Arrival in a new world

It's around 09:30 local time in Tokyo when our flight starts its final descent into Tokyo Haneda airport. The sun has risen not too long before in the land where we'll soon set foot in.
During the approach we try to get a first glimpse of what "the other side of the world" looks like. Before touchdown we see an impression of the vast size of Tokyo under a rather clouded sky. The clock hits 09:50 and we arrive on Japanese soil, ready to start our adventure.

Despite being on a huge aircraft (B748 operated by Lufthansa), we don't get the impression that the arrival hall is being flooded with people. Soon after disembarking, we arrive to the custom section where part of the crowd is split up by those not having completed the pre-registration form. Shortly after showing our passports, we're granted entry to the country.

Two tips of advice here for future travelers: make sure to complete the online pre-registration form as it will allow you to clear customs quicker. Secondly, make sure you pass through a manned gate when clearing customs if you intend on using the JR-Pass or any other variant of the JR-Pass. In order to pick-up these passes, you need to show your passport with a valid stamp or sticker. The automated gated obviously don't provide these.

Whilst we're waiting for our bags to arrive, we have to scan our passports another time by ourselves at one of the digital machines in the same area where the bags arrive. At first, we were a bit confused as we just cleared customs, but there were some airport employees walking around notifying everyone of this procedure. This is also the first time we noticed a difference from a lot of European countries that would prove to be present during our entire trip: people walking around with signs to inform tourists/guests. Whereas in Belgium a lot of these jobs would be replaced by a fixed sign, in Japan employees are performing what look to be very basic tasks.

With our luggage collected, we headed into the arrival lobby and quickly found a lady holding a sign for our group taxi shuttle downtown. As we were waiting for the other tourists to arrive, we roamed a bit through the hall to see if we could quickly find a vending machine that sells IC-cards.

An IC-card is an electronic card that you can buy all over Japan that is used for a variety of things. Although the name varies from region to region, a card bought in Tokyo can easily be used in Kyoto or even at the other side of the country. Because of a computer chip shortage, the distribution of these cards to tourists has greatly decreased around the time we visited Japan. Only tourist versions (valid for only a couple of weeks) are available at specific locations. For example, the airport. Luckily, iPhone users can now add a virtual IC-card to their Apple Wallet removing the need for a physical card.

We didn't find a vending machine for IC-cards at first sight and didn't want to walk too far away so that the lady of our taxi could easily find us.
Soon after, she came back to us and telling us very politely that we are ready to go. We followed her along to the exit of the airport. She took great care not to walk too fast and checking regularly if we were all still following along.
Near the parking lot, she dropped us off with the cab driver and made a deep bow to thank us. The driver loaded our luggage in the van and together with our other tourists (an Italian couple) we headed off to Tokyo downtown.

During the ride to our hotel, we took in every little detail. Driving on the left hand side of the road, new road markings, well maintained roads, a lot of viaducts and bridges,...
About 30 minutes later, we arrive at our hotel in Tokyo's Ginza district. Ginza is known as a shopping neighborhood.
As it was still too early to check-in to our room, we left our luggage in the hotel lobby.

In Japan, check-in times are often very strictly adhered to. Sometimes it's even entirely digital via a machine, preventing you to receive your room key card before a certain time.

The reception staff was super friendly and provided us with our pre-ordered portable WiFi. With a connection to the outside world, we started looking in the hotel lobby on where to find those precious IC-cards. Rather quickly, and with the help of the hotel staff, we realized that the digital version through the Apple Wallet would be the most convenient solution. I managed to set up the card quickly and link it with my credit card. Ann had some issues, as she didn't have a credit card connected yet in her Apple Wallet and therefore couldn't connect the IC-card with it. Adding a credit card abroad wasn't an option as we needed the physical card connector to validate the process. The hotel staff was clearly concerned about our struggles to achieve an IC-card and helped a big deal with providing possible solutions (visit a local store to buy Apple Music credits that could be transferred to the Apple Wallet, or maybe buying a physical card in the main train station of Tokyo, etc etc).
Without success, we decided to no longer waste time in the hotel lobby and get out there to explore.

