Listen to me recount my recent travels around the Islands of Japan, in the hopes that I may inspire your own journey around those beautiful islands, and dispel the common myth that travelling in Japan is expensive.
On the 14th day of the Eight month, of the year 2013, I left for Haneda via LCCT. I arrived in Haneda at 2330hrs, just 30 minutes before public transport goes out of service. I was told to meet my old friend Nadia at her friend, Pipé's place. I had never met Pipé in my life and I had no idea where exactly he stayed except that he stayed in an area called Tōgoshi. Racing agaisnt time I struggled to make my way to Gotanda station from where I was supposed to be able to transit to a Tōgoshi-Ginza station, which I really hoped was the right station.
From Tōgoshi-Ginza, I scoured the streets for a payphone, and thankfully managed to find one. After a call to Pipé and securing his address, I walked through the very silent town of Tōgoshi. With no lights to illumine my steps, save the soft glow of the humming vending machines, I wandered farther. Along the way, I managed to get directions from a lady who walked with me as far as she could to my destination. People are far friendlier when they find out that you're a foreign tourist who speaks Japanese. Finally, I made it to Pipé's place, with the humidity of the summer air clinging to me like a film of cling-wrap. His air-conditioned abode, small as it was, was a welcome respite.
The next morning, I took a walk around the town to kill time before Nadia was to arrive. Tōgoshi as it turns out, are several small housing areas clustered around what the Japanese call shotengai, or shopping streets. I don't think there are any inns or traveller's lodges to stay around the area, given it's nature. Transport in and out of here by train isn't very worth it either, especially if you're using the JR rail pass as the line here is a private one. Despite that, it is a nice place to stay, with lots of hidden gems to discover.
For one, the park about 15mins walk from Tōgoshi-Koen station is a nice place for photographs and a nice lunch on the bench as you watch the old folk feed the pigeons. Another spot would be a relatively large Jizo shrine, which from the looks of the bleached wooden structure, must be at least a decade old.
After Nadia joined us, we went to meet up with another friend, Nina. Nina was an old friend from my year back at Hachioji High School, who is now studying in Japan. We rendezvoused at Shinagawa station, and walked around, looking for lunch and shade from the blazing summer sun. We ended up in a small Indian restaurant, tucked away in a bar complex. Yes, you heard me right. A bar complex. An entire floor, all bars. Since it was still midday, none of them were open save the Indian eatery and its sister restaurants. Devi Dhaba is manned by two staff, the chef (from Bangalore) and one waiter (from Pakistan).
The food at Devi Dhaba is quite authentic, coming from a Malaysian (though I quite suspect our Indian food here might have altered a little as well). My only gripe is with the price - RM30 for one thosai masala. Then again, with Indian food sharing the same prestige Japanese food does here in Malaysia, it is understandable, but outrageous nonetheless for a guy who has grown up with RM3 thosai masalas.
Later that night, another South American joined us at Pipé's room, which was quickly turning into a lodge. Valentina, or Balen, as we called her, is a student from Chile, as Pipé was. On summer holiday, she was in Tokyo and decided to drop by to visit as she knew both Nadia and Pipé.
Nightfall at Pipé's place is like a traveller's fireside. Home country politics, delicacies, and life stories are exchanged. I was then introduced to a ubiquitous drink called Yerba Maté, a drink made by infusing ground leaves and twigs from the yerba maté plant in a maté (the gourd from which the you drink from), and you slurp it through a metal straw called the bombilla (which I suspect is related to the Malay word for fire brigade, bomba, which is actually the Portuguese name for the straw). It has a mildly bitter taste, unlike that of coffee or tea, and has a lovely fragrance to it. The drink is traditionally shared from the same maté and bombilla. Hehe. I can already think of a few people who would shy from this drink.
Let me digress a little here to tell you all about the JR rail pass. This is a rail pass you can only purchase outside Japan, and can be used to ride on all JR modes of transport, ferry included. The fee is quite a hefty sum, RM2000 for 21 days (there are cheaper packages for less days), but I can tell you, if you're moving around a lot, especially by shinkansen, it will be worth it. You can find the agents here. The one I purchased my pass at was the J-Horizon's travel agency office at the Weld, Jalan Raja Chulan.
Now back to the story.
Several days later, it was Nadia's birthday, and she decided to throw a party. And by throw, she meant pay your own. hahaha. We met up with a group of her classmates and old friends from AFS by the Hachiko statue at Shibuya, and proceeded to a Thai dinner at the Shower Lounge. Up to this point, I am finding it very ironic that I fly 8 hours to Japan only to see food I have left behind. haha.
Half way through dinner, the stage which we could see from the window of our private room started to light up. Turns out this lounge has pole dance performances twice a night. Quite unlike what one would picture pole dancing to be from American media, the Japanese version keeps it quite clean. A little risqué, but no nudity and dirty old men stuffing dollar notes down thongs.
Another interesting cultural phenomenon I managed to obeserve during our dinner at the Shower Lounge was what they call 合コン (gōkon), or better known to us as a group blind date. A group of young men filed in to the lounge and sat on one side of the table. Immediately the girls on our table got really excited, knowing what would conspire. The poor men were left waiting for a good 30-45mins before the girls finally showed up, and even then, 2 guys had to go with out a partner till a good while later when the last two girls came gliding in.
Turns out, there will be a leader on the men's side and on the women's side too. The both of them are usually friends, whilst the rest of the group may or may not know each other. It is the duty of the leaders to keep the atmosphere up for the whole length of the date. Some of girls at our table lamented about how it is never fun to be the leader.
