Monday, June 30, 2008
Japan revisited
Japan Revisited
After my first visit to Japan in 2005, I could not wait to return. Immediately upon my arrival back in New York, I started to investigate how to get back using miles .I had 128,000 miles sitting in my British Airways account, but how to maximize them was the quest.
Cathay Pacific has consistently been voted the #1 airline in the world and this was my chance to fly with them, experience their legendary service and of course the Wing lounge in Hong Kong. Ah Hong Kong, yes, another fantasy that I could fulfill on this trip.
I worked out all the logistics of the flights and prepared to call BA on the morning of the first day of availability, 330 days in advance. But of course the best laid plans of mice and men came into play, Hong Kong is half a day ahead of New York and somebody had nipped in and taken the Hong Kong to Tokyo flights ahead of me, I could not believe it. The BA agent was very good and when I explained the boundaries of my trip she quickly worked out an alternative schedule using JAL whom I had not realized were one world members. They were pending at the time but giving full flight sharing as of that date.
Ok so no Cathay but at least I would be starting my second Oriental adventure right from the get go, at JFK.
Steve was up for the return journey and it was just a matter of guessing the date for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix which I correctly forecast for the first weekend in October. Unfortunately Murray could not make this trip as he had used all his miles and of course he had no idea he was about to meet the future Mrs. Murray, Melissa, shortly after, but that is a story for another day.
Booking a big trip this far in advance has its” perks, you initially get excited, but then other holidays roll around and you get distracted, then all of a sudden there is only a few weeks to go.
Steve for some reason had no interest in coming to Hong Kong, same as he had no interest in Shanghai last year. But like me, he is totally enamored with Japan, so he flew into Tokyo three days ahead.
Just as I had hoped the whole Japanese experience started after I checked in and entered the JAL Sakura lounge, there were the Asahi beer machines, the little thin egg and tuna sandwiches, the little rice cakes, voila, I was in Japan already but I had just got of the JFK shuttle, fantastic.
Naturally I had allowed myself plenty of time to enjoy all of this, after a breakfast of green tea, sanrnies and rice cakes, I powered up the beer machine. Fantastic contraptions, you simply put an ice cold glass in the cradle, push the button, it tilts up and pours you a perfect glass of ice cold beer. Ah the simple things in life. I was by no means the first into the beer, most of the Japanese salary men were well ahead of me. It was also somehow rather nice to be one of only 2 or 3 Caucasians in the lounge, it added to the authenticity of the occasion.
Upon boarding our 747-400, which is my favorite plane now that Concorde is no longer flying, I was surprised not to be greeted with bubbly or sake, given that the Japanese like to drink so much!
The plane left the gate some 15 minutes late but we were further held on the taxiway another 45 minutes so it would now be virtually impossible to make the same Shinkansen as Steve in Tokyo at 3:36pm, which is why I had given him separate copies of the hotel reservations in Nagoya.
Once off the ground, the JAL service was impeccable, the food, the wines, everything superb. It’s so nice to go back to acting like a civilized person, bowing and saying thank you, this is one of the reasons I’m returning.
Upon arrival in Narita, I felt very at home, after passing through immigration and customs there was the familiar Citibank ATM and the Japan Rail office and station was just down the escalator. I grabbed some cash and exchanged my voucher for my actual Japan Rail Pass and booked seats through to Nagoya.
At Tokyo station I looked around, hoping that Steve might have found out that my flight was late and waited, but there was no sign of him, so I settled into the 4:06 Hikari express for the 2 hour ride, it only seemed like yesterday that I was last on one and it felt good.
The car was fairly empty and it was a nice bright sunny afternoon, room to stretch out and enjoy the passing countryside.
Nagoya is a very large industrial city of some 7 million people but it has to be one of the most boring cities I have ever had the misfortune to visit.
I had again booked us a hotel in what is supposed to be the nightlife district, Sakae, but compared to Tokyo or Osaka its dead. Thank god there was an Aussie pub “The Red Rock Pub” around the corner.
Sunday morning we headed for the track bright and early as we had not reservations. The platform at packed and naturally everyone was lined up nice and neat but I noticed there was nobody at the front car of the train, we walked down and walked straight on. It was pretty packed but I suppose all those other people would rather wait for the next train and seats.
Our seats for the race were not as good as last year; we were in the front row right at the pit lane exit and could just see the rear of the cars as they turned into turn one. Neither one of us had ever sat that close to the track before; it was a whole new experience.
With several hours to kill we set off in different directions to sample all the many edible delights the cart vendors offer. Various BBQ meats on sticks, noodles and egg combos, oyster balls, fried squid and chicken curry etc, great stuff.
This was the last F1 race at Suzuka, which is one of the most exciting on the circuit, next years race will be at the Fuji track which has more faster straightaways in keeping with the newer modern tracks built in Singapore, Bahrain and Turkey.
Also, it was Michael Schumacher’s last race in Japan and he went into it tied on points with reigning champion, Fernando Alonso, but ahead of him by virtue of more wins.
It started to look like Michael’s dream ending could come true, he started from pole with his team-mate along side him and lead for most of the race until he pulled over with mechanical difficulties with just seventeen laps to go. Fernando Alonso swept past him from second to win the race and virtually tie up his second championship.
As soon as he crossed the finish line we made a sprint for the railway station and were lucky enough to get on the second train, even scoring seats.
Back in Sakae by 5:30 I banged out my race report for Home & Away and we were on the street by 7:30 looking for a restaurant.
When I say Japan is easy to negotiate, it is until you come to small backstreet restaurants where wait staff do not speak English. A lot of them will have picture menus but you have to know what the pictures represent.
We found a small place with just such a menu and there were a couple of western women already dining, so in we went, it turned out to be Chinese!
What the hell, we had been walking around for over 45 minutes and were starving, we already had our fill of Japanese food for the day, so we just got some chicken and noodles with a couple of beers then off to the Aussie pub, no worries.
