and rhythm games at Taito. Then that was it... headed back to the airport for our trip home.
Trip thoughts - Kirk:
Do NOT go to Japan over New Years Day. A lot of stuff was closed for SEVERAL days (not just one day). Christmas Day was fine. But, for New Years, basically all of Shimokitazawa and all the other non-main neighbourhoods were shutdown pretty much completely. We didn't have a choice since the Winter Break is part of the school schedule. Spring Break would be good, but Kali's university doesn't have that. And, Summer is apparently so hot that nobody recommends visiting then.
So, if you can, just avoid the entire New Years week. And, because "everything else" was closed, I think everyone piled into Shibuya. Or, maybe it's always just that busy now. It wore on me after a bit. Imagine going downtown during the fireworks. I think it's like that there everyday.
No wonder there's a backlash against over-tourism. We saw lots of tourists behaving badly, loudly, rudely, kids climbing on statues, etc. Felt lots of second-hand embarassment. In the Kyoto subway trains, they have banners hanging from ceilings of the cars telling foreigners how to behave. Things like do not talk on your phone, do not litter, etc. Imagine how politically crazy that would be if they put signs up in Vancouver telling foreigners how to behave acceptably?
I'm lucky that I'm not a foodie because there are massive lines for popular restaurants. We just ate at places that had room (except for the one udon place). And, food is super cheap. It's like half-price compared to Vancouver. I don't know how they can make it so cheap. Maybe it's because the cost of land/rent is so cheap that they don't have to pass those costs onto customers. Alcohol is cheap too.
And, they don't have the crazy homeless, drug addiction, property crime problem that we have in Vancouver. For people that don't live near downtown Vancouver, it might just be a statistic. But, when you live close to it like we do, it's in your face daily. It's just wears on you after years and years. I don't know how Japan doesn't have it.... or maybe I dont know why Vancouver has it so bad.
Did a ton of shopping. Probably too much. Our small apartment doesn't have enough space. And, I declared all of it at Canada Customs too. When we landed at YVR, there were a few planes coming in at the same time. Our plane alone had a few hundred people. There were only three groups of us waiting to pay duties and taxes. Are you seriously telling me that plane-loads of people came back to Canada and no one else is over their limits?
But, I was happy to see all the cool stuff in the stores. I wish I could speak Japanese, but then again, I don't think customers "chat" with the sales staff like they do in Vancouver. Shibuya had a lot of stores, but it felt like shopping in a giant crowded mall during Christmas. We were in Vegas recently. Felt the same. Every place was so busy and crowded. I think my favourite place was the Wildside store in Osaka, but maybe it was just because I was the ONLY person in the entire 3-storey store at the time.
I would love to go back and stay in Shimokitazawa again when things are open. The first two days there, about 80% of the stores were closed. On the last day, 80% of the stores were open, and the vibe of the hood was completely different. It was popping. I wanted to see more bands and more cafes, but everything was closed for the break as well. We just got super lucky that we found a place that was hosting a NYE band party.
We were getting on each other's nerves. Spending so much time together when everyone wanted to do different things made it bad. But, since the kids could go off and do their own thing, it helped a lot. Probably won't be going back for a while, at least not with both kids just because of the school schedules. But, I'd love to see some of the less crowded (yet fully open) neighbourhoods next time.
Camera-wise, I used my new Ricoh GR III for 99% of the pics. TeamLab was iPhone. The Ricoh is 28mm equivalent, and I did miss having a longer lens sometimes, especially for shots down the road with lots of spatial compression. But, overall, it was a great little camera. It glitched out a few times. Dunno if overheating. It would just freeze. I had to take the battery out and put it back in. The size and weight was a joy compared to the bigger cameras.
Trip thoughts - Elaine:
It is always nice to get away. Japan especially is just so different than what we are used to in Vancouver (at least in our ‘hood).
I have to say that the timing for this trip was not ideal. Going over winter break that ran into New Years was really a poor choice. Not only were we visiting with a ton of international tourists on their winter breaks, there were a ton of people from around Japan who were travelling over their New Year's break. On top of that, so many shops, restaurants and venues were closed or had limited hours during the first week of January. We didn’t have much choice as to timing as winter break is the only time that both kids’ school breaks coincided.
We were super lucky with the weather on this trip. We only had one day where there was a tiny bit of drizzle, otherwise every day was clear. Although it was a bit chilly in the mornings the days typically warmed up by the time we were out and about. We were super worried about freezing temperatures but this year the winter was unseasonably warm.
Our visit to the different cities were definitely different than our previous trips. We got a chance to get a better feel for each of them. They all have their own personalities. Tokyo, being gigantic, has a personality for each neighbourhood.
I am really glad that I had the chance to experience the ryokan and onsen in Nikko. I’d love to go back to an onsen town and experience a real outdoor onsen ... and maybe even come across a snow monkey!
We had all tried to learn a few basic Japanese phrases before coming on this trip, I was pretty useless, Kirk learned some, Kali had a few sayings under her belt, but Kyle - dude learned a lot! By the end of the trip he said that he pretty much spoke Japanese except when talking to us!
I forgot about the smoking. In Vancouver I don’t generally see a lot of folks smoking. But around Japan there are still a lot of smokers. When we went to the Basement Bar for New Year’s Eve we all came out with our clothes smelling of smoke. It was a new experience for the kids.
Because the cities were all so busy we weren’t able to try all the different food that we hoped to. All the tourist spots were packed with people - think 99 B-line during rush hour, or Metrotown on the last weekend before Christmas, times 10! Restaurants were also very busy. The ones that seemed to have room were ones that didn’t seem to have any English menus which kinda scared us off. On top of that, not sure if it was the time of the year or not, because I don’t remember this from our last trips, but most places didn’t seem to open up until after 11am and most closed between 8-9pm! Not a very big window.
What food we did get to try was all really good! Whether it was fast food, train bento boxes, street food, 7-Eleven, etc. it was all so good. Desserts, coffee and ice cream were beyond good. Every dish is so pretty to look at and then so tasty! I would be happy to wander up and down all the different streets in all the different neighbourhoods just eating and drinking. On my wishlist for our next return trip.
Not sure if it is a post COVID thing, over tourism or just a change in the times. Some workers seemed less willing to help, and just a little frustrated dealing with tourists. Can’t say I blame them when tourists seem to ignore all the notices listing acceptable behaviour. There was a lot of loud conversation on the trains, kids hanging/climbing on stuff, people leaving garbage everywhere.
On another note, I noticed more homelessness than before - nothing like in Vancouver, but it was noticeable. There is a lot of talk about the Japanese economy and the weakening of the yen. You can see this is the low cost of food and retail goods. It is hard to imagine how the local residents can survive and I guess the increase in homelessness is telling. Very sad to see.
Not sure if it was the time of our trip, our destination, or post COVID travel craziness - but there were just too many people. Overall the trip was a nice break but not sure I want to experience that kind of a trip again. Hopefully the next time we go back to Japan we can go during the off-season and not jump around from city to city.