Tokyo Day 5: Senso-ji II & Tokyo Tower

By our fifth day, my body was in massive amounts of pain. Walking everywhere made me really appreciate having a car waiting at home to drive me everywhere. Instead of subjecting my legs to obliteration, we played it slow during the day and saved the exploring for later in the evening. Well, that's what the plan was.

I wanted to go out during the night to do some long exposures and make use of my new tripod and lens. To my dismay, the head of my tripod was loose and could only be tightened with an allen wrench. And as anyone can tell you, I always carry my trusty bag of wrenches for screws with unnecessarily complicated head designs. Wait, no I don't. So I Googled the nearest place I could purchase an allen wrench. We caught a taxi to the point shown on my map. It was listed as SnapOn, but I figured they might at least have something useful for my current ordeal. Unfortunately, it wasn't a store front, so they had no tools for me to browse through and become disappointed by. In a way, they skipped the middle man and brought me straight to disappointment. Good on them. Impressive.

With our early morning failure already checked off the list, there was really nowhere else to go but up from there. We walked about a kilometer to a konbini on the nearest corner. All I found there was a small case of screwdrivers and a pretty cool magazine with some modified vans. I figured I could at least attempt to use the screwdrivers to fix my tripod. And use the van magazine to fix the gaping hole left in my life that only a van magazine could fill. From there we tried to find something to eat. Fun fact: we hadn't realized that we were in a very industrial part of Koto. Had we had that in mind, we would probably have caught a cab to go somewhere else to eat. But since we are stupid and stubborn, we just walked around until we found a hole-in-the-wall udon shop stuffed between two warehouses. Surprisingly, it was probably the best meal I had during my time there. It was a place where you needed to order and pay through a machine, grab your receipt and choose a seat, and wait for your food. I had to snap a picture of the food on their laminated menu so that I could match it up on the machine which had no pictures and nothing in English. Like playing a matching game where you get to eat if you win or die a slow and horrible death from starvation if you lose.

After eating our fill, we walked out of the industrial environment far enough to find a taxi to take us back to the apartment. We did practically nothing with the rest of our time before heading out as the sun began to set.

Our first stop was back to Senso-ji in Asakusa. Since we noticed that the temples would be open and relatively unpopulated during the evening hours, we went back there to try some longer exposures with our tripods. It was there that I really got to try out the Tamron I purchased the day before. My verdict in four words: I preferred my Rokinon. They aren't exactly comparable since the Tamron is a 10-24mm and the Rokinon is an 8mm. But since I was purchasing the Tamron as a replacement, and it was the closest I could find, it was a bit of a disappointment. I hadn't expected the extra 2mm to make such a difference, but they really did. I am sure that I will be able to make better use of it in the future, but it fell short of what I was looking for on this trip. All of that aside, I did catch a handful of interesting scenes.

From there, I wanted to check out Tokyo Station. Just to say I did. I had ideas of shots I wanted to get, but being overwhelmed by the scale of the place was a bit discouraging. I did learn where Tokyo Station First Avenue was located, which is a large shopping area in or below the station. Everything was closed by the time we arrived, but at least I knew where it was so that we could come back. For my first time around, it was more about getting the layout of the area down than getting great photos. Even though I tried to get photos as well. I'll let you be the judge, as I was drowning under a wave of negativity.

I had planned to go to Zojo-ji - another temple in Tokyo - after we left Tokyo Station. In my research I found that Zojo, like Senso, would close around 6 PM but the temple grounds are always open. Unlike Senso, that turned out to be false. My minutes of detailed and painstaking research had failed me. We finally arrived at the grounds, but found that they were blocked off and being patrolled by guards. Our plans were foiled. It was beginning to seem as though our plans for the entire day were like a villainous plot and Hector and I were being caught by Scooby and the gang at every turn. Stupid dog. How did he even get to Tokyo? Do they allow great danes on planes? That sounds like a national security risk. I'm going to write a letter.

On the upside, standing far behind the temple complex we could see the lights of Tokyo Tower. Since it wasn't far away and we had nothing better to do, we tip toed our way down a few blocks.

