This entry was posted on 2001-04-18
Kyoto and Tokyo
Today was my last "haul all of my shit" travel day. Thank goodness for that! Getting my mass amounts of luggage through train stations and on and off the shinkansen can prove to be rather difficult.
I am back in Tokyo. It feels great to be back here. This morning at the ryokan in Kyoto (which I never grew exactly fond of), they charged me 10 yen to call a cab for me! I understand that my accommodations were rather inexpensive and that a high grade of service can not be expected, but I thought that was a bit chinsey. The proprietor talked to the taxi dispatch company for less than thirty seconds. And it was a local call. I was happy to get out of there.
Yesterday I mentioned that it would be a long while before I return to the Kansai area. I feel that I've seen almost everything the area has to offer and being there really does bring back not-so-great memories. I guess I really am a Kanto grrl. I could spend a lifetime exploring Tokyo and only see one tenth of one percent of what this city has to offer. Plus for me, finding food in Tokyo is easier. And understanding the dialect (and being understood) takes less effort, although I can hold my own in Kansai-ben. But standard Japanese is what I was always taught, and it will always be the "ben" that I am most fond of.
I made reservations on an early morning shinkansen so that I'd have a good portion of the day ahead of me in Tokyo. When I arrived here (and after I dropped my luggage off), I immediately headed to the international bank to get some yen. My Sumitomo account is nearly empty and I do not like to be without cash anywhere in Japan. Credit cards are just making their debut here and most places still do not accept them.
After the bank, I headed to the pharmacy. I have a horrible sore throat (I have a feeling it's from making different sounds (Japanese has a few different sounds than English) that I am used to. And I have something on the bottom of my foot from all of the walking. The pharmacist was really helpful (and he didn't even speak English to me. Always a plus!), but I ended up shelling out about twenty bucks for foot cream and throat tablets (tablets...not lozenges like I am used to). Grrrr... those twenty bucks could have been spent much better elsewhere. I hate getting sick on the road.
I spent a good part of the evening walking around. I took the train to Kichijoji, a happening area outside of the Yamanote line. I wandered through Seibu in Ikebukruo. Ikebukuro is home to two of Tokyo's largest department stores, Seibu and Tobu. They are fierce competitors. Every time one expands, the other follows soon after. I personally prefer Seibu. Tobu is bigger, but Seibu feels bigger. I especially enjoy wandering around the basement floors of Seibu and looking at all of the food (most of which I wouldn't touch with a ten foot poll). Most of the big department stores in Japan have mega gourmet food stalls in their basements. Department stores are some of the only places to find a wide variety of western style foods. There are import stores, but they can not match the department stores for their variety.
I also poked around Shinjuku for a bit. I bought a new Japanese book at Kinokuniya. Hopefully I'll be able to retain my Japanese reading ability when I return home. I better be able to...I do start graduate school in Japanese in August!
Since I'm really tired, I decided to call it an early night. And besides, I have to get up early tomorrow...I'm going to TOKYO DISNEYLAND! I know, I know, Disneyland is so touristy, but I have a soft spot for Disney parks. And besides, of all of the Disneylands, Tokyo's is the only one I haven't been to yet. I am interested to hear the commentary for Pirates of the Caribbean (my favorite ride) in Japanese. And I think it will be funny to hear Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck speaking Japanese.
I'm probably not going out later. Tonight's television programs look interesting. Right now there's some quasi-scientific program on about female hormones. I think that the Japanese version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" comes on later. Whoo hoo! A night of Japanese television!
Oh, and I know that some of you are trying to e-mail me at my Diaryland account. For some reason, the e-mails aren't getting to me. Please use the Hotmail account instead. Also, please understand that I rarely answer e-mails over here. In Kyoto, it was really hard for me to access my account, and all over Japan, it is really expensive to connect to the net. I usually just upload my entry, check my mail (I do read almost everything, I just don't have much time to respond), and log off. I don't mean to be a bitch, but just dialing into my e-mail provider is like $3.00 for the first two minutes. If you want a response, I usually respond to the messages left in my guest book (hint, hint, hint. . .).
I'll be sure to write up some detailed descriptions of Disneyland tomorrow!
Mata ashita!