Around the World

Key words in Japan:
HAI (yes) SUMIMASEN (excuse me but used for any greeting or acknowledgement)

The ship arrives in Odaiba, just outside Tokyo. When we got outside the terminal to take a train to the city, we immediately felt like home. There in front of us (see photo) is the Statue of Liberty and the Verrazano Narrows bridge. Odaiba’s replica of the famous Statue of Liberty positioned in front of the Rainbow Bridge gives off the impression that this re-creation is to scale but it’s about 1/7th of the size of the New York original (originally erected in 1998 as a temporary tribute to Japan’s relationship with France, but the statue became permanent in 2000). Lady Liberty is not the only one in Japan, she also has sisters in Shimoda and Osaka.

Tokyo, the capital since 1868, is a very special place. The people, as all over Japan, are incredibly polite and helpful. Everything is clean here … beautiful walkways, and buildings and the subway, even with 14+ million people (almost twice NY).

Lets talk about the trains ... over 4,000 trains in 822 stations. We loved our travel on the trains and we took many different lines (public and private) over the two days here. The trains in Tokyo have 10.8 million riders per day and 3.9 billion riders per year (compare that to NYC with a mere 2.4 million a day and only 1.8 billion per year).

There are public lines, private lines and the bullet train and all together this makes for MANY trains and commuters. The Tokyo Central Station opened in 1885 and it is one of Japan's oldest subway stations and is still in heavy use today. Just one busy station we went to, Shinjuku station has an average of 3.6 million people use the station each day. The subways in Tokyo are impeccably clean, have many vending machines that sell everything from hot coffee to ice cream, the stations are vacuumed and sanitized all day and they have clean and well-stocked restrooms. The most shocking thing we found is that don't have trash cans anywhere… you take your garbage with you. In 1993, Mayor David Dinkins of NYC toured the Tokyo subway system, and upon seeing its cleanliness, order, and lack of rats, remarked "we have a lot to learn from the Japanese." We never saw litter on or off the platforms or tracks and “enjoyed” my visit to the little boy’s room, that was impeccable.

We visited the Imperial Palace East Gardens of the Tokyo Imperial Palace, the main residence and administrative offices of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large 52 acre park located right in the central area of Tokyo. The palace grounds and gardens are built on the site of the old Edo Castle. The Edo Castle is the site of 1868 transfer of power from shogunate to imperial rule.

Besides the East Gardens, the main grounds of the Palace are generally closed to the public. Although none of the original buildings remain, the gardens are still dotted with foundations, walls and stones, not to mention the beautiful moats and gatehouses.

Within the wider gardens there are several interesting areas, including the foundations of the former keep, the traditional Japanese Ninomaru Garden. The public can enter the garden through any of the three historic gates, the Ōte-mon (where we came in), the Hirakawa-mon or the Kitahanebashi-mon. The East Gardens was laid out during the Meiji era when the Emperor seized control of the city from the Tokugawa Shogunate. It is an amazing set of gardenswith 285 acres (compared with the 850 acres of Central Park in NYC). Note: NYC has 8 million people and Tokyo over 14 million with the greater Tokyo area having 40 million people.

The garden has nearly 30 species of cherry trees. Other notable plants are bamboo, peonies, a grove of plum trees and willow trees. The garden has over one thousand species of native Japanese plants. There is also a large green lawn, called the Oshibahu, that was once used for imperial ceremonies. One of our favorite gardens here was the Iris garden where there are 84 species of Irises.

After leaving the Gardens we walked around this financial part of the city (stock exchange and major financial institutions, government offices) and took a tour bus around the loop to get a better overview of the city. The buildings were a mix of stone and brick of the 19th century but mostly skyscrapers.

Our next stop was the Character and Ramen Streets of the Train Station. Yes, the train station. We were told not to miss this hot spot to get some of the best food in the City. Character Street is a long passageway filled with shops selling popular Japanese animated characters, like Hello Kitty, One Piece or Domo-kun. There are shops from every television station, so you can buy goods from TV dramas and variety shows here, too. Then there is “snack land”, selling every candy ever imagined and many you have not in stores that are making these treats, often fresh. Of course there is a big area of Japanese manga and anime with more than 30 shops dedicated to household names (none looked familiar except Pokemon, and Snoopy).

Next we went to Ramen Street which is underground under the train station in a maze of restaurants and stores. Eight of the best rated restaurants in Tokyo are here. We had a great noodle meal here after we figured out how to order and pay (both from a machine!) and realized people don’t linger. You get your meal and slurp it up quickly and get out.

Before we left the underground of Tokyo to take our train back to the ship, we had to stop for some much-needed Kit Kats. Yes, there are over 400 varieties, and the Japanese are obsessed with Kit Kats. We bought some macha and sake Kit Kats to try when we get home. Under the category of strange things, we saw was California wine on sale and 3 Coins stores (like a dollar store but it cost 3 – 100 yen for many items). There are “3 Coins”, “3 Coins Plus” and of course “3 Coins Ooops!” stores selling a range of items from batteries to gimmick fans and socks.Leggi altro