Week 50–51 · December 30, 2014 · Tokyo, Japan
Unexpected
Good week home for the holidays and headed back to Seoul. Did another “long layover”, this time 26 hours in Tokyo. The plan was to drive to Mt. Fuji — derailed immediately at the rental car desk.
Good week home for the holidays and headed back to Seoul. Did another “long layover”, this time 26 hours in Tokyo. The other 2 worked out great in Beijing and Panama and I actually did the most advanced planning on this one — the plan was to drive to Mr. Fuji, stay at a hotel with hot springs, drive to 2,300 meters and hike some of the way (can't go all the way to the top in the winter). Train was too many connections, too long for a one day layover, and too much “hope” on shuttles and taxis, so I booked a rental car and hotel. After landing (ahead of schedule, so an extra 30 minutes already) I went to rental car desk and, apparently, the Japanese have a strict rule requiring driver licenses. Maryland no good, Korea no good, just Japanese or International DL (which is meaningless most places). And no roaming either for some unknown reason, so didn't try to make it by train.
So — had to alter plan and headed to Shibuya — Times Square of Tokyo. Found a cheap hotel and was checked in by 9pm (7am East Coast time Saturday) and was in the hotel bar/kitchen catching up on bowl game results from Friday night and was planning to get some sushi and head to bed, but some Australian guys insisted I go with them to watch a rugby game. So — I had to go. Apparently, Australians think Americans are crazy and I disappointed them as I bailed after a bit — and we never found the rugby game after searching several places. Initially, I was surprised how western Shibuya was until I realized most of the blondes were Japanese — like 30% of the people. Very different than Seoul where conformity rules — here young people really want to be different. Korea will be similar in 10–15 years.
On Sunday, did the tourist thing — visiting an observation tower and getting a slight glimpse of Mr. Fuji, visiting a shrine, a park, and the Imperial Palace. The gardens are only open a couple of weekends a year — open for me but with brown grass and no plants it wasn't much to see.
Meiji Shrine (明治神宮) in central Tokyo is a Shinto shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, completed in 1920. It sits within a 175-acre forested area in the heart of the city — the forest itself was artificially planted and contains over 100,000 trees donated from across Japan. The 3,000 sake barrels donated by sake brewers and the French wine barrels donated by Bordeaux wine producers are displayed at the shrine as offerings, reflecting a long tradition of dedicating beverages to the gods. Tokyo Skytree, opened in 2012, stands at 634 metres and is the world's tallest tower (and second-tallest structure after the Burj Khalifa). Its height was chosen to represent the old reading of “Musashi” (the old name for the region): 6-3-4 in Japanese.
The plan was to drive to Mt. Fuji, stay at a hotel with hot springs, and hike partway up. After landing ahead of schedule — an extra 30 minutes already — went to the rental car desk. Apparently the Japanese have a strict rule requiring driver licences. Maryland no good, Korea no good, just Japanese or International DL (which is meaningless most places). No roaming either for some unknown reason. So — had to alter the plan. The advance planning on this one was the most of the three long layovers, which is how it goes.