Mini Tokyo Tour - January 29th

I got a solid four hours of sleep last night before waking up at 230. I chatted with my eldest sister for a while and then got an hour nap, before heading into work. Using Hyperdia to chart my route I had picked the cheapest train combination to get from here to there. For 480 Yen and around an hour it really isn't that bad. The start time for the journey is rather early to accommodate arriving at a decent time. This morning I took the 507 train, I may pick an earlier one to get into work around 600 on Monday.

While sitting at the train station a set of fuel cars rolled by, sound like they were empty but hard to tell. There are multiple exits for every large station, depending on which car you hop onto will determine which is the closest exit. This morning turned out to be a good dry run through the real deal. I choose the wrong exit and ended up walking for an extra three minutes for it. I know it is a very minor time, but things add up. I like to seek efficiency in all things that I do, and I assume most other people like to do as well. Also they have numbers for each station. This makes it even easier to travel. Yokohama is stop KK37, and Shinagawa is KK1.

After work I went to the Starbucks and found that they have all of the mugs that I want to get during this trip. This includes refreshed versions of Kobe and Kyoto and the Japan 2011 set. I picked up the Tall travel mug, I will wait until later to pick up the others. The only other one that I want to pick up will be the Sapporo one.

A coworker and his wife joined me and headed up to Tokyo. The train was a standing room only to Shinagawa. The first stop was Akihabara so the Yamanote line was the way to get there. After the required Doughnut Plant stop we looked around the Yodabashi store for a while. They did have the 3DS availble to play, but it was Nintendogs & Cats so I passed. It is going to be released for purchase in Japan in one month. From what I have seen they are advertising it almost everywhere. When we got back into the train station I noticed a touch screen vending machine. It shows pictures of the items that you can purchase. As you put more money in it tells you how much you need for each item. You select the item you want and it pops out. Very cool.

At Shibuya we stopped by the bronze of the dog that was faithful to his master. The real story is that a Japanese man had a dog and would walk the dog to the train station and when he got back from work the dog would be waiting for him. Eventually the man died, but the dog continued to wait at the train station for his master for several years. There has been a Japanese and American film adaptation of the story.

Harajiku was just a quick walk around to show them some of the stores, then it was off to Kawasaki for lunch. California Pizza Kitchen had a Chicken pizza that was pretty good. I went from there to get a quick nap.

There is an annoying trend of Metallic Puffy Jackets in Japan. So I thought if you can beat them join them. What I got from Mont Bell did not have a fake fur coller but it does pack well and has a windstopping layer. It weighs 12.8 oz and is like a sleeping bag. It feels like you don't have a jacket on except for the heat.



For dinner we ate at the World Porters mall at a restaurant named La Salsa. Pretty good.

Photos

Mini Tokyo Tour