It was there on Sunday night that I got talking to 3 lads from Belfast who were out there working for Airbus, they outsource the wing building. I always thought all the components of an Airbus were made in various European countries and transported to Toulouse in France for assembly.
They get paid extremely well, naturally all expenses covered and either a flight home every six weeks or have a friend/loved one flown out for a week, not shabby. I’ll have a different view of an Airbus the next time I fly one.
Nagoya being the drab industrial city that it is is not known for any special tourist sights except Nagoya Castle so as we never expect to be back this way we decided to visit it on Monday before heading to Osaka.
It was well worth the visit and gives you a good look into Japan’s history, which is amazingly feudal.
It was then back onto the Shinkansen for the relatively short one hour trip to Osaka.
The station was packed as it was a national holiday and of course we picked the wrong line to stand in for seat reservations, all the trains going south to Osaka were empty but all the trains north to Tokyo were full and everyone on our line wanted to go to Tokyo.
Last year we experienced the reverse of this, we got to Osaka really early on the same holiday Monday and then tried to get seats to go south to Hiroshima, but they were all full. Nobody seems to travel very much in the middle zone!!
We arrived in Osaka late in the afternoon, it may only be an hour on the Shinkansen but that is only to Shin-Osaka, which is on the outskirts of the city. You then have to take either the subway or local JR to get to city centre. The subway is the easiest as it goes right through the city centre. The JR is a loop; it depends where your hotel is.
We had rooms at The Comfort Inn in Shinsaibashi, the main entertainment district of Osaka; it makes Nagoya look like Provo, Utah.
After a leisurely stroll of the area, we stopped for happy hour at the British pub “The Pig & Whistle” on Midosuji, two 20oz Ashihi beers for 1200 Yen, about $10. Good value in a Japanese theme pub.
Tonight we had decided to dine on street food as a famous New York chef, Anthony Bourdain, had recently done a TV show on the subject and it looked great.
All the food vendors can be found on one street that runs parallel of the Dotonbori River, if you are on the covered shopping street, Shinsaibashi Suji (1 block east of pub) you just walk south until you cross a bridge by Kirin Plaza and you are immersed in neon light, that’s it.
We started with yakisoba, a noodle egg and beef dish with a tangy sweet sauce scrambled on a griddle, very good and filling. Next we tried BBQ crab legs which were grilled on the street outside a restaurant with a giant crab for a façade. The legs were so good we decided we were going to eat there the next night.
Next up on Tony’s list was a food court marked by a giant clown, which just happened to be down the street from the giant crab, all in neon of course.
At the food court you get a ticket upon entry which is marked by all the vendors you visit and you are charged accordingly on the way out. Unfortunately in the whole 4 stories the place Tony had deep fried foods on a stick was the only one worth visiting, it was also packed, so we left feeling cheated.
Back on the street we were still a bit hungry and opted to sit down at a small noodle shack and ended up with a delicious fish noodle soup.
By now it was about 9:30pm and a lot of restaurants start to close up, Osaka is a very industrial city and people get up early. It was now time to head for Murphy’s Irish Pub, which we had found last year, but as it was a holiday, Michael, the manager from Dublin was not there.
We decided to have a quick beer and call it a night, Kyoto was calling tomorrow.
Tuesday dawned as another bright clear day with temps in the low 60’s, we caught the subway 3 stops to Osaka station and then a JR rapid express to Kyoto, about 30 mines.
What an incredible railroad station, this huge glass and steel structure looked more like a giant greenhouse, the roof had to be 150 ft. high, at either end there were staircases and escalators going up and up and up.
We were here to see ancient shrines but this modern marvel had to be investigated. Last year we had not seen this, the Shinkansen station was totally separate.
After climbing all the escalators there was a fantastic panoramic view of Kyoto and you can walk across a gallery that spans the whole station.
We had decided to visit Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion) which is located in North West Kyoto, the one they bring all the visiting dignitaries to, they even brought Bush here, which must have been a waste of time!
There are several smaller shrines and temples in the vicinity making it an all day destination.
Surprisingly, even though Kyoto was once the capital of Japan, it does not have a massive fortress like Nagoya and Osaka castles.
We took the Karasuma subway to Kitaoji and walked, and walked, and walked, boy did we walk. Over 3 hours we covered 8 temples of which, the last Fukuoji was my favourite.
When we left the Fukuoji temple we were tired, hungry, thirsty and lost. It was a completely residential area so we just followed a bunch of people who had left ahead of us and hoped we came across a train line of some sort. A couple of minutes later we stumbled upon a small single platform station and a small single car train pulled in. It was the Kiefuku Electric Railway, a small independent railway that operates 2 lines in the NW of Kyoto. We hopped on board and hoped for the best, a few stops down the line it was everybody off, some ran to the train across the platform while others ran through the underpass to another train, we hesitated and both trains left without us. At the ticket barrier, we asked for Kyoto and were pointed back to the train across the tracks.
When another one car train arrived it was a fascinating journey, in and out behind little houses, across roads and at one point down the middle of a very busy street where there were tiny 2ft wide raised platforms. It then stopped at the light, pulled into the middle of the intersection like a bus, waited for the traffic and made a right into a park.
Finally we got off at the last stop, a busy intersection somewhere in NW Kyoto, and a map outside only showed the local neighbourhood but there was a subway connecting to another subway 1 stop away so down we went.
Logically we thought the train was running west to east so we went one stop thinking we would come to the north/south line we had taken earlier in the day.
One stop later and we came out, went around the corner, only to find the private line we had been on before.
Now we are getting very frustrated, we are tired, hungry and in desperate need of a beer, so let’s try a cab.
The first car I approach waves me off as I start speaking, this is typical, they just don’t want to know foreigners, but another pulls up behind and waves me over, I sputter, Kyoto Shinkansen, he nods and opens the door. Yes the driver opens the door for you with a little lever in the front.
With his white gloves, immaculate white starched shirt, black bow tie it was a very smooth 20 minute drive to the station for 14,000 Yen, about $12.
