Japan Day 3 – Tokyo: Skytree

Skytree

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and headed out on a sunny yet cool 20-minute walk to the Skytree observation tower. We made 10:30am reservations a couple weeks prior with the hope that the day would be clear and, thankfully, it turned out to be the case.

Skytree has been the tallest tower in Japan since opening in 2012 and reached its full height of 634 meters (2,080 feet) in early 2011, making it the tallest tower in the world, displacing the Canton Tower (Guangzhou). It’s also the third tallest overall structure in the world behind Merdeka 118 (Kuala Lumpur) 678.9 meters (2,227 feet) and Burj Khalifa (Dubai) 829.8 m (2,722 ft).

We arrived early and had a coffee/tea at one of the shops located at the base of the tower. The Japanese are highly organized and, even with large crowds, the whole experience was seamless getting to the elevator and making our way to the observation deck.

Mt. Fuji visible in the background

Needless to say, the views were stunning. The sky remained clear offering views of the entire city. Mt. Fuji was indeed visible, though obscured somewhat by clouds. We were in the tower for nearly an hour before heading back down. 

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Conveyor belt sushi

Though the base of the tower consists of a rather large mall full of restaurants, we were looking to give the girls a conveyor belt sushi experience. We found one online that was about a 20-minute walk away.

I think I’ve only had conveyor belt sushi maybe once or twice in my life and the technology has really improved. This place had screens for each person. You could order one or two things at a time. After each order, your dish (or drink) would be routed to you specifically. There are no waiters or any conversations with restaurant staff. When you’re finished, you self-checkout and go on your way. The four of us had our fill of amazing sushi, drinks and dessert for about $12 a piece. Not bad.

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Toilets

A word about toilets. The world is well aware of the fancy Japanese commodes though, unless you've been to the country (or others that now employ them), you probably haven't used one. I had heard about their many functions, though I was less than interested in using all the bells and whistles. In addition to the constantly heated seat and bidet functions, you can choose background sound/music to camouflage your bathroom noises.  

One thing that did surprise me was how ubiquitous they are. In the entire trip, we never saw a single non-electric toilet. Even in the back of a couple of hole-in-the-wall dingy restaurants, sure enough, there was a toilet with a console, albeit dirtier than others. I'm assuming that if you are in more rural areas (particularly if there is no electricity in the loo), you probably have the non-electric versions.

The other thing that was interesting was the kind that have a tap on the top which serves as the water tank intake (such as the one above). Apparently it's to provide you with the possibility of rinsing your hands, efficiently using the water that fills the tank. Seems to make good sense.

Lots of options to choose from

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 Champi watch

In the afternoon, we returned to the hotel for a small break before heading out in the early evening. Temperatures had been dropping a little each day and it was borderline as to whether you needed an extra layer in the evening. We were getting reports of Typhoon Champi angling towards southern Japan. We were supposedly going to get some rain in the coming days (apparently unrelated to the typhoon), but now we’re watching to see what Champi does. It was already bearing down on the southern tip of the country.

We ended up having dinner on the roof of our hotel overlooking the shrines, the Skytree and Tokyo by night. The next day, we would be leaving Tokyo and taking the train southwest towards Nagoya. We would pass by Mt. Fuji though, apparently this time of year, it's often draped in clouds. With a storm on the way, our chances of catching a glimpse of the iconic mountain weren't good. 

Japan Day 2 – Tokyo: Imperial Palace

The next morning, we headed out after breakfast to go to the Imperial Palace. We took the long way to the subway station to follow a well-manicured path along the Sumida River. Gorgeous day. Beautiful views of the Skytree tower that we would visit the following day. The city is so clean. There are no bins/garbage cans anywhere. People carry their rubbish until they can dispose of it properly. As a tourist, it's frustrating at times but it works.

The subway is also clean and efficient as one would expect. Within twenty minutes we were downtown. We walked through the city center to get to the gate of the palace grounds.

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Imperial Palace

The 1.15 square kilometer (0.44 sq mi) grounds and gardens are built on the site of the old Edo Castle (Edo being the former name of Tokyo). Some moats, walls and ramparts of the castle survive to this day, but it’s only a small part of the ancient grounds of the palace.

The earliest known structures on the site were supposedly built around 800. There were numerous iterations of royal developments on the land over the subsequent centuries with Edo Castle being built in 1457. Imperial leadership (Shogun) reigned up until 1868 when the shogunate was abolished and the emperor took up residence on the site. Modifications continued on the site throughout this period until World War II when many of the structures were damaged. Today, the main grounds of the actual functioning palace are generally closed to the public (except for reserved guided tours which we didn’t do). Given that the current palace is more of a modern structure, constructed post-WWII, it’s of less interest, at least for me.

 

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Ramen

After the palace grounds, we returned to our neighborhood for lunch. We were looking for a ramen place off the beaten path and, after considerable search, we very much found were looking for. We stumbled on a place that was basically a small kitchen with an L-shaped counter around it consisting of a total of eight stools. It’s not the kind of place that would (could) attract a lot of tourists. A Japanese game show was playing loudly on a TV mounted on the wall. The kind, oldish owner-cook-waiter did his best to communicate with us as we placed our order. It was pretty basic. You just pick your toppings and the kind of sauce you want with your noodles. I like my ramen spicy and I was hoping that my standard of spicy was at the level of this place. It ended up being great.

