The famous Shinjuku 3D cat looks like he might tumble out of his electronic billboard at any moment and use one of those nine lives. But he never does.
The act of packing, especially for a trip longer than a day or two, is a study in reducing your material possessions down to their most essential. Most essential means the things you need to keep living and navigate unfamiliar environments with as little stress as possible. If you are a 60+ year-old man living in the 21st Century, this means, your luggage will be filled with more medications and technology than clothes. There is no room for the sentimental or the ornamental. Every included item must be evaluated strictly for utility and ideally each serves more than one purpose.
My goal was to fit all my belongings into my Osprey Stratos pack with a volume of 34 liters and a small carry on sized sling bag and, when I learned of the max weight limit combined for all carry-on items of 10 Kilograms, to get under that mark. This Stratos is the pack that I use when I go on a day hike. It has a main compartment. Another small one at the bottom that might fit a pair of shoes or a small sleeping bag and it has two pockets at the top that can hold a few granola bars. I wanted to bring this pack because it is so comfortable. I have worn it for ten hour days in the Adirondacks. But it is small for a long trip.
The Osprey Stratos 34. Enough space for a day hike in the woods or multi-week journeys in foreign lands. Fits in overhead compartments. Great hip belt!
After figuring out “the pouches” tech, admin (passport, notebook, etc.), and toiletries, there was a small space left for clothes. I wore my main shoes (Keen hiking shoes) and had enough room for a second pair in the bottom compartment. I had to choose between Crocs to wear around the hotel room or running shoes and I (optimistically) chose the latter. For clothes, I replaced all my cotton t-shirts with light nylon ones. I brought four of these and two thin nylon long sleeve hiking shirts. Also two pairs of hiking pants, two pairs of gym shorts and a reasonable amount of socks and underwear. Also a pair of knit gloves and a ski hat. The articles that had to fit in the bag were less since I would wear some of it. All the remaining clothes fit in a medium packing cube which fit nicely in the space that was left in the bag. I would also wear a fleece sweater and over it a rain jacket. Japan can be cold in the fall; snow is not out of the question. Since I didn’t want to bring a big jacket or coat, the ability to layer would be key. Most hotels in Japan have laundry rooms and we figured we’d need to do laundry about once a week.
On the morning of departure, all my belongings weighed in at exactly 10Kg (22 pounds) but that included my wallet and tech pouch, which when removed and placed in the pockets of my fleece, got me down to about 9.5 kg. Well under the limit for carry-on.
In the end, I checked my backpack. My wife needed to check hers so we’d have to wait for luggage anyway, plus it made the three hours we had to wander around the airport more enjoyable.
One of the uncharacteristic splurges of my old age has been to get a credit card that carries an annual fee, which offers a perk of free access to airport lounges. There were multiple choices in our airport, but the closest lounge to our gate was the Turkish Airlines lounge, which offered up a delightful breakfast of olives, boiled eggs, breads, cheeses, and an endless supply of any kind of coffee you’d like. Hidden away in a corner was a bar that offered free cocktails, but at 9:00 am, we passed on that. We hung out in the lounge for about two hours and then spent the remaining time walking around the airport until it was time to board.
A flight from DC to Tokyo is long. There is no way around that. Having said that, the Economy seats were comfortable enough. The veggie meal I requested was inoffensive but the flight being mostly daytime, I slept very little. I did drift off the last hour or so before landing and awoke groggy and in desperate need of caffeine, which the flight attendants provided from a large pitcher. It wasn’t bad coffee, truth be told.
As soon as we landed and turned off airplane mode on our phones, the eSIMs that we had purchased from Holafly came to life and connected to the cell network. Instant unlimited internet access! No phone service however. Japan bans foreign visitors from getting a working phone number. I suspect that they don’t want Americans having loud conversations on the subway and other public places. Japan, even in a huge city like Tokyo, is a very quiet place. Conversations on the metro happen in a whisper if they happen at all.
Thanks to our advance prep, we were through the airport in no time. I had completed an online arrival form and had received a QR code. You scan the code once at passport control and a second time at customs and, Konichiwa! Welcome to Japan!
The line for ATM was long but we had the equivalent of about $15 in yen our neighbors Kitty and Mark had left over from a previous trip and kindly gave us. We figured that and our pre-loaded Suica transit cards would get us to the hotel.
The light rail station is right inside the terminal and again our advanced planning paid off. No need to buy tickets or passes. We just tapped our Apple Watches to the gate, a cheery sound indicated our Suica Cards had been accepted, and we were riding Tokyo mass transit. We hit the metro just as rush hour was starting so the trains were quite full but not packed.