There is a train in a few minutes, just enough time to grab a small sandwich and a couple of cans of beers. It’s only 15 minutes to Osaka and then 20 minutes on the subway till we are seated in the The Pig & Whistle for happy hour, another days sightseeing survived.
That night we dined at the giant crab shack, 5 or 6 courses of crab in various forms with rice, noodles, soup and desert plus a couple of bottles of sake and we were out the door for under $100, right, Japan is sooo expensive.
After a wander around to walk off the meal we decided to have a nightcap at Murphy’s, and see if Michael was back. He was, he had been up in the north island of Hokkaido, camping for the holiday weekend.
Wednesday was forecast for showers in the morning with clearing in the afternoon, so we decided to visit the Hanshin Tiger’s official souvenir shop which is located in the Hanshin Dept. store and can be accessed from the Umeda subway station, it actually connects the subway with the main Osaka JR station.
On the subway level is the food court and what a marvellous place it is, the sights and smells are overwhelming with lots of free samples. It reminded me of the food court at Harrods in London.
On the level below the food court is their equivalent of a fast food restaurant court, but it is light years from Mickey D’s or Burger King, good quality sushi and noodle shops. But the best lunch food can be found in department store rooftop restaurants, we decided to split up and meet on the top floor in a couple of hours.
Steve went up the escalator but I decided to return to the main food court and peruse the edible delights. Also I wanted to see what the surrounding area was like, but it was just faceless concrete buildings, this was the downtown business district.
Back inside the store I made my way to the top on the escalators checking out what your average Japanese family shops for on the way, I especially wanted to see what the furniture department was selling as we were not going to get invited into a typical home to get a glimpse. Surprisingly it was very western.
Steve and I bumped into each other in the Tigers souvenir shop, after a quick shufty around I headed up to the restaurant floor where there was a choice of about 8, each with plastic versions of their fare on display in the window.
While waiting for Steve I took a look around the roof, aside from a small Buddha shrine and an artificial grassy area there was a large bar area that is only open during the summer months for the after work crowd.
Downstairs I met up with Steve and we chose the only restaurant that had a line, figure they must know something and they did, it was fantastic.
Sated on a great lunch we caught a train to Osaka Castle, it is the largest of all the castles and the most visited tourist attraction in Japan. Luckily as it was a dreary day it was not crowded and you get time to appreciate the history of Japan also the view from the roof is fantastic.
Upon leaving the castle we continued around the circle JR line to Namba station and walked from there to the hotel, on the way we found the funky punk side of Osaka, cool. Naturally we ended up at The Pig n Whistle for happy hour.
Our last night and we wanted to return to the restaurant Murphy had sent us to last year, Zing on Sakai Suji by the Nipponbashi Bridge over the Dotonbori River. It was as fantastic as we remembered and they had even hired an English speaking waitress, I guess Murf sends them a lot of biz!
Thursday dawned bright and sunny and it was with heavy heart that we bade farewell to Osaka and boarded the 10:43am Hikari Shinkansen to Tokyo, we got a great view of Mount Fuji on the way.
Arriving in Tokyo it all seemed so familiar, off the train, down the escalator and make a left to the far end of the station where the famed Chuo
Line is located. This is the most loved and hated train line in Tokyo and funnily enough is painted this horribly dark orange which gives it a Halloween look.
We got in the front car as it is the most convenient to exit the north east side of Shinjuku station, plus I love being able to look out the front window of a train. I had not ridden in the front since last years trip to the track at Suzuka and was flabbergasted to see that even an everyday suburban train engineer made all the same white gloved “hi ho silver” hand expressions. Great stuff!
Upon exiting the station it felt like home, aah, great to be back.
Our first mission was to find an English bar “Heaven’s Door” on the western side of Yoyoki, I had read about it in The Lonely Planet guide book and apparently they showed all the football and was across the street from a great restaurant where they spoke no English but if you sat at the counter you could just point.
The nearest station was Shimo-Kitazawa on the Odakyu train line (an independent operator) which was located on the western side of Shinjuku station, in New York City it would be like getting on the PATH train.
Naturally we came out of the wrong exit, but after wandering around for a few minutes we eventually found the main shopping street and then it was just a matter of finding Mr. Donuts and making a right, or so we thought!
We found ourselves in very neat little enclave of small single family houses, after several passes up and down each street we eventually spied a small beer sign in an upstairs window and across the street (alley) the restaurant was equally well camouflaged by some well positioned bushes. Unfortunately neither opened until 6pm and it was only 5 so we headed back to Shinjuku as we were in serious need of libations.
We headed straight for Hub, the English bar chain, as they do a great happy hour that, as I had previously mentioned is very popular with young Japanese workers.
While good for happy hour, Hub is not somewhere you would want to spend the evening so we decided to head to our favourite Scotch bar Hazelburn, I remembered approximately where it was but as Steve had been here last week for 2 days he walked straight to the front door.
After a couple of pints of Speckled Hen, we ordered some haggis briochetta and fish n’ chips, both of which were superb. We then proceeded to do some serious single malt scotch tasting, they have a collection like non other that I have ever seen. Selecting various distilleries we would try their 10, 12, 15 and 18 year olds back to back, not a bad way to spend an evening in Tokyo. All told we must have tried about fourteen scotches plus the food and beer, the bill came to 20,000Yen ($172), not bad!
Upon leaving Hazelburn we naturally had to head to our favourite Tokyo dive bar, Mothers, for some cold beers and loud loud rock n roll. I left Steve there sometime around 2am as I wanted to do a few things the next (same) day.
Friday we had decided to each go our own way and meet in Hub before the end of happy hour. It was the last day of my Japan Rail Pass and I really wanted one last ride on a shinkansen, plus we had not been North of Tokyo so I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and go to Nagano up in the mountains where the winter Olympics had been held back in 1998.