You might be thinking to yourself "Wow dude that light streaking in the first image is really cool and artistic." Well let me tell you about my photographic process. What I like to do is stand myself in the middle of a somewhat busy street. Then, I set up my camera to take a 30 second exposure when it is likely that a car will be coming in less than 20 seconds. Then, I like to wait until a car is baring down on me and pick up the tripod and camera and move out of the way as the timer ticks to 25. The result? Pure magic, obviously. As for the tower itself, there wasn't really much to it. The tower was an awesome sight, but at the time there wasn't much of anything else for us to do. We weren't all that bummed by the lack of attractions because standing at the base of the tower and peering up into the sky was rewarding enough for all of the trouble we had gone through that day. Feeling slightly accomplished, we used our sensual good looks to flag down a taxi to take us home for the night.

Tokyo Day 4: Odaiba & Shibuya

Have you ever gone to the opposite side of the globe with a "just wing it" attitude? Every day we seemed to fall deeper into that mentality. I woke up that morning - and every morning that followed - thinking I would just walk outside and adventure would come to me. But that's not how adventure works.

Hector suggested that we go to Autobacs. I had never heard of the place, but he described it as the AutoZone of Japan. There was an Autobacs super store about 15 minutes from our apartment so we headed out. Up to this point, I had noticed a large number of modified cars on the streets of Tokyo. From R32 Skylines to Priuses, the Japanese appeared to have an everlasting desire to personalize their vehicles. Once we stepped into Autobacs, I understood entirely.

Let me just say that there is really no comparison between AutoZone and Autobacs. They are both car part stores, but the similarities stop there. Don't get me wrong. AutoZone is a fine establishment where the average person can find cheap and dependable replacement parts, as well as a small assortment of accessories. But consider this: while you can purchase wheel cleaner and tire shine from AutoZone, you can also buy them from Autobacs with a side of actual wheels and tires from brands like Enkei, BBS, Toyo, etc. From AZ, you can buy yourself some replacement exhaust piping and perhaps a shiny new muffler tip. From Autobacs, you can walk out with an entire HKS exhaust system custom built for your car. Would you rather a new steering wheel cover? Forget that. Grab yourself a Nardi wheel and be done with that other old thing. Oh and the kicker? This Autobacs super store has three levels. Unfortunately, only two of the floors are devoted to car parts for purchase. Why? Because the lower level is a shop where they will install the parts you just bought for your car. Are you jealous now? You should be.

After that automotive overload, we were baffled as to what we could possibly do from there. I suggested that we take a short ride over to Odaiba to check out some architecture and snap some photos. The day was overcast, but humidity was through the roof, so we tried to keep things close so as not to overexert ourselves. We were only there for a short while, but I made it a point that we go to see the giant gundam. Though I guess technically it isn't really a "giant" gundam as it is supposed to be a life-sized gundam. Either way, it was cool. There really isn't much more to say about it.

Right after I snapped some shots of the something-sized gundam, I received a text from my friend Kirby. He had recently landed in Tokyo to start a trip of his own around Japan with his sister. Since we didn't have any pressing matters to tend to, Hector and I caught the nearest train to Shibuya, got lost, caught another train, got more lost, and eventually made it to Shibuya station where we met up with Kirby. This was the busiest place we had been up to this point. Thinking of it now, it was probably the busiest place we visited throughout the whole trip. Even though we had been in Tokyo since Tuesday, Kirby had seen far more of Shibuya than we had so we followed him around and stole his shots like the leeches we are.

You're probably wondering about Shibuya Crossing. It was as packed and intense as could be expected. We came to the crossing and stood among the crowd as we gazed across the streets in every direction. Every other corner was just as crowded as ours, with dozens or hundreds of people just waiting for the cross walk light to turn green. When it did, all bets were off. Three hundred sixty possible degrees to choose from and every one of them was populated by someone on their way to work, home, the store, a date, or anything you could imagine. And we were just three silly Americans who were happy to be there.

We dropped into a small cafe or bar called Harumari to relax, get some food, and discuss the immediate past and futures of our respective plans for Japan. Conversation was good. Food was okay. Service was lacking. In a busy restaurant, you can imagine service to be a bit slower as the staff tries to accommodate everyone the best they can. The catch here was that service was much slower even though the establishment seemed to be rather empty. Either way, we enjoyed the rest from walking and got a bit of refreshment before doing a bit more walking.