Apple Maps guided us through the subway and there was just one point at the transfer where we struggled to find the correct train but that was only a minute or two. The final train injected us into the night in the district of Kinshicho, where all that remained was to walk the 400 meters to our hotel. Total cost of transportation from the airport to the hotel was about 500 yen ($3.50) per person.
After checking in it was about 6 pm on Thursday night. We were tempted to go straight to bed but I was also hungry and anxious to get a taste of Tokyo. I had seen many videos on the wonders of the Japanese convenience store and we had passed a 7-Eleven right outside the Subway station. So I headed back there for some snacks while Barbara got cleaned up.
The Japanese convenience store is a wonder. It’s somewhat like a Pilot or Love’s gas station on an American Superhighway. But the food is much better.
I picked up some tuna and egg salad sandwiches and some rice balls filled with salmon and salmon roe. The rice balls are wrapped in nori (seaweed) so one might imageine one is eating a big sushi ball with the fish on the inside. They are tasty and very cheap at around $2.00 each. Two of them are a very filling meal. I also bought two small ice creams in cups that had hard caramel on top like a frozen Crème Brulee. I paid for everything with my Suica card by tapping my Apple Watch and walked back to the hotel.
When I got back, I found that Barb wasn’t hungry at all so I saved her sandwiches but had to take a hit for the team and eat both ice creams since they would have otherwise melted. The leftover sandwiches held up overnight and I had a tuna sandwich for breakfast the next day. For whatever reason, tuna didn’t appeal to Barb for breakfast.
Jetlag had us up at 4:30 am so Barbara jumped on the internet and found us a walking tour of the Shinjuku district meeting up at 8:45 am. Navigating the subway flawlessly, we got there an hour early and spent the time walking around and gawking at the 3D digital cat billboard until it was time to meet up with our guide, Mao. There were just 3 other people of the tour – a husband and wife and their friend, all from the Bahamas. Jim worked for Honda and was in Japan for a business trip. Our small talk centered around Japanese cars and how great they were. We praised our 2017 Civic with its manual transmission (stick shift) still going strong.
Temples and shines appear in the most unexpected places. This one is just steps from an area known for bars and night life.
Mao gave us a wonderful tour which included the “red light” district, the Golden Gai area with hundreds of tiny themed bars crammed into four square blocks, and an elevator ride to the top of a tower with a great view of the district and beyond. We ended at a beautiful white shrine with bright red trim where one can make wishes which might come true depending on how the god is feeling disposed toward you that day. You can also make a donation, which may help with the god’s disposition. We also spotted Godzilla (no relation to the gods) peeking over a skyscraper.
This guy.
Following the tour, we began walking the 4 km to the famous Shibuya district which is kind of the Times Square of Tokyo. As we set out, a light rain began falling. Along the way, we stopped at a Ramen shop to sample the vegetarian ramen. There was a long line to get in but it moved quickly. Once inside, you take your turn at the ordering machine where you pick what you want and pay. The machine spits out a little slip of paper for each thing you ordered. We got three slips. Two bowls of soup and a beer. The counter only seated about 15 people, but space soon opened up and we sat down and presented our tickets. Soon two large and steaming bowls of ramen appeared with noodles, broth, radish, asparagus and other vegetables. Sadly, we didn’t get an egg as that didn’t come with the vegan soup.
The soup was delicious and had a rich flavor in spite of being vegan.
As we approached Shibuya we found ourselves in front of the mega store inexplicably called “Don Quixote.” A massive department store with at least 5 floors, DQ sells everything from clothes to food. There are no windmills, however. We picked up an umbrella and a small bottle of Japanese whisky to try later.
Shibuya Crossing (photo nicked from the web).
The district was crowded and full of tourists. We checked out the famous “crossing” but soon decided that the whole scene was not our jam and headed back to our hotel for a break and to dry off.
So far, Barbara has not been excited by Japanese food so it made sense to have dinner at a Indian restaurant right in our neighborhood. However, when we got there, it was closed . Instead, we settled on Italian with some unremarkable but not terrible pizza. There were exactly two vegetarian choices. We got both. Our hotel had given us two complimentary drink tickets when we checked in the prior day so we each had a glass of wine in the lobby before calling it a day at around 7 pm.
We started to watch a Japanese movie but with Jet lag still in full force, neither of us could keep our eyes open. By 8 pm we were tucked in and fast asleep. No crazy Tokyo nightlife for us — at least not yet.
There was morning and there was evening, a first day.
The world’s a narrow bridge; fear nothing.