… is the sentence I managed to muster the last time I was in Vienna, talking to a homeless person while “enjoying” my dried-out cheese bun on a bench in a park. I even gave him all of my remaining euros – thinking I wouldn’t the money anymore when in Japan. My German is merely on a tourist level, so I couldn’t manage to have any further conversation with him. At least he kept me company until I left for the airport.
This time too, I am returning to Vienna for the same reason – to head to Japan. With one minor difference – it’s not a solo journey this time as described in the previous post.
And so, the journey began in Vienna. After a long train ride from Slovenia to Vienna, we arrived in Vienna. The final stop was the Meidling Hbf. station. We changed train there, since it was a faster way of getting to the apartment. The apartment that I booked was a 3 star hotel and based on my previous experiences in Japan, I was expecting quite a decent experience. But unfortunately, the hotel disappointed us a little bit. The staff were really nice, but the first problem was the elevator itself. The elevator’s door opened before he elevator itself stopped. There was a 10 to 20 cm gap between the elevator floor and the floor we were currently on. Secondly, the room had no air conditioning and so of course it was really hot inside. And third, the staff came into our room unannounced while we were resting in the room. The only good thing about it was its price: 24 EUR per person per night. Which, compared to other hotels, was way cheaper. Alas, we made it through the day, going to a McDondals restaurant to enjoy a proper gourmet experience. Just kidding, but we were tired, and it was close to us, so we just went there.
The next day it was time to fly. Again, things did not go as planned. The trains were cancelled! Like, completely cancelled. So we had to take another route that took us quite a bit longer to get to the airport. Thus we arrived at the airport about one and a half hour before departure. This is still enough time, but it made me a little bit nervous about the whole thing. Luckily though, the security, check-in and everything went smoothly, so we still had more than half an hour until boarding after going through security. And after getting ourselves a bottle of water, we boarded the plane and prepared for a flight.
This time around I chose China Airlines as the flight provider. The last time I chose EVA Air (a Taiwanese flight provider). The staff was really nice, just like the last time. And what surprised me a lot, was that the food was miles better than what I remember. Perhaps I was just unlucky the last time I ate on the plane, but this time around when I ordered a burger (note, a burger, not a hamburger, look it up if you do not know what is the difference). And god damn, it tasted so good! Though admittedly, I was really hungry. The rest of the experience was pretty much on par with EVA air – which probably is the best budget airline. The only downside this time around is that we had a half an hour delay, though this did not impact our itinerary, since we had a change of flight in Taipei.
Thus we arrived in Tokyo. We picked up the JRPass, a SIM card (I already had an eSIM) and a SUICA (I am using the mobile SUICA – iPhone users can use it as well internationally, but I “hacked” my Pixel a bit to make it work). I already knew where most of the things were and how everything worked, so we were soon on the train to our apartment. I rented us a small apartment on Airbnb in Asakusa. It is stationed near the Sensou-ji temple, which is most likely the most famous temple in Tokyo, which I did not manage to visit last year while in Japan. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but it certainly was a sight to behold. The stalls were unfortunately already closed since it was evening time, but this did not stop us from fully enjoying the first Tokyo impression. A city of more than 37 million people and yet, while walking around along the Sumida river, it was all quiet and serene. And on the other side of the river a sight to behold – the Tokyo Skytree in all of its glory, illuminated by thousands of LED lights, giving the city an excellent nightly vibe. An experience to remember! However, we were both jet-lagged and tired that day, so we went back home pretty early and zoned out quickly.
And then comes today. As I am writing this post, I have just returned from a quick trip to a 7/11. 7/11 is a convenience store that sells pretty much anything essential, food, drinks, toothpaste, wet wipes, newspapers, alcohol etc. The last one might not be essential for everyday people, but the tired businessmen might appreciate a sip of Kirin or Asahi after a long day of work. I myself picked up some hygiene products, a mochi like dessert and a can of citrus flavoured Kirin drink to try. It tastes like very mild fuzzy vodka with a citrus flavour and a sweet aftertaste. It is really refreshing and one of the rare alcoholic drinks that I actually enjoy.
