Visiting Tokyo

Though Tokyo is the center of Japanese power with the national government and major corporate headquarters using the city as home base, the city felt young, especially after the sun set and the city filled with a neon glow. Like Amsterdam, the city is buzzing with commerce during the day but once the businessmen called it a day, some sections of the city took on a party atmosphere as young people headed out for dinner with friends. There is a sense of controlled energy during the day; at night you feel and see the joyful energy of youth.

Our first night in Tokyo was spent just adjusting. Typically, planes from North America get to Japan in the late afternoon and by the time you travel to the city, it will be dark. Use the time to acclimate to the change in time, the new language and the rhythm of Japanese society.

Reading the Subway Map

The subway system of Tokyo can easily take you from one part of the city to another. Get a map and identify where you are headed and where you need to get off. As you can see, the map is color coded. Those colors are also used in the subway stations making it easy for you to find where you are going. Note on the map that there are some stations that have only one letter and number and some that have multiple letters and number. Each subway line, in addition to the color of the line, is indicated by a letter. For example, the Ginza Line is Line "G". The number you see under the letter tells you which stop it is, so that G 09 is the ninth stop on the Ginza Line. If you get on the Ginza Line at G 06, you must go three stops to reach G 09. If you see more than one line listed in the same box, such as A11 and H09, it means that station is a junction and you can change from one line to another, in this instance from the Asakusa line to the Higashi line.
The most confusing part of the subway station is determining which exit to use. Unlike bus and train travel, the subway is underground eliminating any points of reference to help you identify where you are. The subway stations often have multiple exits and they can be many blocks apart, so it is very important that you follow the directions or you will have walked a long distance in the wrong way and you will be disoriented when you get above ground. If you don't read Japanese lettering, it is also a good idea to make mental or written notes of landmarks near the correct subway exit you want to use so that you can be certain you are on the right exit before you start walking. Also, don't use a mini-market as your point of reference because they are common at many subway exits.

Buying Subway Tickets

On your first night in town or on the morning of departure, you may want to purchase a ticket for a single trip. The maps in the station tell you how much it costs to go from where you are to where you want to be. You drop the appropriate amount in the machine, select your ticket price, select the number of tickets you want to buy and then you receive change. BE SURE TO HAVE CASH FOR SUBWAY TRANSACTIONS. You simply need the ticket to get into the subway system and get out at the end, not to transfer from one line to another. But if you lose your ticket, you will not be able to get out. If you didn't pay the right amount you will be alerted that you must pay more.

If you are going to a variety of sights around the city, the day pass is often a big savings. It lets you get on and off as many times as you want on the same calendar day (the ticket expires at midnight of the day you start using it). Currently, the cheapest tickets are 190 yen so that if you get off and on more than 5 times, you've saved money.

If you can, and your internal clock will probably make it easy, get up in the wee hours of the morning for one of the most fascinating shopping experiences in the world. Tsukiji (roughly pronounced "TSkee jee" with the same "ts" sound you hear in "tsunami") Market is bustling by 5 a.m. as merchants arrive to find the freshest fish for their customers. Small motorized carts zoom past you through narrow aisles bringing any seafood you can imagine. If you get to the market early enough (by 5 a.m.), you'll get to see the auctions and be amazed at the price a huge tuna can command. You can see the action every morning except Sunday and can get there from the Tsukiji Station on the Hibiya Line
As you wander past the stalls, you'll see an unbelievable array of seafood. There are hundreds of frozen yellowfin tuna being cut into steaks with bandsaws, but there are also many other pellagic fish, every variety of shellfish and more squid, octopii and sea anenome than you can count. If you find the booth selling a product that looks more like beef than fish, you are probably looking at whale and other marine mammal meat.
If all this fresh seafood stirs up your appetite for sushi, there are many local restaurants ready to satisfy your craving, often at reasonable prices.
Our wandering the first day took us from Tsukiji through the area southeast of the Ginza and spectacular temple on to the Imperial Palace. This is the residence of the emperor when he is in Tokyo as well as a historical site. The public is allowed to wander through the beautiful gardens but do not get close to the actual residence which is securely behind locked gates. Plan an hour or two to have a leisurely stroll through the manicured grounds and keep your eyes open for the beautiful green butterflies if you are there in the summer.