After breakfast at the hotel (no sign of Steve) I took the Chuo line over to Tokyo station but before going to Nagano I decided to visit Ueno Park which contains Tokyo Zoo and some gardens. I found a nice temple but no gardens; in fact I was very disappointed with all the gardens I had seen on this trip.
Back to Tokyo station and I caught the 1:04pm Asama shinkansen to Nagano; the trip is 100 minutes each way so I had plenty of time. More so than going south, the north-western Tokyo suburbs seem to go on for ever. Finally we shrugged them off and hit some countryside but there was not much to see as it was a dreary overcast day. We then ran through a series of tunnels and finally burst out into a beautiful lush green valley full of bright sunshine and clear blue skies, what a difference a mountain range makes.
Upon arrival in Nagano I consulted a local map, but most of the shrines etc worth seeing were considerable train rides and I was sort of tied for time so I settled for a walk around town and got back to the station just in time to hop on the 3:26pm back to Tokyo which got in at the height of the rush hour, 5:12pm. I had unconsciously wanted to experience this and here I was. I wandered around the station, taking in various performers, bands and solo singers belting out Japanese pop music, there was a great buzz about the whole place. Next up was the infamous Chuo line; I had only ridden it during off peak times, now maybe I would find out why it was so loved and loathed.
I made my way to the front of the platform and waited for a train, Tokyo is the terminus of the line so I would be able to get my window perch. The car was jam packed but there were none of the famed Tokyo car packers as seen in the movies, maybe they only have them on the subway?
When we got to Shinjuku I spilled out with the rest of the crowd and somehow felt cheated, I had been given no reason what so ever to dislike the line, maybe with all the people boarding here there was something down the line so I decided to wait and board the next one for a trip to the suburbs.
About 20 minutes and 4 express stops later, still nothing, so I got off and returned to Shinjuku arriving at the Hub just in time to get a beer before the end of happy hour.
That night we had decided to visit Roppongi, an area we had missed last year due to the fact that it was supposedly full of clubs and expats, but felt we should at least try it.
As soon as we came out of the subway station we knew it was a mistake, it was a miniature version of Shinjuku but with lots of western tourists. We walked up the main street until we came to the Hobgoblin Pub, a typical English countryside pub dumped right in the heart of Tokyo and staffed entirely by English barmen. Outside were about 50 expats guffawing and smoking and inside there was nary a Japanese face to be seen. We had 1 beer and left.
Steve had a lead on some other place nearby so I had no problem following him back to the station where he turned right and down a major road but after 15 minutes or so it was obvious we were in a major business district with no nightlife in sight so Steve conceded defeat and we luckily found a subway which with one change got us back to Shinjuku.
It was still early so we decided to head for Shibuya and the Aldgate pub, after a few pints we were in a fit state to go in pursuit of some food and after wandering around for a bit spied a delicious looking fast food style Indian restaurant that was packed with locals, so in we went. A large lamb curry w/rice , nan bread and a mango lassi was about Yen750 ($7) and was great.
Shibuja is always packed, afterall it is the busiest intersection crossing in the world so we decided to take the JR train one stop further to Edisu and a bar called What The Dickens which had live music. The Japanese bar on the ground floor was celebrating an anniversary so it was like walking through an expensive flower shop to get to the elevator up to Dickens.
Unfortunately we arrived just as the band was finishing which was just as well as this place was also full of expats lads now working in Japan who had gotten themselves little Japanese girlfriends and were trying to impress them with their drinking prowess. God I hope I was not like this when I was in my twenties!
It was after midnight now and time to start thinking about the last trains back to Shinjuku so we headed for the station. After the morning and evening rush hours this is the busiest time of day, actually I found it more crowded than the Chuo line but we squeezed in and were soon back in familiar territory and headed for Mothers.
Saturday was our last full day in Tokyo together and the one overriding thing that had to be done was offer up prayer cards at the Meiji Temple in Yoyogi Park, it had worked so well for Steve last year that I had to have a prayer said for Spurs to beat Chelsea for the first time in seventeen years and three weeks later it came true, Spurs beat Chelsea 2-1 at White Hart Lane.
After breakfast Steve wanted to visit an old part of Tokyo that I had not heard of so I said lets go, unfortunetly by the time we walked to the station my tummy was feeling rather upset and I thought it prudent to stay near my exotic Japanese toilet back at the hotel.
Steve took off and we agreed to meet outside Harajuku station around 3pm, visit the temple then wander down fashion alley.
The teenage girl fashions on parade in Harajuku on the weekend are out of this world, Saturday is pretty good but Sunday lunch time is the main event when they are all off school and part-time jobs. Unfortunately I was going to miss it as I had a 10am flight to Hong Kong but Steve would be lucky enough to catch it before his 6pm flight back to New York.
It was our last night and I would have to cut it short due to my early morning flight, the Wigan v Man Utd. Game was live on TV so we decided to go back to Heavens Door to watch it, unfortunately I got the times wrong and we were 3 hours to early. We had a couple of beers and decided to try the restaurant across the street, but it was full and they wanted to shuttle us down the street to a sister place where they wanted to put us in a small dark back room, which we wanted nothing to do with.
We wandered around the neighbourhood and found a small Japanese noodle place and had a quick bite.
Other than Heaven’s Door there was nothing else to do so we headed back to Shinjuku, this way we could watch the game at the The Angel Irish pub just down the street from Hub and I could get to bed early.
This is the same pub we had our first beers in with Dave just over a year ago, we had come full circle.
A few other English guys showed up and of course they were all rooting for Man U., the Japanese staff got a great kick out of the fact that I was cheering for Wigan although they went down to Steve’s prediction 3-1.
Half way through the game a couple of scantily clad girls came in promoting Corona and were delighted when Steve and I bought rounds for everyone. Steve drinks Corona as a steady diet and had not had one in almost 2 weeks, so it was like mana from heaven.
Sunday morning I was up bright and early and down the station by 6:30am for the 7am Narita Express, I had not bought a ticket in advance as it was early Sunday morning so I was very surprised to learn there was standing room only, I should have known.
