My Trip to Tokyo part 2

In case you missed the first part of my trip to Tokyo, you can catch up here. Now time for part 2!


Cryssy and I woke up on Saturday feeling as refreshed as one can be with a 13 hour time difference. It just so happened that Saturday was my 25th birthday. Best birthday ever? I think so. Of course I didn't get my currency exchanged, so our first line of business was to get myself some yen. Way to plan ahead, I know. I printed out maps, translated them, planned things to do while we were there, even got international calling & data, but didn't get my currency exchanged. We hit up the subway and took it one stop to look for the currency exchange place.

Travelers hint: Figuring out how much money subway tickets are is a pain! Prices vary depending on how far you go, how many transfers you have, etc. You could buy a ticket to get on the subway for 140¥, but end up owing 180¥ when you get to your stop. It just sucks having to find a machine and adjust your fare. I highly suggest you get a Suica card. It's like the metro cards you can find in NYC or the Tap card here in Los Angeles. You load it with increments of 1,000¥ and it automatically deducts the correct fair. You can get them at the machines in most subway stations. As a plus, some convenient stores such as 7-11 and Family Mart will let you use your Suica card as payment.


We made it to the currency exchange place, only to find out that it was closed. Of course we didn't immediately know it was closed until we played charades with one of the neighboring stores. (Charades works great when you don't speak the native language.) We just happened to show up on a holiday weekend. A quick stop to the ATM at 7-11 fixed my money situation, and we were on our way to get our tickets for sumo.


As we were on our way to the subway station to go to Ryogoku, we saw what looked like a giant arcade. How can you go to Japan and not check out their crazy arcades. We walked in and were received a warm greeting. We wandered around and all we saw were slot machines and other gambling machines. Confused, we wandered up to the 4th floor and discovered more and more of the same. This was a giant building dedicated to gambling and for 10AM, there were a fair number of people already in there. MADNESS.

Ryogoku Kokugikan (sumo arena)

Ryogoku was a beautiful area centered around the sumo arena. Sumo is only done 3 times each year and definitely worth seeing. Show up early to buy your tickets as prices will go up and availability goes down the longer you wait. Tickets start at 1500¥ (abour $20.00) and go up from there. We ended up paying 3000¥ per ticket (about $40). The matches earlier in the day are the amateurs and they work their way up from there. After purchasing our tickets, we decided to wander around Ryogoku and discovered some really beautiful areas.


From Ryogoku Kokugikan, we found the Kyo Yasuda Garden. Trees, a little pond, and beautiful animals, this was definitely a nice place to check out. This was less than 5 minutes from the sumo arena and definitely worth a visit. Get out of the sun, find some shade, and soak in the scenery.

You can take a break from reading and enjoy the scenery too ;)

The next spot, Yokoamicho Park, was just as beautiful as the first. It has a beautiful traditional Japanese style building dedicated to earthquake and war victims. We went inside and paid our respects and walked around the outside, enjoying the scenery. Also a great place to see if you find yourself wandering around Ryogoku.

One of the many amazing things about Tokyo, is that there are an abundance of vending machines. You can't walk two blocks without finding a plethora of vending machines carrying a variety of delicious beverages. Soda, milk tea, water, and a number of other anonymous Japanese drinks (what they are, I may never know). There are plenty of variations of beverages which never make it to the states, like the grape Mountain Dew on the left. You can also find vending machines that carry an assortment of snacks as well as cigarettes. That's right, cigarettes in vending machines on the street. I'm not quite sure how they work, but they are there. If you're a smoker, one thing to know is that you can only smoke in designated areas scattered around the city. You aren't supposed to smoke outdoors, which is probably why the city was so clean. There are actually more places to smoke indoors than there are outdoors. Weird, I know. Just some food for thought.

We made a few more stops throughout the day and saw some really neat things, but the highlight of the day and perhaps the entire trip was the actual sumo wrestling. We wandered back to the arena later in the day to see the higher end wrestlers compete. I really didn't know what to expect, but let me tell you that this was intense. It took a few matches to understand what exactly was going on, but both Cryssy and I were really getting into it. There's an ceremony that the wrestlers go through before they actually wrestle. It's almost like a choreographed dance with stomping and clapping and even some salt being thrown around. You can't help but to be amazed with sumo, a tradition that has been around for centuries. Watching these athletes in their traditional garments along with the referees and other officials in beautiful garments. The whole experience is just awe inspiring. Check out more pictures below from our first full day in Tokyo. Look for the next post coming soon!

My Trip to Tokyo part 1

Oh, Japan. The nation of the rising sun. What an amazing adventure, one that I won't ever forget.

My friend Cryssy who is a very amazing and talented illustrator and designer won a contest by designing covers for a magazine called Chopsticks NY. As a prize, she was rewarded with 2 tickets to Tokyo. After sitting on the tickets for some time, she decided to take me to Japan for my 25th birthday. E-e-e-e-e-epic!

