T3 - DestiNation Japan!

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Before I begin, it appears what I mentioned in class was a little inaccurate when I was asked by Seo-sensei when I visited Japan. I was in Japan back in January 2004, and stayed for about 12 days, not 20 or 30 as I may have mentioned. Along with my family, we went to Tokyo for about 8 days and had a brief visit to Sapporo in Hokkaido for about 4 days before heading back to Hong Kong.

I do not have much photos apparently, This was probbaly due to the fact we didn't own a digital camera yet. We only had film-fed analog cameras. Most of my photos are from the Tokyo area. We didn't even take much photos. Most were from the times we visited the Tokyo Disneyland. I will however, not include those here - I don't think it's that interesting.

We got to Japan first via Narita Airport. To get to Tokyo proper, we took a bus.  It was more or less a 1 hour bus ride. This I remember well, to be one of the best bus rides I ever had. The path it took showed me a lot of various features of the surrounding areas - from suburbs to the industrial area. Everything was so new.

Here's the very first thing we encountered in Tokyo...

This is the railway system of Tokyo, known nationally as the Japanese Railways Group (JR グループ). The Tokyo network is operated by the East JR Company known as JR Higashi-Nihon (JR東日本), which also serves the Kanto area, where Tokyo is located.

What really surprised me was how the station map appeared...it looked very cramped and was probably like a confusing maze. Compared to the MTR system here in Hong Kong, this is crazy!

This is me (on the right), my younger brother, and my mother back then. We were buying tickets from the machine for the JR. But like I said, my memory seems to be very weak - I don't remember either which station was this, nor where the hotel that we stayed in was.






A thing that I remember quite well, was eating in Yoshinoya (吉野家) in Tokyo. This wasn't the first time I ate in Yoshinoya back then. My mom first "discovered" one of its restaurant branches in Hong Kong near my home in Yau Ma Tei. Upon eating Yoshinoya in Japan, you know the difference with the original...

Yoshinoya is known for its beef bowls (牛丼). This was also probably the only thing I ate in Yoshinoya. Compared to the 牛丼 I ate in Hong Kong, the ones in Japan have a better textured beef and its rice seems to be more enjoyable - it's not too soft. I also believe that the 牛丼 there is a lot less oily than the one from Yoshinoya Hong Kong. There are even rumors that Yoshinoya Japan uses American beef for its 牛丼.

Another major difference is how the restaurant was set. In Hong Kong, the setup looks very similar to fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's. There are separate tables and the ordering counter is located as a bar near the entrance. In Yoshinoya Japan however, the ordering counter is more like a "station", where it is surrounded by the table eating area, much like a sushi bar. It is set up like this primarily to enable service to be faster and easier to clean up. Rush hour in Tokyo is much faster, maybe. (Please note that the above phtotos are not mine, obtained by Google search.)


The most significant place (for me at least) that we visited was...

This is my mom somewhere near one of the main gates to the Imperial Sanctum.

Imperial Palace, 皇居, or otherwise known as こおんきょ, "Imperial Residence". The Palace only opens to the public on two special days in the year: December 23, the Emperor's Birthday and January 2. Due to using an analog camera, you can still see the date stamp. It's quite obvious we visited on one of the 354 days you cannot see the Emperor.

ば かやろ！! That's me to the left. Yes, that stupid boy "trying" to move one of the huge doors that are characteristic of the Imperial Palace's gates. This gate was part of the outer sanctum, the outer area is always open to the public...however, all you can see and walk on is a whole bunch of pebbles...

..leafless tress and birds.

We probably visited Japan at a bad time. The "off" season was the best to get cheaper airfare. There was still something to see near the Imperial Palace grounds. The entire compound is actually surrounded by a series of small waterways, or moats. 皇居 was like an island in the middle of Tokyo. History has it that the fief area was once Edo Castle, renamed only as the Imperial Castle when the Imperial Household moved its residence there in 1868.  Most of its original structures were destroyed over the years by fires, but it was almost especially demolished during the Second World War, due to the American bombing campaigns over Tokyo, thus, most of what we see standing in the Imperial Palace grounds are reconstructions since 1948, also the time when it was renamed to what we know it now today.

Near the Eastern Park Grounds of the Imperial Palace is Hibiya Park, (日比谷公園 ひびやこおえん) which is home to two things that I was very surprised to see...

<---FAT CAT?, GARFIELD?! I was either so happy and thrilled to see such a sight. I've never seen cats this big anywhere, not even Hong Kong! It is probably due to people feeding it...too well in the public park. Such a healthy cat then...but still. The next thing I encountered was also a bit unexpected...

Here, alongside my brother, we pose next to a bust of Dr. Jose P. Rizal, a patriotic writer in the Philippines, who is also known as the national hero. This statue was said to "commemorate Dr. Rizal's visits to Japan", which was one of the places he went for his studies and research. I believe this statue is one of the many efforts of the Japanese government has taken to establish closer ties and mutual respect with my home country, The Philippines.





The last thing that I would like to share about Tokyo is the Ginza area. Probably known as THE shopping district (although Tokyo itself is pretty much one big shopping district), Ginza is quite crowded, far more crowded than you would imagine Mong Kok or Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong. Its best features apart from its shopping complexes is...

Pedestrian Crossings in Ginza (These photos are not mine)

...The Pedestrian Crossings in the streets of Ginza. As you can see, it's like they're all over the place! It looks a little dangerous, but the local people in Tokyo seem to see some order and purpose to it. It's zig-zaggy at some instances, and once it is time to cross, hordes and streams of people flood the entire road from all directions. If you have a child with you (like my brother back then), it may be easy to get lost in the crowd, literally.

 Temperatures in Tokyo back that time averaged around 9C. the lowest we encountered on an open day was 7C. I wore a thick layered jacket back then as I wasn't used to cold weather just yet. Years in Hong Kong Winters however, have trained me to like it better. Probably, the next time I go to Tokyo, I wouldn't need such a jacket, like some of the local the Japanese there. The other reason we had these jackets was due to our trip to Sapporo later. It's rather unfortunate that most of the photos we took with our analog camera was wasted on Disneyland. Either, way we couldn't find much time nor extra film for photo-taking when we went to Sapporo.


All I could remember about Sapporo was...

Downtown Sapporo at night

At night, downtown Sapporo looks VERY VERY similar to Tokyo at night, due to its countless and restless battery display of neon lights and signs. The streets are also, just as crowded with cars and people alike.

Downtown Tokyo at night

Temperatures in Sapporo got even lower than that in Tokyo. At that time, I remember that the temperature was usually between 1 or subzero. It was the first time in my life, that I encountered a day at -0.80C or even -2C! It was probably a given fact that I was also too cold that time to hold a camera, hence the two pictures used here for the nightview of the two cities are not mine too.


It is rather unfortunate that I do not have much photographs, nor do I remember too many details on my first ever trip to Japan. It is such a shame that we didn't stay longer...my memory would probably have had more to say if that was the case.


Here is one souvenir that I got free of charge while walking on one of the rails of the JR system.

 I am not yet that well versed in reading Kanji, but I am assuming that it is a ticket that either advertises going to the Kansai area or is actually a ticket that could get you there.

Either way, it seems that on the next probable time I go to Japan, I've made a promise to myself - to visit a city in the Kansai region (most probably Osaka), and go back to Sapporo at the right time. I intend to see the Sapporo Snow Festival (さっぽろ雪まつり), which I missed when I was there. It is said to be usually held sometime in the days of the first week of February.


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