Armed with our cameras, we headed out to discover the Ginza district. Because it's Sunday, the main street (Chuo Dori), is closed for traffic. We can freely roam the wide street and take in the tall buildings around us. The street is a mixture of shops, office buildings, shopping centers. We come across the Ginza Six shopping center: a modern looking building with inside equally modern architecture. We enter to see the modern central hall and to discover the rooftop terrace. Some escalators and elevators later we arrive to the rooftop garden. An oasis of green, benches and water fountains where some kids are playing, greet us. Weird to see such place on top of such a busy center, but at the same time it provides a very nice place of tranquility in a busy environment. By the way, the elevators taking us to the rooftop had employees in front of them to guide the people in and out the elevator in an orderly manner.
We walk around the rooftop garden and enjoy some views down in Chuo Dori street. A bit further down the road, we already spot the Seiko House. The most iconic building in the street and Japan's famous watch brand. Inside is a store as well as the Seiko museum.

Back on the main street, we spotted some other major stores such as Nissan and Sony. The first Seven Eleven store we came across, we stopped to get some cash money. Those convenience stores will prove to be a solid backbone for your trip: food, money, drinks,... indispensable and always open!

Don't be fooled by the overall modernness of Japan. Cash is still king in this country and not all stores accept credit cards. Be sure to carry some cash with you at all times. At the same time, you can sometimes pay with your IC-card as well at vending machines, convenience stores, etc.

As we were in the vicinity of Tokyo Station, we headed there in the hope to find a physical IC-card for Ann.
After having found an entrance to this huge space that occupies Tokyo Station, we went looking for a desk that could sell these cards. In the end, we asked the JR-Central info desk, and they confirmed our fear that due to the chip-shortage there are no more cards on sale. Only at the airport you can buy the limited version for tourists.
Disheartened, we went back outside and sat down on a bench to contemplate our options. Buying separate tickets for the entire trip or heading back to the airport to buy one over there. Because of the huge comfort of such a card, we decided to head back to the airport and try our luck over there...

The ticket vending machine at Tokyo Station took another few minutes of our time. We had to figure out which machines sell what kind of tickets. But in the end, a machine with a user-friendly interface managed to get us tickets to the airport. Google Maps helped us in no-time to select the correct trains and a couple of minutes later we stepped on the first subway back to the airport.
We headed back to the arrival hall and went looking for the vending machine. Rather quickly we found the machine and to our surprise we could buy a PASMO-card. This is also an IC-card, but not even the tourist version that was eligibly only available. With Ann equipped with a physical IC-card, and myself with the digital one, now we are ready to tackle Tokyo and Japan!

From the airport, we headed to the area just north of Tokyo Station: Akihabara. It's known as the electronic district as well as anime and manga. Getting of the train clearly brings us in a different environment: the fancy stores have made room for tall buildings, full of advertisements, electronic stores on different levels and posters for maid cafés. We stroll through the neighborhood and are a bit blown away by the fanatic liveliness. There's an exhibition for a game (we think) that draws a lot of people around. Many of them are dressed like characters from games or movies. It's impressive, and we get a doze of the what we call Japan-craziness-vibe.

After strolling through the main streets of the district, we head back in the subway to head to the district just south of our hotel: shiodome.
This is a less touristic or known area which a lot of corporate buildings in it. High skyscrapers make the office buildings for the Nippon TV Tower, the most popular television channel in Japan. Another tall building is the Caretta Shiodome that, with its 51 floors, forms a mixture of cinema, office buildings, shopping center and restaurants.

In fact, we had some difficulty getting through or around certain buildings. Japan is world class in separating pedestrian streams for motorized traffic by routing pedestrians under-, over or through buildings. Without exaggerating, you can spend up to 10 minutes walking underground before reaching an exit that takes you above ground. Google Maps does an amazing job in guiding you, although sometimes it requires great skill to interpret the different ground layers.

We wanted to visit the Hama Rikyu Park just before closing time to enjoy some quietness at the end of our long day. By the time we navigated through the maze of office buildings and highways, we arrived at the park shortly before closing time. We turned back and enjoyed the rest of the neighborhood. Before heading back to the hotel, we grabbed our dinner in a small street restaurant in an area that is famous for its izakaya. Izakaya is a sort of tapas: a series of smaller bites that you can share without any fancy restaurant looks. Perfect for our first meal in Japan!
The staff didn't speak any English, so we were forced to use Google Translate to understand the menu and order food/drinks. Luckily many of the menus have pictures, so you can at least point to what you want. It feels a bit distant to type and translate what you want to order, but in the end, it did the job.

After paying in cash (tipping is not done in Japan!) we headed back to the hotel to check-in to our hotel room. The hotel staff was clearly surprised we had to go all the way back to the airport to get an IC-card but was also relieved to hear we got it!

It's been an extremely long day since our last decent amount of sleep, but we're very happy to have done so much during our first day. We're ready to explore more of this thriving city tomorrow!Leer más