As explorers, we didn't look at any maps and just followed whatever looked interesting. And there is no shortage of interesting in Shibuya. The people. The food. The lights. The shops. It had it all and we were only a tad overwhelmed. We stopped into a pachinko parlor where our ears were assaulted by the sound of thousands of metal balls clanging against metal and plastic. We ventured through an arcade where friends pounded drums together and couples laughed at each other as they failed to win prizes from claw machines. We strolled the streets and watched the wildly modified cars speed by as their loud exhaust notes bounced off the surrounding buildings. Pictures and words do not do it justice. That doesn't just apply to Shibuya, but to Tokyo as a whole.

Stay tuned for Day 5.

Tokyo Day 3: Akihabara

Tokyo Day 3: Akihabara

It was a dark and stormy morning. As the sun struggled to peer through the clouds like a child trying to see through wrapping paper on Christmas morning, droplets fell from the sky and landed with a soft metallic clang against the railing. The kind of sound that could only be made when rain hits high-quality, thick aluminum. 

In short: it was raining; it was humid; I wasn't looking forward to leaving the apartment. But Hector and I ventured out anyway. I won't bore you with the details of how we got to Akihabara, but you should just imagine that we got lost at least once for every place we visited. Every time I thought we figured out the system, we were thrown a curveball. Either by Google Maps for not giving us the correct platform, or human error in not being able to tell which way we were facing. 

We arrived in Akihabara without any real direction or objective. I knew I wanted to go check out some Gachapon machines. Hector knew he wanted to go to a maid cafe. I knew I wanted to avoid going to a maid cafe at all costs. So it was good that we were all on the same page. Compared to the places we had visited up to that point, Akihabara was the busiest. Lots of hustle and bustle as people went about their electronic and anime shopping.

I used to have a thing for anime. Used to. I can see why people love it so much, but I lost interest. From time to time I will go through the anime category on Netflix or Hulu and read some descriptions, but I never really go past that point. I do like to watch Dragon Ball, though. So why were we there? I don't know. Mind your own business. We dropped into a small shop in the UDX building to check out some things. As you could imagine, I didn't recognize 95% of the things I saw. That became a recurring theme throughout the day.

We got a bit hungry at this point and rather than grab some fancy McDonald's, we went up to the third floor of the UDX building to a place called Okonomi Yukari. The restaurant specialized in okonomiyaki, which is  kind of like a grilled egg pancake with fixins. I should be paid to write a dictionary. 

The style of the restaurant was grill-it-yourself, but we were lucky enough to have our server take care of the cooking and flipping for us. Had I been given the opportunity to cook, you would probably have already heard on the news about a skyscraper in Tokyo burning down because a stupid American didn't flip his pancake at the right time. Hector's order was plain with some cheese. Adventurous, right? Mine, on the other hand, has shrimp, pork loin, octopus, and a few other things. Fat American and all. 

The service was great. The price was good. The food was okay. Simple dimple. Personally, the texture was not to my liking. You could compare it to that of egg foo yung. The assortment of included meats made it difficult to eat with chopsticks as it was prone to falling apart. Perhaps "okay" is being too harsh. Good is accurate. It wasn't bland or forgettable. 

From there, we dropped down to the ground floor and went back outside to cruise the streets. It didn't take long for me to spot some gachapon machines. If you don't know, they are almost identical to those little candy and trinket machines at grocery stores and convenient stores. You know the ones. Where you would beg your mom for a quarter, put it in the slot, turn the dial, and get some cheap plastic toy that you would either break or accidentally swallow on the way home? Yeah those. The difference is that these are quite detailed, well crafted, and often very strange. Possible items you can receive range from cats dressed like pieces of sushi to women having their body parts flattened. Need I say more? Unfortunately, I did not grab any pictures of these machines or my prizes. Those are for me. All for me.

We left from that little shop and continued down the street. We walked by a fingurine store and Hector decided to pop in and look for something for his brother. As we walked in, I noticed something odd in the front window. 