Although our flight didn't leave until September 22nd, my trip began the day before. Talk about a lot of traveling. Woke up at 6am, hit the gym, work by 10am, fly from Los Angeles at 9:00PM, arrive in NYC at 5:30AM, 30 min taxi ride to Cryssy's house, hour for her to pack her stuff in my giant suitcase, 30 min train ride into Manhattan, hour bus ride to Newark, NJ, and then a 13 hour plane ride to Tokyo. I had to find time to eat, pack (yeah, I'm a procrastinator), print directions, and buy those annoyingly small travel sized bathroom items because TSA won't let you take any liquid past security over 3oz. I'm definitely not going to try anything with my 5oz tub of hair product. TRUST ME. I'm an upstanding citizen.... or something like that.

First glimpse of Japan

The 13 hour plane ride to Tokyo felt even longer than it actually was. First of all, if you have a choice, do not fly Continental Airlines. They have the most unfriendly flight attendants I've ever seen. I know being stuck in a cramped space for 13 hours, serving people food and drinks can't be fun, but at least put a smile on your face and suck it up! People have choices of which airlines to fly, what brings them back is the service. I don't think one of the flight attendants smiled the entire flight. Anyway, Cryssy and I had the isle and middle seats and there was a gentleman in the window seat. Let's call him Stan. Stan was an incredibly nice guy from Connecticut who was on his way to visit his girlfriend in the Philippines. Talk about a long distance relationship. Stan was also under the impression that if he didn't get up every 20 minutes, he was going going to die from blood clots in his legs. Needless to say, 13 hours of musical chairs was not fun, but alas we made it to Tokyo.

When it comes to traveling, I'm fairly organized. I had translated and written directions on how to get from the airport in Narita to our hotel in Chuo. The directions were very detailed and self explanatory so as to not run into any confusion. When we got to the airport in Narita, on the outskirts of Tokyo, we decided to not take the rapid train into Tokyo running us about 3000¥ (about $40.00) per ticket. We opted for the slower, local train costing us 1200¥ (about $15) and taking us nearly 2 hours. We made it to our first transfer point at Tokyo station where we looked at the subway map and immediately felt lost. 

Holy crap, so many lines going so many different directions. We didn't know where to begin. We were standing there, going over the map and referencing all of the papers I had printed before we left to see if we could figure out where to go. Unsolicited, an older Japanese couple saw our looks of worry and asked us if we needed any help. This was the first taste of the hospitality received while in Tokyo. So many nice people all wanting to help in any way they can. The couple pointed us in the right direction.

Alas, we made it to the hotel, Tokyo Hotel Horidome Villa. I have to say, if you are looking for a cheap, yet nice place to stay in Tokyo, this is great. For less than $70 a night, we were 3 blocks away from the nearest subway station and it was a good hub to get to where we wanted to go. The staff was friendly and helpful. The room was tiny, but if you're flying 6,000 miles to visit another country, you don't spend much time in your hotel room. There are tons of little restaurants within walking distance along with 7-11 and their version of CVS called Family Mart. If you're going to visit and need to withdraw money from an ATM, 7-11 is one of the only places that has ATMs that will accept American debit/bank cards. The minimum withdrawal is 10,000¥ (around $130), but check with your bank before you leave as they will charge you whenever you use your card out of country. Long story short, we loved staying in this hotel and would recommend it to anyone traveling on a budget. Exhausted and hungry, we didn't have to look far for our first meal.

Yoshinoya. Many of you, especially SoCal natives, might recognize the restaurant. Well, kinda crappy Japanese rice and chicken fast food bowls is more like it. Not great, but when I saw it right across the street from the hotel, I just had to try it. Let me tell you, that was a religious experience. I mean, neither Cryssy or I knew what we were ordering. We were looking at the pictures on the menu and ordering. The meal was absolutely delicious. Japanese fast food is nothing like American fast food. No greasy burgers or soggy fries. Everything is fresh cooked with fresh ingredients and the content is way healthier than in the states. I want to say you get a lot more for your money with Japanese fast food also. For 500¥ (about $6.50) you can get an entire meal such as the one pictured below. So much food. One interesting thing I noticed is how fast people eat in Japan. Multiple times, people would come in after us, order their food, finish it (while slurping and making the grossest sounds ever), and leave before I had finished a quarter of my food. 

After nearly two days of traveling, I was exhausted and it was time to shower and sleep. Although we left at 11:00AM on Thursday, we arrived 2:00PM on Friday. Saturday was my birthday and we had big plans to go see Sumo and wander around in Ryogoku. Our day of traveling came to an end, and that is where I leave you until the next post. Here are some more pictures from our day of arrival.

On the train to the hotel

From the hotel room