Next stop Hong Kong.
After my first visit to Japan in 2005, I could not wait to return. Immediately upon my arrival back in New York, I started to investigate how to get back using miles .I had 128,000 miles sitting in my British Airways account, but how to maximize them was the quest.
Cathay Pacific has consistently been voted the #1 airline in the world and this was my chance to fly with them, experience their legendary service and of course the Wing lounge in Hong Kong. Ah Hong Kong, yes, another fantasy that I could fulfill on this trip.
I worked out all the logistics of the flights and prepared to call BA on the morning of the first day of availability, 330 days in advance. But of course the best laid plans of mice and men came into play, Hong Kong is half a day ahead of New York and somebody had nipped in and taken the Hong Kong to Tokyo flights ahead of me, I could not believe it. The BA agent was very good and when I explained the boundaries of my trip she quickly worked out an alternative schedule using JAL whom I had not realized were one world members. They were pending at the time but giving full flight sharing as of that date.
Ok so no Cathay but at least I would be starting my second Oriental adventure right from the get go, at JFK.
Steve was up for the return journey and it was just a matter of guessing the date for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix which I correctly forecast for the first weekend in October. Unfortunately Murray could not make this trip as he had used all his miles and of course he had no idea he was about to meet the future Mrs. Murray, Melissa, shortly after, but that is a story for another day.
Booking a big trip this far in advance has its” perks, you initially get excited, but then other holidays roll around and you get distracted, then all of a sudden there is only a few weeks to go.
Steve for some reason had no interest in coming to Hong Kong, same as he had no interest in Shanghai last year. But like me, he is totally enamored with Japan, so he flew into Tokyo three days ahead.
Just as I had hoped the whole Japanese experience started after I checked in and entered the JAL Sakura lounge, there were the Asahi beer machines, the little thin egg and tuna sandwiches, the little rice cakes, voila, I was in Japan already but I had just got of the JFK shuttle, fantastic.
Naturally I had allowed myself plenty of time to enjoy all of this, after a breakfast of green tea, sanrnies and rice cakes, I powered up the beer machine. Fantastic contraptions, you simply put an ice cold glass in the cradle, push the button, it tilts up and pours you a perfect glass of ice cold beer. Ah the simple things in life. I was by no means the first into the beer, most of the Japanese salary men were well ahead of me. It was also somehow rather nice to be one of only 2 or 3 Caucasians in the lounge, it added to the authenticity of the occasion.
Upon boarding our 747-400, which is my favorite plane now that Concorde is no longer flying, I was surprised not to be greeted with bubbly or sake, given that the Japanese like to drink so much!
The plane left the gate some 15 minutes late but we were further held on the taxiway another 45 minutes so it would now be virtually impossible to make the same Shinkansen as Steve in Tokyo at 3:36pm, which is why I had given him separate copies of the hotel reservations in Nagoya.
Once off the ground, the JAL service was impeccable, the food, the wines, everything superb. It’s so nice to go back to acting like a civilized person, bowing and saying thank you, this is one of the reasons I’m returning.
Upon arrival in Narita, I felt very at home, after passing through immigration and customs there was the familiar Citibank ATM and the Japan Rail office and station was just down the escalator. I grabbed some cash and exchanged my voucher for my actual Japan Rail Pass and booked seats through to Nagoya.
At Tokyo station I looked around, hoping that Steve might have found out that my flight was late and waited, but there was no sign of him, so I settled into the 4:06 Hikari express for the 2 hour ride, it only seemed like yesterday that I was last on one and it felt good.
The car was fairly empty and it was a nice bright sunny afternoon, room to stretch out and enjoy the passing countryside.
Nagoya is a very large industrial city of some 7 million people but it has to be one of the most boring cities I have ever had the misfortune to visit.
I had again booked us a hotel in what is supposed to be the nightlife district, Sakae, but compared to Tokyo or Osaka its dead. Thank god there was an Aussie pub “The Red Rock Pub” around the corner.
Sunday morning we headed for the track bright and early as we had not reservations. The platform at packed and naturally everyone was lined up nice and neat but I noticed there was nobody at the front car of the train, we walked down and walked straight on. It was pretty packed but I suppose all those other people would rather wait for the next train and seats.
Our seats for the race were not as good as last year; we were in the front row right at the pit lane exit and could just see the rear of the cars as they turned into turn one. Neither one of us had ever sat that close to the track before; it was a whole new experience.
With several hours to kill we set off in different directions to sample all the many edible delights the cart vendors offer. Various BBQ meats on sticks, noodles and egg combos, oyster balls, fried squid and chicken curry etc, great stuff.
This was the last F1 race at Suzuka, which is one of the most exciting on the circuit, next years race will be at the Fuji track which has more faster straightaways in keeping with the newer modern tracks built in Singapore, Bahrain and Turkey.
Also, it was Michael Schumacher’s last race in Japan and he went into it tied on points with reigning champion, Fernando Alonso, but ahead of him by virtue of more wins.
It started to look like Michael’s dream ending could come true, he started from pole with his team-mate along side him and lead for most of the race until he pulled over with mechanical difficulties with just seventeen laps to go. Fernando Alonso swept past him from second to win the race and virtually tie up his second championship.
As soon as he crossed the finish line we made a sprint for the railway station and were lucky enough to get on the second train, even scoring seats.
Back in Sakae by 5:30 I banged out my race report for Home & Away and we were on the street by 7:30 looking for a restaurant.
When I say Japan is easy to negotiate, it is until you come to small backstreet restaurants where wait staff do not speak English. A lot of them will have picture menus but you have to know what the pictures represent.
We found a small place with just such a menu and there were a couple of western women already dining, so in we went, it turned out to be Chinese!
What the hell, we had been walking around for over 45 minutes and were starving, we already had our fill of Japanese food for the day, so we just got some chicken and noodles with a couple of beers then off to the Aussie pub, no worries.