However, the day began with a trip to Akihabara – the center of Japanese pop-culture, anime and electronics. Given that I have already visited Akihabara last year, I will be short. However, I invite you to read about my trip to Akihabara in one of my previous posts (where I also visited a maid cafe just to see what this is all about). As one would expect, more or less all of the building here were covered in anime and game posters (mostly just gacha games to be honest). The streets were full of people and full of maids, offering pamphlets and inviting people to their many cafes. We, however, rather decided to visit the nearby Radio Kaikan store. It is a store known for two things. First would be its unfathomable amount of merchandise, model building materials and tools, anime merchandise, figurines, playing cards, etc. And second would be the fact, that this is the spot where Hououin Kyouma found the time machine from year from the far future when the countries of the world waged war against each other. For those unfamiliar with this person, this is the protagonist of a very well known time travel anime called Steins;Gate. If you are thinking about watching anime, this might be a good start. The store was also showing off the Steins;Gate merchandise that will be released next month. And so just like mad scientist set his eyes on building the time machine, we set our eyes on respective merchandise: Ghibli and One Piece was the center of attention, with Hololive right behind as I was eyeing the merchandise that I want to buy on my last day in Japan. The temptation to buy everything was great, but we decided we would rather do the shopping on the last day to carry as little luggage as possible on our journey across Japan.
We spent about half the day just exploring the shops, but later, in the evening, we headed towards Shinjuku. Shinjuku is probably one of the busiest parts of Tokyo. It is the central hub for a lot of trains, as well as the center of nightlife. It however is also the place with the giant 3D cat hologram. The cat sits atop of the building, meowing at the passing tourists and inviting them to further explore the surrounding places. And explore we did. First we headed towards Kabukicho, which is almost a replica of Kamurocho – a fictional place from the Yakuza video-game series. This place indeed comes with everything one would expect has to do with yakuza (the Japanese mafia, which has been almost eradicated in the recent years) – snack bars (aka hostess bards), prostitution, izakayas, bars, and a couple of suspicious people that try to lure you into their bars. This whole area is one big grey zone and it is best to avoid going to any place here to avoid potential danger. But just to clear anyone’s fear of me getting robbed – the place is still monitored by police, so as long as you ignore touts on the road, you are safe to pass and observe the yakuza feel of this part of the city. Below is a comparison of the city at day and at night.
We followed up this activity with a cat cafe. Just like the last time, the experience was great, but the cats only ever wanted to be pet when I fed them haha. On the other hand, unlimited drinks were included in the price of staying at the cat cafe. I did not let this opportunity slide and I ordered myself some matcha latte.
We continued with another stroll through the streets of Shinjuku until we arrived at a nice looking sashimi place (sashimi is essentially raw sliced fish served with condiments like soy sauce, ginger and wasabi). I felt very daring and decided I would try something new. My eyes landed on the word “whale”. Whale sashimi. Like, an actual whale. At first I thought I might not want to try this, but then decided I would order this dish anyways. The feeling of uneasiness while ordering the food proved to be correct at the end. We also ordered some fish sashimi which proved to be pretty good. The whale on the other hand… One third of its meat was really chewy, a third just fat and the rest two pieces were the whale’s heart and red meat. I started with the chewy parts – this proved to be a problem since I could barely chew the meat. The fatty parts were basically just fish flavoured fat. I do not particularly like any of them. The taste honestly wasn’t that bad, but the texture really wasn’t to my liking at all. And the whale’s heart and red meat… Don’t get me started on that… Blood was still dripping out of the meat! But still, I gave it a try and the taste was decent after all. It was interesting to try, but I am probably never going to order this again.
With our not so happy stomachs, we headed towards the final destination: Golden Gai. It is a place full of small bars and people living abroad in Japan. We also met one such person but he seemed to be more interested in talking to the waitress than having a conversation with me. Thus we just ordered a single drink and headed back home. Not much chatter, but at least I enjoyed the lemon flavoured cocktail while talking about our way home.
And so the day ends with me writing this post and concluding that I have had a lot of fun so far. It would be even better would it not be for both of us being a little bit sick, but we are not letting this stop us from enjoying this surely unforgettable trip to Japan. See you tomorrow in Harajuku and Shibuya!