So those are a thing. The rest of the shop contained figures from all sorts of anime in a variety of sizes. Once again, I had almost no idea what I was seeing, but it was fun to look at. And that's really a big part of the reason I went in the first place. As we left, I caught sight of another strange figurine, snapped a photo, and went back about my business.

A bit further down the road was a shop with all sorts of manga. I have a cousin who is (or at least was) very much into these graphic novels. Like anime, the genres and stories are vast and varried. You're likely to find something you love, but deciding "I think I'll start reading manga" is like saying "I think I'll start watching TV". There is just a lot out there. That was made extremely clear just by the existence of this store, which went up at least three floors. Each floor had manga from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, and everything in between. I thought it was so amazing that I turned to Hector and said "Okay let's leave now." I don't read manga.

We stopped into a few other small places including another figuring store and a second-hand camera store. We made stops at various camera places throughout the day to keep an eye out for a suitable replacement for my broken Rokinon. It was actually in this search for a lens that we came across a multi-floor hobby shop. Before you waste your time reading ahead to find out if I found a lens at this place, let me tell you I didn't. Isn't that courteous of me? You could have gone through this whole paragraph waiting for me to wow you with the story of how I found the gold mine of lenses in a small shop tucked away in the middle of Akihabra. But I didn't. I found a lens at Bic Camera later that day and that whole story is boring. We did discover two things. One cool. One not so cool.

The cool thing: model cars. Sure, there are model cars everywhere. You want to find and build a model of an old Cadillac DeVille? You can probably knock all of that out in a day. But what if you like the look of an every day boring car, laying frame on pavement and sporting some flashy and expensive wheels? Where are those model cars? I found them.

Your personal preference in car modding may be different. But to me, these were cool. And for the equivilant of $17 to $21 USD, not terribly expensive. If I had the undying urge to pay an extra $200 to check an additional bag on my flight back to the States, I'd probably have purchased one or two.

The not so cool: well, you'll find out. After we found the cars, we kept on our search for the cameras. Up one floor we found more models - trains, gundams, etc. Up another floor and there were airsoft rifles and everything that goes along with that hobby. No cameras. So we went up another floor. As the elevator door opened, I saw a clothing rack with camo jackets. I figure there will be no camera bits here either, but there's no harm in checking it out anyway. A few more steps in and I begin to hear thrash metal over the speakers. Not something you hear often anywhere, let alone in Japan. Skip and jump a few more steps and we find more camo. And by more camo, I mean all of the camo. If camouflage clothing was something that needed to be harvested, in a field, under the proper conditions, during the right time of year, then I found the field where they grow it. The store was labeled as something of a one stop shop for military apparel. Which military? All of them. If you're asking yourself where you can go to get a Confederate flag and a Nazi armband in the same transaction, well have I got the place for you. The presence of Nazi and seemingly white supremicist paraphernalia was pretty far at the bottom of the list of things I expected (or wanted) to see on this trip.

I feared that staying there any longer would place me under some kind of government surveillance or on a no-fly list. We promptly left. Just as we did, the sun was taking a dive into the horizon and the various stores were closing down. That's when we finally found the floor with the camera equipment. It was already closed. Discouraged, we went back to the station, rode our way to a Bic Camera where I bought a 10-24mm Tamron and Hector bought a 70-200mm Tamron, rode our way to Tatsumi station, and walked our tired bodies across the river back to our apartment to rest up for the next day.

Tokyo Day 2: SkyTree & Asakusa

I started the morning by taking selfies on the balcony. Why? Because I do what I want. Who are you? Leave me alone. Day 2's agenda involved a trip to Tokyo Skytree in Taito and the Senso-ji temple in Asakusa. We actually spent a good portion of the day just getting to Taito as we learned to navigate Tokyo's sophisticated transportation systems. First up, let's take a bus!