It was there on Sunday night that I got talking to 3 lads from Belfast who were out there working for Airbus, they outsource the wing building. I always thought all the components of an Airbus were made in various European countries and transported to Toulouse in France for assembly.
They get paid extremely well, naturally all expenses covered and either a flight home every six weeks or have a friend/loved one flown out for a week, not shabby. I’ll have a different view of an Airbus the next time I fly one.
Nagoya being the drab industrial city that it is is not known for any special tourist sights except Nagoya Castle so as we never expect to be back this way we decided to visit it on Monday before heading to Osaka.
It was well worth the visit and gives you a good look into Japan’s history, which is amazingly feudal.
It was then back onto the Shinkansen for the relatively short one hour trip to Osaka.
The station was packed as it was a national holiday and of course we picked the wrong line to stand in for seat reservations, all the trains going south to Osaka were empty but all the trains north to Tokyo were full and everyone on our line wanted to go to Tokyo.
Last year we experienced the reverse of this, we got to Osaka really early on the same holiday Monday and then tried to get seats to go south to Hiroshima, but they were all full. Nobody seems to travel very much in the middle zone!!
We arrived in Osaka late in the afternoon, it may only be an hour on the Shinkansen but that is only to Shin-Osaka, which is on the outskirts of the city. You then have to take either the subway or local JR to get to city centre. The subway is the easiest as it goes right through the city centre. The JR is a loop; it depends where your hotel is.
We had rooms at The Comfort Inn in Shinsaibashi, the main entertainment district of Osaka; it makes Nagoya look like Provo, Utah.
After a leisurely stroll of the area, we stopped for happy hour at the British pub “The Pig & Whistle” on Midosuji, two 20oz Ashihi beers for 1200 Yen, about $10. Good value in a Japanese theme pub.
Tonight we had decided to dine on street food as a famous New York chef, Anthony Bourdain, had recently done a TV show on the subject and it looked great.
All the food vendors can be found on one street that runs parallel of the Dotonbori River, if you are on the covered shopping street, Shinsaibashi Suji (1 block east of pub) you just walk south until you cross a bridge by Kirin Plaza and you are immersed in neon light, that’s it.
We started with yakisoba, a noodle egg and beef dish with a tangy sweet sauce scrambled on a griddle, very good and filling. Next we tried BBQ crab legs which were grilled on the street outside a restaurant with a giant crab for a façade. The legs were so good we decided we were going to eat there the next night.
Next up on Tony’s list was a food court marked by a giant clown, which just happened to be down the street from the giant crab, all in neon of course.
At the food court you get a ticket upon entry which is marked by all the vendors you visit and you are charged accordingly on the way out. Unfortunately in the whole 4 stories the place Tony had deep fried foods on a stick was the only one worth visiting, it was also packed, so we left feeling cheated.
Back on the street we were still a bit hungry and opted to sit down at a small noodle shack and ended up with a delicious fish noodle soup.
By now it was about 9:30pm and a lot of restaurants start to close up, Osaka is a very industrial city and people get up early. It was now time to head for Murphy’s Irish Pub, which we had found last year, but as it was a holiday, Michael, the manager from Dublin was not there.
We decided to have a quick beer and call it a night, Kyoto was calling tomorrow.
Tuesday dawned as another bright clear day with temps in the low 60’s, we caught the subway 3 stops to Osaka station and then a JR rapid express to Kyoto, about 30 mines.
What an incredible railroad station, this huge glass and steel structure looked more like a giant greenhouse, the roof had to be 150 ft. high, at either end there were staircases and escalators going up and up and up.
We were here to see ancient shrines but this modern marvel had to be investigated. Last year we had not seen this, the Shinkansen station was totally separate.
After climbing all the escalators there was a fantastic panoramic view of Kyoto and you can walk across a gallery that spans the whole station.
We had decided to visit Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion) which is located in North West Kyoto, the one they bring all the visiting dignitaries to, they even brought Bush here, which must have been a waste of time!
There are several smaller shrines and temples in the vicinity making it an all day destination.
Surprisingly, even though Kyoto was once the capital of Japan, it does not have a massive fortress like Nagoya and Osaka castles.
We took the Karasuma subway to Kitaoji and walked, and walked, and walked, boy did we walk. Over 3 hours we covered 8 temples of which, the last Fukuoji was my favourite.
When we left the Fukuoji temple we were tired, hungry, thirsty and lost. It was a completely residential area so we just followed a bunch of people who had left ahead of us and hoped we came across a train line of some sort. A couple of minutes later we stumbled upon a small single platform station and a small single car train pulled in. It was the Kiefuku Electric Railway, a small independent railway that operates 2 lines in the NW of Kyoto. We hopped on board and hoped for the best, a few stops down the line it was everybody off, some ran to the train across the platform while others ran through the underpass to another train, we hesitated and both trains left without us. At the ticket barrier, we asked for Kyoto and were pointed back to the train across the tracks.
When another one car train arrived it was a fascinating journey, in and out behind little houses, across roads and at one point down the middle of a very busy street where there were tiny 2ft wide raised platforms. It then stopped at the light, pulled into the middle of the intersection like a bus, waited for the traffic and made a right into a park.
Finally we got off at the last stop, a busy intersection somewhere in NW Kyoto, and a map outside only showed the local neighbourhood but there was a subway connecting to another subway 1 stop away so down we went.
Logically we thought the train was running west to east so we went one stop thinking we would come to the north/south line we had taken earlier in the day.
One stop later and we came out, went around the corner, only to find the private line we had been on before.
Now we are getting very frustrated, we are tired, hungry and in desperate need of a beer, so let’s try a cab.
The first car I approach waves me off as I start speaking, this is typical, they just don’t want to know foreigners, but another pulls up behind and waves me over, I sputter, Kyoto Shinkansen, he nods and opens the door. Yes the driver opens the door for you with a little lever in the front.
With his white gloves, immaculate white starched shirt, black bow tie it was a very smooth 20 minute drive to the station for 14,000 Yen, about $12.
