Impressions of Tokyo 01

Arrived on Wednesday evening.

Lesson #1 : Try to plan to arrive during the day - evening traffic is terrible, on top of the distance.  By the time check-in is done - nothing else to do except to go to sleep, unless you're the pub crawling type.

Lesson #2 : Next time, fly into Haneda instead of Narita - it's closer to town.

Lesson #3 : Even 5 star hotels are located in places that are dead at night.  But hotels smack in train stations of Ginza and Shinjuku cost a bomb.

Lesson #4 : If a twin/double room in the same hotel cost differently - they're probably in different wings - the cheaper is the older and smaller.

Lesson #5 : Free internet may means using LAN cable, not Wifi - thankfully they provide it.

Lesson #6 : Many people still smoke in most eateries.

Day 2 was spent visiting Tsukiji fish market, Ginza and Akihabara

Lesson #7 : Be early when visiting the fish market.  Avoid wearing new clothes and shoes.

Lesson #8 : Queues form early at the eateries around the fish market - others have fair quality too.

Lesson #9 : If you can't read the language and price seems low, it may be for take-outs.

Lesson #10 : Knowing Chinese scripts help a lot if you can't read Japanese.

Lesson #11 : Mitsukoshi @ Ginza got nothing for kids, normal kids that is.  Fine if you're loaded, something in their limited selection might catch your fancy.

Lesson #12 : Starbucks is a life-saver - at least you know what to expect.

Lesson #13 : Uniqluo is cheaper in Japan than Singapore.

Lesson #14 : Electric City in Akihabara is surprisingly small.  Even the neighbouring blocks got bigger mart.

Lesson #15 : A geek can use the smallest excuse, such as the rest of the party buying the next day's breakfast from a confectionary, to disappear into the electronic mart for thrice the time it takes to buy the breakfast.

Lesson #16 : Starbucks and MacDonald's are necessities when travelling with young ones - when they need to nap, they nap.

Lesson #17 : Day-tour companies insist on credit card reservation for larger parties - and their offices open after most tourists left the hotels early to take advantage of the daylight.  Hotel staff who assist to make bookings do not know the quorum before credit card is required.

Day 3 was a rainy day.

Lesson #18 : There is not much else to do on a rainy Tokyo day if some in the party do not want to visit museums.

Lesson #19 : Simply laundry can take the whole morning - especially when drying jeans are involved.

Lesson #20 : Do not use a guidebook printed more than a couple of years or so - things change fast here.

Lesson #21 : MacDonald's in Japan serve pork - can't wait to see their Burger King.

Lesson #22 : Tempting as it might be to get that Net Walker, I don't really want a keyboard printed with Japanese characters.

Lesson #23 : Shibuya is an interesting place to visit, especially the small lanes, if the party doesn't include children.

Lesson #24 : Singaporeans are everywhere and recognizable almost immediately, at least to to other Singaporeans.

Lesson #25 : Not all Tokyo people may know if there is no need to go out into the rain to get from a Metro station to the JR station.

Lesson #26 : Taking west exit and south exit of a station, despite following signs to the same place, can mean going a very different way.  If you hope to get to somewhere you did just before the listed destination, don't count on using different routes to the same listed final destination.

Lesson #27 : Tokyo underground is a maze of parallel tunnels which are intersected without the signs indicating they are intersected.

Lesson #28 : Ground level beneath the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office is an unofficial sleeping area for the homeless.

Day 4 was spent on Mt. Fuji and Hakone tour

Lesson #29 : English speaking guide are not always fluent in English - but they can deserve 'A' for effort.

Lesson #30 : Sunshades would have been useful - including when taking photos.

Lesson #31 : The cablecar may be part of sight-seeing, but it may not show much when they pack the gondola like they're packing the subway trains.

Lesson #32 : Entire row of seats on Shinkansen can be turned around so that you can sit face to face with your party - that's cool.

Lesson #33 : The Japanese tour guide had no reservation pointing out the building that once serving as residence to Prince Euimin, narrating its history, including Japanese annexation of Korea and the poisoning of the young prince Yi Jin, citing both Korean and Japanese version.