The flight from Manila to Tokyo was meant to leave at 2:10pm but by 3:10, we still hadn’t gotten in the air. Finally, we did shortly after! The flying time was only four hours, but it seemed like way longer. Probably due to the two annoying kids behind me, who kept kicking the seat and continuously opening and slamming the tray table. We arrived about 20 minutes late (8:20pm) and then I had to wait in the long line for Immigration. This time, I was prepared and filled out all of the paperwork beforehand, so I just had to show them my QR code to go through. Then, I had to do the same thing when I went through customs. I was finally able to exit, and I went to figure out where I could get my Japan Rail Pass. I had read that you have to buy your Rail Pass before entering Japan, so I had ordered it the weekend before I left Melbourne. What I didn’t realize was that they actually MAIL you the voucher. A voucher that was worth $550AUD. When I ordered it, I was told that it would take exactly five business days to arrive, which was the exact amount of time that I had left in Melbourne. Fingers crossed! However, on Tuesday, I got an email that it had been sent and it would arrive in five business days from THEN. I didn’t have five business days! If worse came to worst, my flatmate would have to express post the voucher to me in Perth. Luckily on Friday afternoon (the day before I left Melbourne), the voucher arrived! And then, I had to carry that $550 voucher with me throughout Western Australia and the Philippines. I couldn’t wait until I could exchange it because I was scared that I would lose it. When I got to the JR Pass office, there was a sign saying that they were no longer taking anymore customers and that the voucher could be exchanged at another train station. This meant that I’d have to pay for my trip into Tokyo (rather than have it covered by the pass). I was in such a hurry because my hostel reception was supposed to close at 10pm and I already knew that I’d be late (I didn’t realize that it would take me nearly two hours to get there from the airport). I went to a ticket office to buy my ticket and then I waited for the train. It wasn’t until the train finally arrived that I realized that there was a seat number on my ticket. Luckily by random chance, I happened to be standing in front of the right door. I did feel quite lost in Japan. Normally, I can figure things out quite quickly, but since Japan is so large, busy, and advanced, I felt like I was constantly trying to figure things out. This could also be due to the fact that I decided NOT to get a SIM card at the airport. Therefore, I had to figure out the trip to my hostel while at the airport, take pictures of where I needed to go, and hope for the best. After my first day on public transport, I got used to how things worked and I was able to figure things out a lot more quickly. Once I took the train into Tokyo, I had to take two subways. This was also quite confusing since you had to buy tickets from a machine and select what cost you were going to pay, but I didn’t know which one to choose. Again, after a few times doing this, I was able to figure it out afterwards. I finally got to my hostel right before 11pm and checked in. I dropped all of my stuff off in my room and then went to find some dinner since I hadn’t eaten since lunch. After walking around and realising that everything was closed, I headed into a 7-Eleven and settled on a couple of seaweed wraps (which became my regular train snack), and a salad (which I had a bad gluten reaction to – must have been the dressing).
On Sunday morning, I slept in until my alarm… At 9am. Which was weird for me since I had been waking up naturally early during my entire time in Western Australia and in the Philippines. The time difference was only one hour ahead but during my whole time in Japan, I found it almost impossible to get up early. I had some coffee at the hostel and figured out what I should do that day. It would be my only day in Tokyo (for now) since I’d be coming back at the end of my trip. I decided to focus on the districts in the west, and I booked a free walking tour for that evening at 7pm. I took the subway to the Shibuya district, and went straight to a gluten free ramen place, called Shin-bu-saki-ya Seared-Miso Ramen Shibuya branch and walked in. “Hi, for one?” The server just spoke to me in Japanese – I was so confused. This is one thing that I quickly learned in Japan – they don’t cater to tourists. In the Philippines, where I was constantly acknowledged and asked if I wanted a coconut or a tuktuk ride, Japan was the complete opposite. I was hardly ever acknowledged unless I walked into a store or restaurant (and the cool thing is EVERYONE acknowledges you – all servers and all chefs), and I was usually still spoken to in Japanese, even though I had no idea what they were saying. A lot of the restaurants didn’t have English menus, so I had to rely on using Google Translate or looking at pictures. The server asked, “Ticket?” And I was even more confused. She told me, “Outside,” so I went. There was an electronic menu outside, where you had to order on the screen and pay. Then, you brought your ticket inside to give to the server. Whoa.. I never would have figured that out on my own! I finally got to have my first gluten-free ramen in three years, and it was great! After I finished my meal, I decided that I’d need to get a SIM card. With all of the transportation that I’d be taking AND having to eat gluten-free, I realized that it would be a lot easier to have internet access at all times. I went to BIC Mobile and had done my research beforehand, so I showed a picture to one of the workers, and he led me to the SIM card that I was looking for. It was a 10 day card with 5GB of data, which would last me for my whole trip. I decided to check out some of the touristy places, starting with Shibuya crossing. It’s a famous crosswalk because it goes in about five different directions, and hundreds of people go across it at once. I went to the Starbucks on the corner and waited in the long line to get a coffee. The Starbucks is on the second floor, and is a prime location to watch the crossing. Unfortunately, tons of other people had the same idea as me. However, I was able to snatch a seat quite quickly, where I watched the crossing and figured out how to activate my SIM card.
After this, I walked to the Harajuku district, where I walked down the famous Takeshita Street. It was FULL of people! What I didn’t realise when I planned my trip was that I planned it during the entire Golden Week holiday, which meant that all of Japan was touring their own country. Everywhere was busier than usual, and apparently accommodation was hard to find (good thing I booked early!). After walking through the street, I went to the nearby Meiji Jingu temple. This was a nice getaway from the hustle and bustle, and it was great to walk through a nice, quiet forest.
I decided to keep walking to the Shinjuku district, which took quite awhile. By the time I got there, I realised that I should probably get dinner before my walking tour so I went to a place called Teppan Baby. They asked if I had a reservation and I said no, but they said they could seat me as long as I was out by 7:15. Perfect! It was so cool to be able to sit in front of the grill and watch the chefs. By the time I got my food, I only had about 20 minutes to eat it – and it was huge! But it was so good! I got through about 7/8 of it, but I was fully stuffed!
Then I headed to my walking tour. The walking tour went through the area of Shinjuku and focused on the nightlife in Tokyo. We got shown Godzilla Road, and ended at Golden Gai, which used to be an exclusive area that you’d need a membership in order to go into certain bars. However, tourism somewhat forced most places to open their doors to everyone, but at a lot of places, you still have to pay a cover charge to enter. During the walk, I met a girl from Melbourne named Patricia, so her and I went for drinks afterwards (and she had dinner, but I was still stuffed from my meal). By the time we finished, it was 11pm so I headed back to my hostel to go to bed. The next morning, I got up to have coffee, and then packed up my stuff to head to my next destination. Love always
Prairie Girl Abroad 