There is a train in a few minutes, just enough time to grab a small sandwich and a couple of cans of beers. It’s only 15 minutes to Osaka and then 20 minutes on the subway till we are seated in the The Pig & Whistle for happy hour, another days sightseeing survived.
That night we dined at the giant crab shack, 5 or 6 courses of crab in various forms with rice, noodles, soup and desert plus a couple of bottles of sake and we were out the door for under $100, right, Japan is sooo expensive.
After a wander around to walk off the meal we decided to have a nightcap at Murphy’s, and see if Michael was back. He was, he had been up in the north island of Hokkaido, camping for the holiday weekend.
Wednesday was forecast for showers in the morning with clearing in the afternoon, so we decided to visit the Hanshin Tiger’s official souvenir shop which is located in the Hanshin Dept. store and can be accessed from the Umeda subway station, it actually connects the subway with the main Osaka JR station.
On the subway level is the food court and what a marvellous place it is, the sights and smells are overwhelming with lots of free samples. It reminded me of the food court at Harrods in London.
On the level below the food court is their equivalent of a fast food restaurant court, but it is light years from Mickey D’s or Burger King, good quality sushi and noodle shops. But the best lunch food can be found in department store rooftop restaurants, we decided to split up and meet on the top floor in a couple of hours.
Steve went up the escalator but I decided to return to the main food court and peruse the edible delights. Also I wanted to see what the surrounding area was like, but it was just faceless concrete buildings, this was the downtown business district.
Back inside the store I made my way to the top on the escalators checking out what your average Japanese family shops for on the way, I especially wanted to see what the furniture department was selling as we were not going to get invited into a typical home to get a glimpse. Surprisingly it was very western.
Steve and I bumped into each other in the Tigers souvenir shop, after a quick shufty around I headed up to the restaurant floor where there was a choice of about 8, each with plastic versions of their fare on display in the window.
While waiting for Steve I took a look around the roof, aside from a small Buddha shrine and an artificial grassy area there was a large bar area that is only open during the summer months for the after work crowd.
Downstairs I met up with Steve and we chose the only restaurant that had a line, figure they must know something and they did, it was fantastic.
Sated on a great lunch we caught a train to Osaka Castle, it is the largest of all the castles and the most visited tourist attraction in Japan. Luckily as it was a dreary day it was not crowded and you get time to appreciate the history of Japan also the view from the roof is fantastic.
Upon leaving the castle we continued around the circle JR line to Namba station and walked from there to the hotel, on the way we found the funky punk side of Osaka, cool. Naturally we ended up at The Pig n Whistle for happy hour.
Our last night and we wanted to return to the restaurant Murphy had sent us to last year, Zing on Sakai Suji by the Nipponbashi Bridge over the Dotonbori River. It was as fantastic as we remembered and they had even hired an English speaking waitress, I guess Murf sends them a lot of biz!
Thursday dawned bright and sunny and it was with heavy heart that we bade farewell to Osaka and boarded the 10:43am Hikari Shinkansen to Tokyo, we got a great view of Mount Fuji on the way.
Arriving in Tokyo it all seemed so familiar, off the train, down the escalator and make a left to the far end of the station where the famed Chuo
Line is located. This is the most loved and hated train line in Tokyo and funnily enough is painted this horribly dark orange which gives it a Halloween look.
We got in the front car as it is the most convenient to exit the north east side of Shinjuku station, plus I love being able to look out the front window of a train. I had not ridden in the front since last years trip to the track at Suzuka and was flabbergasted to see that even an everyday suburban train engineer made all the same white gloved “hi ho silver” hand expressions. Great stuff!
Upon exiting the station it felt like home, aah, great to be back.
Our first mission was to find an English bar “Heaven’s Door” on the western side of Yoyoki, I had read about it in The Lonely Planet guide book and apparently they showed all the football and was across the street from a great restaurant where they spoke no English but if you sat at the counter you could just point.
The nearest station was Shimo-Kitazawa on the Odakyu train line (an independent operator) which was located on the western side of Shinjuku station, in New York City it would be like getting on the PATH train.
Naturally we came out of the wrong exit, but after wandering around for a few minutes we eventually found the main shopping street and then it was just a matter of finding Mr. Donuts and making a right, or so we thought!
We found ourselves in very neat little enclave of small single family houses, after several passes up and down each street we eventually spied a small beer sign in an upstairs window and across the street (alley) the restaurant was equally well camouflaged by some well positioned bushes. Unfortunately neither opened until 6pm and it was only 5 so we headed back to Shinjuku as we were in serious need of libations.
We headed straight for Hub, the English bar chain, as they do a great happy hour that, as I had previously mentioned is very popular with young Japanese workers.
While good for happy hour, Hub is not somewhere you would want to spend the evening so we decided to head to our favourite Scotch bar Hazelburn, I remembered approximately where it was but as Steve had been here last week for 2 days he walked straight to the front door.
After a couple of pints of Speckled Hen, we ordered some haggis briochetta and fish n’ chips, both of which were superb. We then proceeded to do some serious single malt scotch tasting, they have a collection like non other that I have ever seen. Selecting various distilleries we would try their 10, 12, 15 and 18 year olds back to back, not a bad way to spend an evening in Tokyo. All told we must have tried about fourteen scotches plus the food and beer, the bill came to 20,000Yen ($172), not bad!
Upon leaving Hazelburn we naturally had to head to our favourite Tokyo dive bar, Mothers, for some cold beers and loud loud rock n roll. I left Steve there sometime around 2am as I wanted to do a few things the next (same) day.
Friday we had decided to each go our own way and meet in Hub before the end of happy hour. It was the last day of my Japan Rail Pass and I really wanted one last ride on a shinkansen, plus we had not been North of Tokyo so I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and go to Nagano up in the mountains where the winter Olympics had been held back in 1998.
After breakfast at the hotel (no sign of Steve) I took the Chuo line over to Tokyo station but before going to Nagano I decided to visit Ueno Park which contains Tokyo Zoo and some gardens. I found a nice temple but no gardens; in fact I was very disappointed with all the gardens I had seen on this trip.