After a good ten minutes of pretending to know how to read the signs at the bus stop in Shinenome, we boarded a nice bus bound for Odaiba. From there, Hector and I were to go down to the pier and catch us a boat that would take us from Odaiba, to Toyosu, and finally to Asakusa. But Hector needed to get his breakfast fix, so we took a short detour to the world-recognized Japanese staple, McDonald's. They had your typical Japanese cuisine: sausage and egg biscuits, pancakes, etc. But can you get a double-sausage and cheese egg McMuffin with bacon in the States? Bet you can't. Try it. The point of the whole story is that I broke one of my lenses. While removing my dual-camera sling that totally didn't make me look like a tourist, the velcro came loose and sent one of my Nikons and my 8mm Rokinon gracefully base jumping to the McDonald's floor without a parachute. The Nikon survived. The Rokinon did not. Woe is me, right?

After crying on the inside, we gathered our junk and headed out to the dock to catch our boat. Since I chose not to eat, I made a pit stop at one of the many vending machines that line the streets of Tokyo and purchased myself a beverage. What beverage did I purchase, you ask? Only the most radical burst of flavor and texture that has ever graced this peasant's mouth. I'm talking, of course, about Minute Maid Aloe and White Grape. You can purchase a 24-pack of this drink on Amazon for about $32.00 and an insignificant shipping charge of $151.00. Do it.

Onto the boat. Thanks to Hector's insatiable McDonald's lust, we missed the first boat by only a few minutes and needed to wait at least an hour until the next arrived. In the meantime, we took some pictures of "Himiko" - one of the famously bulbous-looking floaty boats. It was definitely a sight to behold. Unfortunately, we did not get to ride it. That didn't detract from the nice experience we had riding the less-interesting-looking shuttles to Toyosu and Asakusa.

Once we arrived in Asakusa, we needed to cross to the other side of the river to reach Tokyo Skytree. This short trip was rife with irritation stemming from my dropped Rokinon. It was during this walk that I discovered that the internal components must have misaligned, resulting in less than perfect image quality. Not long after that shocking revelation, as the camera hung freely from my shoulder, the chipped lens hood caught my wrist and left me with a small cut. If you know me, you know that I can't handle my own blood. If that stuff is on the outside, I will destroy a small village for the resources to put it back inside. So you can imagine how fun that was. 

But we eventually reached the Skytree. The wait in line for the elevators to the first deck was about 45 minutes to an hour. Luckily for us - being foreigners with cash money - there was a counter to the side that offered a jump to the front of the line for about 2,000 yen (about $16.13 USD). We took advantage of that. Perhaps our expectations were too high. Or it could be that we were discouraged by the intense number of people. It wasn't the great experience we expected it to be. The view was definitely spectacular, but the crowd and the noise were enormous distractions. Would I go again? Probably not. Do I suggest you go? Why do you always have to copy me and everything I do? Gosh be original for once in your life. Just kidding. You should go. The awesome view slightly outweighs the negatives. 

We descended back down the elevator to mingle among the poor on the dirty ground (the ground is actually very clean so don't send me hate mail). At this point, we were a bit hungry, so we caught a bite to eat at a restaurant inside the mall at the base of the Skytree. The food was good and Hector got a chance to chat it up with a pair of tourists from Mexico and Chile. As if I needed another language barrier. When we finished eating, we explored the rest of the mall and found some very neat little shops and souvenier stores. We both grabbed a thing or two and dipped out.

From there, we concluded that we had not confused ourselves nearly enough for the day and decided to take the train back across Sumida river to Asakusa to check out Senso-ji temple.

QUICK TIP: If you plan to visit Tokyo for more than a couple days, get yourself a Suica card. It's a reloadable card which you can use to quickly and easily board busses and trains around the city. They can also be used on some vending machines. You can reload them in just about every train or subway station, and it gives you one less thing to worry about during your trip.

We used the train and got back across to Asakusa. We arrived at Senso-ji as the sun was setting, so it didn't seem to be incredibly busy. The architecture is beautiful and makes any hardships we went through during the day worthwhile. Just south of the temple is Nakamise Street where small shops and venders sell all types of snacks and trinkets. Seeing as how the sun had set by the time we got there, many of the shops were either closed or in the process of closing. Nevertheless, it was great to see. Ten out of ten. Would see again. 

Finally, to round out our transportation adventure and save our feet from detaching themselves from our bodies and running way on their own, we took a taxi to get home. This process was also quick and painless. Kind of like the ending to this blog post. Who saw that coming? Did you? I did. Because I wrote it. Stay tuned for more!