Our hotel had a rooftop area with a nice view. It had chairs, small tables and even real grass. In front of us (south) was the Senso-ji temple area. To our left (east) was the Skytree Tower that we would be visiting the following day. To the southwest lay the central Tokyo business district. Beyond that, on a very clear day, we would supposedly be able to see Mt. Fuji. It’s apparently quite rare to see it from the hotel, but we were hopeful that we might see it from the Skytree the next day.

 

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Donki 

By early evening, we headed out to run some errands at a large department store called Don Quijoti (locals apparently call it “Donki”). It was probably the most insane shopping experience I’ve ever had. Four floors of discount variety store. Small talking screens everywhere. Noise. Lots of pink. Anime characters. Narrow maze-like aisles. Claustrophobic. It was sort of the way I would design hell.

Everyone needs magical deodorant

On the upside, there was very little it didn’t have and it’s very popular with both tourists and locals – if that’s your thing. 

Shark eating a kitten. Joyful days?

 After surviving Don Quijoti, we went in search of sushi. Though we were fortunate enough to avoid significant issues with jet lag, by the end of dinner we were ready to return to the hotel for an early night. 

 

Off to Japan

 After returning to Nairobi from the US, I would basically have a weekend to rest up before turning around and heading to Japan the following Monday. It wasn’t ideal but it’s the way things worked out. Our girls had a couple weeks of vacation at the French school and we wanted to take advantage of it.

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The trip to Tokyo began with an 11-hour flight to Guangzhou, China. I’d never flown China Southern Airlines, and I’d never flown through China before. In spite of having traveled to around 65 countries, I have relatively little experience traveling in Asia. Given the Japanese heritage of my wife and children, this trip was something that was important for us to do.

Our approach into Tokyo. Is it me, or does it look like the pilot was smoking something?

From Guangzhou it was a relatively short 4 hours or so to Tokyo. I didn’t sleep much throughout the whole journey but I figured I could muscle through the day, have a good night’s sleep and be good to go the next day. It more or less worked out that way.

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Japan Day 1 – Tokyo: Rise & Shrine

The city of Tokyo has over 14 million people. If you include suburbs, it’s more than double that, making it the third-most populous city in the world. Thankfully, it’s very organized.

We would have about two and a half days in to explore the city before moving on. We reserved a day or so on the back end of the trip for any last-minute shopping and sightseeing.

We arrived in Tokyo in the afternoon. By the time we sorted out all of the logistics (phone, train, etc.) and took the train to the neighborhood of our hotel, the sun had mostly set. It was actually a nice time to arrive. Tokyo is a beautiful city and our neighborhood, near the Senso-ji temple, was magical at night. Our plan was to drop off our bags at the hotel, turn around and head out for some dinner before calling it an early night.

The area around the temple contains some of the oldest structures in Tokyo. It’s also, naturally, a haven for tourists. But at night, tourist traffic thins considerably making it a rather nice place to walk around. The autumn weather was perfect and we were fortunate to have no rain.

Senso-ji

Senso-ji is supposedly the oldest temple in Tokyo though the origins are not entirely clear. Some legends date the structure to be from the 7^th century though the first documented reference to Senso-ji is in the 12^th century. Buildings in this period were generally made of wood and as such there were several documented fires over the years that required rebuilds. Earthquakes have also wreaked havoc on Tokyo architecture as have wars, most notably damage caused during World War II.

All this to say that it is difficult to know the age of the structures standing in front of you. However we got to where we are today, they are beautiful and, though the area is inundated with tourists, it is very much an active and important place of worship.

Buddhism and Shintoism

It's probably worth mentioning a bit about the beliefs that drove the architecture. I find it interesting. In Japan, Buddhist temples co-exist with Shinto shrines, and both share the basic features of Japanese traditional architecture. They share worship areas because they have a common history. When Shintoism first encountered Buddhism, it became more interpretive as it did not try to explain the universe as Buddhism sometimes tried to. The architectural elements of a Buddhist temple are meant to embody themes and teachings of Buddhism. Same for Shintoism. As a result, in Japan the beliefs, like corresponding worship structures, complemented each other. 

However, in 1868, at the end of the shogunate and the beginning of the Meiji era (return to emperor rule), the separation of the faiths was mandated by law and there was an attempt to separate the Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. But the shared history (and geography) fostered co-existence. All this to say that today’s temple and shrine areas are basically together but separate. And most worshipers to Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines go for similar reasons, such as prayer and for good fortune.

How this influences the architecture

Buddhist architecture in Japan is not native and has been imported primarily from China over centuries. This has happened with such constancy that the building styles of all six Chinese dynasties are represented. Nonetheless, indigenous variations due to climate and the tendency to build with wood create a distinctive Japanese appearance.

They generally feature a torii (Shinto gate) and/or a romon or somon (Buddhist gates) that that symbolically mark the transition from the mundane to the sacred.

Torij gate and Shinto shrine

 

Worship areas contain a variety of other structures which serve various purposes. Some contain sacred objects and are not accessible to worshipers. Some are specialized buildings for certain rites, but these are usually open only to a limited number of participants. Shinto requires water ablution for ceremonial purification and these small pavilions look a bit like fountains near entrances.

More massive Buddhist gate

As I mentioned, these are active places of worship where adherents mix with tourists. I do wonder sometimes how that would be to enter what you consider to be a sacred space, washing yourself, lighting incense, communing with the god(s) and having people next to you with fake eyelashes taking selfies. 

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For the first evening, we ran out of energy quite early. Understandable after all the travel. All four of us are huge fans of sushi and that was the plan at least for our first meal before returning to the hotel and passing out. It turned out that it would be our plan for many of our days.