Back to Tokyo station and I caught the 1:04pm Asama shinkansen to Nagano; the trip is 100 minutes each way so I had plenty of time. More so than going south, the north-western Tokyo suburbs seem to go on for ever. Finally we shrugged them off and hit some countryside but there was not much to see as it was a dreary overcast day. We then ran through a series of tunnels and finally burst out into a beautiful lush green valley full of bright sunshine and clear blue skies, what a difference a mountain range makes.
Upon arrival in Nagano I consulted a local map, but most of the shrines etc worth seeing were considerable train rides and I was sort of tied for time so I settled for a walk around town and got back to the station just in time to hop on the 3:26pm back to Tokyo which got in at the height of the rush hour, 5:12pm. I had unconsciously wanted to experience this and here I was. I wandered around the station, taking in various performers, bands and solo singers belting out Japanese pop music, there was a great buzz about the whole place. Next up was the infamous Chuo line; I had only ridden it during off peak times, now maybe I would find out why it was so loved and loathed.
I made my way to the front of the platform and waited for a train, Tokyo is the terminus of the line so I would be able to get my window perch. The car was jam packed but there were none of the famed Tokyo car packers as seen in the movies, maybe they only have them on the subway?
When we got to Shinjuku I spilled out with the rest of the crowd and somehow felt cheated, I had been given no reason what so ever to dislike the line, maybe with all the people boarding here there was something down the line so I decided to wait and board the next one for a trip to the suburbs.
About 20 minutes and 4 express stops later, still nothing, so I got off and returned to Shinjuku arriving at the Hub just in time to get a beer before the end of happy hour.
That night we had decided to visit Roppongi, an area we had missed last year due to the fact that it was supposedly full of clubs and expats, but felt we should at least try it.
As soon as we came out of the subway station we knew it was a mistake, it was a miniature version of Shinjuku but with lots of western tourists. We walked up the main street until we came to the Hobgoblin Pub, a typical English countryside pub dumped right in the heart of Tokyo and staffed entirely by English barmen. Outside were about 50 expats guffawing and smoking and inside there was nary a Japanese face to be seen. We had 1 beer and left.
Steve had a lead on some other place nearby so I had no problem following him back to the station where he turned right and down a major road but after 15 minutes or so it was obvious we were in a major business district with no nightlife in sight so Steve conceded defeat and we luckily found a subway which with one change got us back to Shinjuku.
It was still early so we decided to head for Shibuya and the Aldgate pub, after a few pints we were in a fit state to go in pursuit of some food and after wandering around for a bit spied a delicious looking fast food style Indian restaurant that was packed with locals, so in we went. A large lamb curry w/rice , nan bread and a mango lassi was about Yen750 ($7) and was great.
Shibuja is always packed, afterall it is the busiest intersection crossing in the world so we decided to take the JR train one stop further to Edisu and a bar called What The Dickens which had live music. The Japanese bar on the ground floor was celebrating an anniversary so it was like walking through an expensive flower shop to get to the elevator up to Dickens.
Unfortunately we arrived just as the band was finishing which was just as well as this place was also full of expats lads now working in Japan who had gotten themselves little Japanese girlfriends and were trying to impress them with their drinking prowess. God I hope I was not like this when I was in my twenties!
It was after midnight now and time to start thinking about the last trains back to Shinjuku so we headed for the station. After the morning and evening rush hours this is the busiest time of day, actually I found it more crowded than the Chuo line but we squeezed in and were soon back in familiar territory and headed for Mothers.
Saturday was our last full day in Tokyo together and the one overriding thing that had to be done was offer up prayer cards at the Meiji Temple in Yoyogi Park, it had worked so well for Steve last year that I had to have a prayer said for Spurs to beat Chelsea for the first time in seventeen years and three weeks later it came true, Spurs beat Chelsea 2-1 at White Hart Lane.
After breakfast Steve wanted to visit an old part of Tokyo that I had not heard of so I said lets go, unfortunetly by the time we walked to the station my tummy was feeling rather upset and I thought it prudent to stay near my exotic Japanese toilet back at the hotel.
Steve took off and we agreed to meet outside Harajuku station around 3pm, visit the temple then wander down fashion alley.
The teenage girl fashions on parade in Harajuku on the weekend are out of this world, Saturday is pretty good but Sunday lunch time is the main event when they are all off school and part-time jobs. Unfortunately I was going to miss it as I had a 10am flight to Hong Kong but Steve would be lucky enough to catch it before his 6pm flight back to New York.
It was our last night and I would have to cut it short due to my early morning flight, the Wigan v Man Utd. Game was live on TV so we decided to go back to Heavens Door to watch it, unfortunately I got the times wrong and we were 3 hours to early. We had a couple of beers and decided to try the restaurant across the street, but it was full and they wanted to shuttle us down the street to a sister place where they wanted to put us in a small dark back room, which we wanted nothing to do with.
We wandered around the neighbourhood and found a small Japanese noodle place and had a quick bite.
Other than Heaven’s Door there was nothing else to do so we headed back to Shinjuku, this way we could watch the game at the The Angel Irish pub just down the street from Hub and I could get to bed early.
This is the same pub we had our first beers in with Dave just over a year ago, we had come full circle.
A few other English guys showed up and of course they were all rooting for Man U., the Japanese staff got a great kick out of the fact that I was cheering for Wigan although they went down to Steve’s prediction 3-1.
Half way through the game a couple of scantily clad girls came in promoting Corona and were delighted when Steve and I bought rounds for everyone. Steve drinks Corona as a steady diet and had not had one in almost 2 weeks, so it was like mana from heaven.
Sunday morning I was up bright and early and down the station by 6:30am for the 7am Narita Express, I had not bought a ticket in advance as it was early Sunday morning so I was very surprised to learn there was standing room only, I should have known.
Next stop Hong Kong.