Tokyo Day 1: Beijing & Landing in Tokyo

If you weren't aware - outside of my circle of friends - I decided to take a trip to Tokyo. Just for the adventure. Since this was my first trip outside of the United States, the preceeding weeks were filled with purchasing equipment and doing research. Though, in the back of my mind, I knew that planning would probably go out the window. Because, for whatever reason, I enjoy making plans for myself and completely ignoring them when the time comes. Don't take that to mean that I won't honor any plans I make with you. You wanna hang out? I got this thing, though... We'll talk later. Anyway, my friend and fellow car enthusiast/photographer Hector was willing to join me so I wouldn't have to travel alone.  

We had a flight from Houston to Beijing, then Beijing to Tokyo, with a 3 or 4 hour layover. As you can probably imagine, the 14 hour leg toward Beijing was not the most comfortable. But we got through it and got to see a bit of the interior of the Beijing International Airport. There wasn't a whole lot to see and we didn't have much time to explore, so I only took a handful of shots. You may or may not be surprised to know that I know a small amount of Mandarin (much more than I know Japanese). It helped me a little in purchasing what I thought was water, but turned out to be a sports drink from the good people at Coca-Cola. It also helped me in being ignored by some staff when Hector and I couldn't identify the correct WiFi network for the airport. So we just sat there and waited for our next flight. As I sipped my water-colored sports beverage.

We boarded the flight to our final destination, but due to increased air traffic we sat on the runway for over an hour. Words cannot describe how unfathomably exciting that was. We finally took off and landed in Tokyo three hours later. I left my cameras in my bag in the overhead compartment, where they made perfect bag weights. Because of that decision, I was only able to catch my first glimpses of Tokyo with my phone.

Back on the beautiful ground, Hector and I headed to claim our baggage filled with expensive equipment and clothing. Then Hector couldn't find his blue bag of expensive equipment and clothing. We spoke with a very helpful woman who took all of our information in order to assist us in finding Hector's blue bag of expensive camera equipment and clothing. Many moments later, we saw a bag that looked strikingly similar to Hector's blue bag of expensive clothing equipment and camera. But it was black. Now, at this point, I thought there was no way that my friend here would mistake the color of the bag containing his clothing camera equipment expensive. Turns out, Hector's bag was black, not blue. And he will never live that down. Ever.

I, Hector, and his not-blue bag were then faced with our first encounter with Japanese public transportation. As two men who live in Houston and have a vast number of places to be and things to do, we almost always opt to use our own personal vehicles to get where we need to go. This was a new experience for both of us, but much less painful than we expected. We took the airport shuttle from Haneda to Toyosu Station in Koto, where we walked about 2km to the apartment we would be enjoying for our stay. 

Before I show you the view, there are a few things that we learned on our walk from the station to our apartment. First, Tokyo is very clean. Anyone who has been there can probably tell you that. That said, there are almost no trash cans. I began to think that the Japanese had discovered the lost art of trash magic. That stuff just disappears. Second, if you ever decide to go to Tokyo, be prepared to walk. A lot. Third, we came across a well-dressed gentleman on the street. There was nothing particular striking about this man, but our split second encounter will make him remembered in my mind for at least the rest of my life. Now, I will preface this by saying this was an isolated incident and I have not come across it again through the duration of my trip. You may be familiar with the term crop-dusting. If you are not, it is a polite reference to the act of passing gas as you walk, in the hopes of minimizing noise of suspicion. This man's crop dusting skills were either entirely lacking or masterfully refined through years of training. I have never, in my 27 years of life, heard someone fart so loud so many times in rapid succession without showing any kind of emotion. It was undoubtedly impressive.

What was I talking about?

Oh, right. Here is the view.

To the right, we could see the many apartment buildings of Koto. Straight ahead, the view stretched to Tokyo Skytree in Taito and beyond. And to the left, we could see more small skyscrapers and apartment buildings standing as testament to the dense population of this fantastic city. The travel to get there was less than ideal, but necessary in order to have the uncertain experience that would lay before us. And you'll learn all about that later.