The Quietest Megacity
Japan – Tokyo – Plum Blossoms Soji-ji temple in Adachi
Ahh, Japan. When we started this adventure, we immediately disqualified Japan because it was far too expensive for year-long travel. But, lucky for us, the dollar has gotten stronger making it just barely affordable. Once we decided against China and Russia, we took another look and Japan and decided that we would give it a try. What a wonderful decision! Tokyo has been a breath of fresh air for us. It’s cold and dry with bluebird skies – just our kind of weather. It’s also shockingly quiet. You’d think being in a megacity of 37 million people that it would be loud. But we’ve found the opposite. Maybe it’s the electric vehicles or the lack of horns, or maybe it’s just that we’ve been in Southeast Asia for too long.
We are so happy to be in a place where we can explore on foot without risking life and limb. Strolling in Tokyo is easy, peaceful, and rewarding. It’s unbelievable clean, meticulously organized, and well thought out. After a few long days of walking, it was clear that Lindsey needed new shoes. Little did we know that she has the hardest shoe size to find in Japan. It turns out that in Japanese sizing, she wears a 26 (around a US 9.5). Women’s shoes tend to stop at 25 (US 8.5), while men’s start at 27. What?!? After some disappointing days of searching and being laughed at for having giant feet, we finally found some of the right size.
1. Go
- Plane – 5,200 km. A very boring and very uncomfortable flight from Thailand to Tokyo on a budget airline. Did you know that they don’t even serve free water? Yikes!
- Taxi – 7 km. To the airport in Chiang Mai.
- Metro – 160 km. All around Tokyo.
- Foot – 98,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 49 miles)
2. See
Deciding what to do in Tokyo has been a little overwhelming. There’s just so much to see! We decided to spend this week exploring the eastern half, then we will explore the western half when we come back late next week after some short overnight trips. We started by walking our local neighborhood called Adachi. There aren’t any major sights, but there is still plenty of charm. We visited the Soji-ji temple and were delighted to find that the plum trees were blossoming.
Over the next few days, we explored closer to downtown on foot including Sky Tree, Asakusa, Ueno, and Akiabara areas. We ate sushi under the Sky Tree, got caught up in the crowds at Senso-ji temple, wandered through Yanaka finding temples and snack shops, walked past the Palace, and were overwhelmed by anime in Akiabara.
We spent a morning appreciating history and art at the Tokyo National Museum. It was very well thought out with lots of English signs. The main building is laid out chronologically and the displays are constantly rotated. It was a perfect amount of well curated pieces that gave us just a taste of everything without being overwhelmed.
3. Eat
After spending so much time in Southeast Asia, our stomaches are loving Japanese cuisine – although it may just be the food safety standards. Everything is light, fresh, and in smaller portions. Japan’s food scene is somewhat similar to Taiwan, one of our favorite food scenes ever. We love that we can find tasty buns at 7-11 and sweet azuki bean is in nearly every dessert. We also get to go to Mos Burger again (fast food chain) and can find sushi everywhere. Obviously, there are many familiar foods that we already love (yakisoba, udon, tempura, sushi), but we’ve found a few new delights as well. Our fun new find this week was curry rice. We ordered from a machine out front, then entered the restaurant with a ticket. They brought us our food in less than 5 minutes. We had steaming piles of rice with fried chicken and beef curry sauce. It was the perfect food for a grey, cold day.
4. Drink
Our budget is pretty tight in Japan, but we bought some beers from the grocery store for a taste test. We tried three varieties of Yoho beer – ale, IPA, and porter. They were all delicious! We also had some beers on tap at our hostel bar. They were so smooth and almost creamy tasting. It’s a relief to have a variety of beers again. We hope to get more adventurous in the weeks to come.
5. Sleep
We stayed at Emblem hostel in Nishi Arai, which is quiet a ride from downtown. Despite the distance, we liked the location. It is right next to a grocery store and the metro stop. The hostel itself is one of the largest we’ve ever stayed in at 8 floors. We had to go with dorm beds because of the budget, but they are actually really comfortable and surprisingly quiet. We slept very well. They serve a minimal breakfast of toast, jam, coffee, and juice, but that’s more than most places.
6. Move
This weather has made it incredibly easy to get moving again. Pat has had to hold back from running morning and night. Japan also has the most marathon finishers of any country in the world, so running paths are prominent and well maintained. It should be a good month of running in Japan. We found Tokyo to be very walkable, so we’ve had one of our highest step counts in a LONG time. With Lindsey’s new walking shoes, we plan to be out and about much more.
Check out Pat’s CADENCE Week 38 post (coming soon?) for details about this week.
7. Etcetera
All throughout Southeast Asia we were nearly always able to communicate in English. It was actually kind of crazy how much English there was. But in Tokyo, we are having to get used to very little English again. Once and a while we have a server or cashier who speaks English, but not usually. They will even ask us questions in Japanese before realizing that we don’t speak Japanese aside from “konnichiwa” and “arigato.” Thankfully, we can usually just point at what we want. Many restaurants either have photos or plastic models of their dishes, which makes ordering a breeze. Any follow up questions (e.g. “eat in or take out”) are conveyed with a series of charades and giggles on both sides of the conversation. It’s actually very enjoyable.
Check out our Flickr album to see all our photos from this week.
Nomadic Cadence 
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