May 6, 2011 - My Week in Tokyo and Osaka
Hello fellow travelers!
My husband and I just got back from a week in Japan! I wish we had more time this trip (I've been to Japan previously) but hub had to get back to work and this was mostly a business trip for him. He needed to tour all the aquariums and zoos he could hit in 8 days so I planned a whirlwind tour of Tokyo (Ueno Zoo) and Osaka (Osaka Aquarium/Zoo) and Ise Peninsula (Toba Aquarium). We had booked everything before the earthquake so needless to say we were watching the NHK quite a bit to try and figure out the real situation in Tokyo. I'd spent last summer in Fukushima Prefecture so I knew the distances involved and wasn't too worried about it so when we at last arrived in Tokyo on April 19th, I was very relieved. It looked exactly as it did last summer! Not even a crack or chip. One of the first things we did was to buy a box-load of hard-to-get goodies to mail to our friends up in Koriyama who are still short on specialty items and they received the package the following day!
The only minor travel issues we had in Tokyo (and they were very minor) was most of the escalators were shut off in the train stations to reserve power. Usually only one set was running (on the opposite end of the busy track, usually) and the elevators were going. Not that I mind stairs, but I'm a manga and novel addict and I had bought about 40 books by the second day which resided in my suitcase for the next week. I've got some great biceps now!
The second thing was, they'd just reinstated the Narita Express but I didn't realize (or forgot) that it was running at a reduced schedule. So the eve we arrived late from LAX at Narita we opted to take the Keisei Skyliner direct to Ueno where our hotel was anyway and start our 7 day rail passes on the second day of the trip so we could take the Narita Express back on day 8. When day 8 arrived I assumed there'd be plenty of trains so I didn't bother with the schedule until about six hours before we were supposed to be at the airport and oops, no trains for about 2 hours or so. So we got to Narita a few hours later than planned but had no trouble getting to our plane. Foreign travelers were as light as predicted. Even the plane was smaller this time (Singapore Air 777 instead of 747-400) and nearly all native Japanese.
The weather was nice and cool in Tokyo, a touch rainy, but no big deal, there were still plenty of blossoms to marvel at and neon to illuminate the streets at night (although the big extraneous displays and giant plasma screens are still off). We were received warmly by the locals and our hotel clerks in Ueno were very curious about us - traveling independently in Japan from overseas despite the media frenzy. We were even asked to conduct an interview by the tourist bureau who were out in force with new signs and greeting committees to assure foreigners Japan was SAFE! Were we worried about radiation? Earthquakes? Naw, I said, we're Californians, we're used to the ground moving! Which was put to to the test because we were shaken awake by a 6.0 off the coast of Tokyo Bay on the second night! And subsequent aftershocks which, being Californians, just rocked us back to sleep.
After three nights in Tokyo we took the shinkansen to Osaka. It was my first time in Osaka and at first we were hopelessly lost! The local train system is not as cut and dry as Tokyo's. They mix express lines with loop lines and it was a bit nerve-wracking to figure out which train to get on to get to our hotel so after circling around town aimlessly (far too many train stations with the same name in Osaka), my poor husband lost his patience with my iffy Japanese and manga-stuffed suitcase, and opted for a cab instead which took us to the wrong hotel! But that was my mistake because I misread a kanji and we wound up at West Umeda instead of North. Oops. Fortunately, I was able to sift through our cab driver's Osaka dialect well enough to grasp the mistake and we checked in the right place. (btw, I booked everything through Expedia.com this time and got awesome deals - Osaka, top of the line hotel for $45 a nite and it's all prepaid in U.S.$!)
Osaka is a very different city from Tokyo! The people are quite different, much more relaxed, social, chatty, laughing loudly on the trains. It was Friday however, and there were more than a few tipsy salarymen stumbling up and down the stairs, cracking themselves and us up. I saw female and male co-workers out dining, smoking, generally enjoying themselves. As much as I've always loved Tokyo, I must say Osaka has stolen my heart! It makes fun of itself in many ways. The shops are goofier and have yokai for mascots. People wear "gasp" t-shirts and jeans and tennis shoes. My kind of bunch! And there were a few foreigners - each one we passed called out to us to offer helpful directional advise or 'you must eat at this raman shop' or 'you should try living here, I love it' kind of conversations. And I think we might just do that in a few years when my husband gets a break between jobs. Rent a flat in Osaka for a few months and just chill.
We visited Osaka Castle in the rain which was awesome! The mist made it seem like we'd gone back in time. The aquarium was jaw-dropping incredible (whale sharks!!) My husband designs aquariums for a living, like the big ones, so this was a real treat for him. After 2 nights in Osaka we chugged over the mountains to the tiny town of Toba on the Ise peninsula. (This website btw had the best advice on how to get to Toba on the local train lines which was dead accurate! Thanks!!)
In Toba we stayed at our first ryokan (Oishiya) with a view of the sea by the Wedded Rocks. It was everything I'd hoped for. Oishiya does cater to foreigners so there were English speaking staff to help us out with the how-tos and bathing customs etc. I was worried I was going to put on my yukata backwards so that was a relief. You can read about ryokan, but it's a different thing to actually be standing there naked in a steamy bath room, wondering where to put your towel! But once we got it down it was a wonderful experience, very relaxing and watching the sun set over the bay while being served rice cakes and tea in our little room was incredible! And the meals were delicious, several courses of traditional Japanese cuisine - dinner and breakfast.
After viewing the Toba Aquarium (utterly amazing - if you love aquariums, this is place to see some outstanding exhibits and animals!) We went to Pearl Island and the little street of pearl jewelry shops. It was painfully obvious we were the only foreign tourists there. Toba is off the beaten path, so with Japan travel being down they were especially hurting for visitors. The shop keepers would pop their heads out to greet us and then apologized for not speaking any English. I told them not to worry we could talk in Japanese, so that was a happy surprise for them. (I guess I really don't look like I should know any Japanese! But I can converse about day-to-day things as long as they don't speak too fast!)
Anyway, the trip was awesome, and the recent disasters not an issue in terms of our ability to get around and do what we set out to do. We made the tourist bureau happy as well as some red-faced salarymen who piled into a raman shop the same time we did late one night in Ueno and hugged us! This website has been an excellent source for good solid Japan travel info and I plan to use it again and again. Japan loves foreigners, even goofy excited Americans like us.
よろしく！ Sharon