After dinner, the South Americans wanted karaoke, but since most of the group had to leave, a small group of us went. I think I was the only non-South American. Not a fan of large crowds, I have to say I enjoyed the karaoke sessions better.
The next day, I took a trip to Hachioji to meet up with two old classmates. It is quite a pity that since most of them have started working, it is insanely hard to anybody to meet up. Some of them don't even keep in touch with their classmates. Ah well... It's not to say I'm not guilty for not keeping in touch with my high school friends either. One of the friends I met up with works in a sushi restaurant, so that's where we met for lunch. Her boss was at counter duty, so we got served a whole load of interesting dishes on the house, none of which I was allowed to pay for.
More to come...
From Tōgoshi-Ginza, I scoured the streets for a payphone, and thankfully managed to find one. After a call to Pipé and securing his address, I walked through the very silent town of Tōgoshi. With no lights to illumine my steps, save the soft glow of the humming vending machines, I wandered farther. Along the way, I managed to get directions from a lady who walked with me as far as she could to my destination. People are far friendlier when they find out that you're a foreign tourist who speaks Japanese. Finally, I made it to Pipé's place, with the humidity of the summer air clinging to me like a film of cling-wrap. His air-conditioned abode, small as it was, was a welcome respite.
The next morning, I took a walk around the town to kill time before Nadia was to arrive. Tōgoshi as it turns out, are several small housing areas clustered around what the Japanese call shotengai, or shopping streets. I don't think there are any inns or traveller's lodges to stay around the area, given it's nature. Transport in and out of here by train isn't very worth it either, especially if you're using the JR rail pass as the line here is a private one. Despite that, it is a nice place to stay, with lots of hidden gems to discover.
For one, the park about 15mins walk from Tōgoshi-Koen station is a nice place for photographs and a nice lunch on the bench as you watch the old folk feed the pigeons. Another spot would be a relatively large Jizo shrine, which from the looks of the bleached wooden structure, must be at least a decade old.
After Nadia joined us, we went to meet up with another friend, Nina. Nina was an old friend from my year back at Hachioji High School, who is now studying in Japan. We rendezvoused at Shinagawa station, and walked around, looking for lunch and shade from the blazing summer sun. We ended up in a small Indian restaurant, tucked away in a bar complex. Yes, you heard me right. A bar complex. An entire floor, all bars. Since it was still midday, none of them were open save the Indian eatery and its sister restaurants. Devi Dhaba is manned by two staff, the chef (from Bangalore) and one waiter (from Pakistan).
The food at Devi Dhaba is quite authentic, coming from a Malaysian (though I quite suspect our Indian food here might have altered a little as well). My only gripe is with the price - RM30 for one thosai masala. Then again, with Indian food sharing the same prestige Japanese food does here in Malaysia, it is understandable, but outrageous nonetheless for a guy who has grown up with RM3 thosai masalas.
Later that night, another South American joined us at Pipé's room, which was quickly turning into a lodge. Valentina, or Balen, as we called her, is a student from Chile, as Pipé was. On summer holiday, she was in Tokyo and decided to drop by to visit as she knew both Nadia and Pipé.
Nightfall at Pipé's place is like a traveller's fireside. Home country politics, delicacies, and life stories are exchanged. I was then introduced to a ubiquitous drink called Yerba Maté, a drink made by infusing ground leaves and twigs from the yerba maté plant in a maté (the gourd from which the you drink from), and you slurp it through a metal straw called the bombilla (which I suspect is related to the Malay word for fire brigade, bomba, which is actually the Portuguese name for the straw). It has a mildly bitter taste, unlike that of coffee or tea, and has a lovely fragrance to it. The drink is traditionally shared from the same maté and bombilla. Hehe. I can already think of a few people who would shy from this drink.
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| Nightfall at Pipé's place. What you see here is our sleeping space. |
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| Yerba Maté, Maté, and bombilla |
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| You exchange the coupon they give you at designated counters in Japan for this, which you flash at the station masters. |
Several days later, it was Nadia's birthday, and she decided to throw a party. And by throw, she meant pay your own. hahaha. We met up with a group of her classmates and old friends from AFS by the Hachiko statue at Shibuya, and proceeded to a Thai dinner at the Shower Lounge. Up to this point, I am finding it very ironic that I fly 8 hours to Japan only to see food I have left behind. haha.
Half way through dinner, the stage which we could see from the window of our private room started to light up. Turns out this lounge has pole dance performances twice a night. Quite unlike what one would picture pole dancing to be from American media, the Japanese version keeps it quite clean. A little risqué, but no nudity and dirty old men stuffing dollar notes down thongs.
Another interesting cultural phenomenon I managed to obeserve during our dinner at the Shower Lounge was what they call 合コン (gōkon), or better known to us as a group blind date. A group of young men filed in to the lounge and sat on one side of the table. Immediately the girls on our table got really excited, knowing what would conspire. The poor men were left waiting for a good 30-45mins before the girls finally showed up, and even then, 2 guys had to go with out a partner till a good while later when the last two girls came gliding in.
Turns out, there will be a leader on the men's side and on the women's side too. The both of them are usually friends, whilst the rest of the group may or may not know each other. It is the duty of the leaders to keep the atmosphere up for the whole length of the date. Some of girls at our table lamented about how it is never fun to be the leader.
More to come...
