Shopping in Kawasaki

Well, my first day back in Japan (I do love Japan ^_^) and I spent the day in Kawasaki, shopping. I've already written 'a day in' Kawasaki posts (see here and here), as well as 'Kawasaki city spotlight' posts (see here and here). So I thought this time I'd write about 'things I bought today in Kawasaki'. ^_^

I include some prices so you can get a feel for how much things cost here (prices would be similar in Yokohama or Tokyo). The current exchange rate is 100 yen = $1.15 (Australian) but I will just roughly translate the prices.

Books

At Maruzen in LaZona (near west exit of Kawasaki station, go down to the bottom floor), I bought these books:

Kanji for intermediate level (￥1890, $22). It is a functional book and looks practical. It doesn't look exciting. I have never seen a single Japanese textbook that is anything other than completely boring and uninspiring visually. (To be fair, most of the English textbooks published in Japan are similarly uninspiring.) I hope to take level N3 of the JLPT at the end of the year.

A Geek in Japan (￥1890, $22). I've been following Hector Garcia's blog, Kirai Net for a long time. He posts interesting content and great photos of his experiences in Japan. This is his book; I had planned to order it online, but I found it in Maruzen. It is not a re-hash of his blog posts, but a guide book full of great photos, with lots of information about Japanese culture, travel information, and some geeky stuff (despite the title, this book is certainly not only about geeky stuff but much broader ^_^).

If this was Australia, a nice-looking book like 'A Geek in Japan' would definitely be at least $40, so I'm really glad to come to Japan. So many cheap books. ^_^

Book Off

At Book Off in Kawasaki More's (across the road from the east exit of Kawasaki station, on the 3rd floor), I bought these CDs by nobodyknows+, Going Under Ground, Bonnie Pink, The Yellow Monkey and Hitomi Yaida. I don't know if they'll be good, but I like other songs by these artists, so...
Considering how expensive new CDs are here (often close to ￥3000/$34 each), second-hand CDs are super cheap. And second-hand CD shops abound. In the case of Book Off, there are different sections with different prices; all of these were from the ￥250 ($2.90) section.

At this Book Off, you can also find an English book section (prices generally range from ￥150 - ￥500 per book, but may be more for particularly large/nice books). You can also find cheap video games (in Japanese only). For comparison, I found Pokemon Diamond for ￥950 ($11). In second-hand game stores in Australia, I've never seen it for less than $55!

I also got the iTunes card from Yodo-

Sorry, pause to say that there's an earthquake happening at the moment. It's lasted a full minute! The hangers in my wardrobe are bumping against the wall. It's gentle, so nothing too scary, but I must admit I feel differently about earthquakes since the recent disasters. Before, I found the small tremors rather fun, since they were only small, but now they are a reminder of how nasty things could potentially get.

Anyway, got the iTunes card from Yodobashi so I can download Japanese music. But Japanese iTunes is not like the English one. English iTunes has pretty much any English song you can think of, while Japanese iTunes has a much more select range; even quite famous songs are not necessarily on there.

Speaking of music, I did drop into Tower Records (in Cinecitta, in the 'Tower of Pisa' building near the movie ticket box office). It's a nice way to check out the latest Jpop releases, since they have lots of music listening stations set up, where you can listen to albums on headphones. I plan to get the new album by 'Unison Square Garden' before I leave, but I feel like I already spent way too much money today...

Shoes

I got the shoes in Azalea, Kawasaki's underground mall, just outside the east exit of the station. This mall has seasonal displays and temporary sales in the centre - I've seen them sell traditional Japanese cultural paraphenalia, second-hand books, fruit and vegetables - depending on the week. And they often have a section where they sell cheap clothes and shoes; that's where I got these. They are not especially great but I needed a pair of comfortable sandals for the hot, humid weather here. Cost about ￥4800 ($55). There are many cheaper pairs around, so I plan to buy a few more pairs before returning home.

Azalea is always my pick for reasonably-priced clothes in Kawasaki. In general I'm not a big fan of Japanese fashion, at least for myself. Having pale skin and dark hair, the pale pastel colours don't favour my complexion, and not having a willowy figure, I do not want big, baggy clothes that hang on me like sackcloth. Also, there are a lot of fashions that are in roughly the same pattern and fabric as pyjamas.

What I do love buying in Japan are shoes. Having rather small feet, and coming from a city with ridiculously expensive footwear, I love Japan. I can't help feeling amused to see the shelves of shoes where 'M' - medium - is '23.0cm - 23.5cm'. That's an Australian size 6 or 6.5, folks.

Supermarket stuff

Well, I don't need to go into much detail here. This stuff is from the supermarket in LaZona (ground floor). I got salad (boasting '12 types of vegetable', but it's half cabbage, as most supermarket salads are) and beans to snack on, because I feel like eating out in Japan, it's difficult to find dishes that have many vegetables. I don't know if home cooking is different, but think of all the main types of Japanese restaurant - soba and udon, ramen, tonkatsu, sushi, curry, donburi - and very few of these dishes have vegetables. Nabe, I guess, but this is summer and I don't want to eat nabe.

The beans and salad were about ￥200 ($2.20) apiece (for pretty tiny servings). The apple juice was nice and cheap at ￥148 ($1.70). The two-minute noodles were about ￥100 ($1.15), the nori (seaweed slices) ￥138 (for a lot of pieces!)...

I like these 'granola' bars. I doubt they are especially healthy, but they're tasty. I discovered them when I was living in Nagoya and needed some alternative to muesli bars (which don't exist here).

The bread - ￥138 for three slices - is from the bakery in the supermarket. The bread is super soft, but you can actually taste the sugar in it. It's really not very good for you. I must try to find some tasty, but less outrageously unhealthy, bread today. ^_^

100 yen shop stuff

There was a great 100yen shop in Kawasaki Le-Front, on the 9th floor. It's no more, but there's a new one on the 7th floor. It's okay... and the sorts of things you can buy at a 100 yen shop are pretty good, I think. Back-up headphones, socks, gift bags, a camera case, post-it notes, hair ties, blah blah. I hope to buy lots more sockettes, the little foot covers that fit inside shoes. 

Everything 105 yen (including tax), or $1.15. Nothing to note, except that little notebook with the hamster on it. It's actually a kanji practice book for kids; inside, it's not a lined notebook, but ruled into grids, so kids can practise writing kanji in the boxes. Hopefully, if I have a book dedicated to kanji, I will actually use it. Ha ha ha...

Traveller tips - money

Japan is a cash-based society. There are ATMs all over the place, like in convenience stores and outside banks, but most of them only allow you to use Japanese bank cards, ie to make withdrawals from a Japanese bank account. At the airport, of course, you can find ATMs that will let you withdraw from overseas accounts.

If you need more money once you're in the city, you can find a post office. A lot of post offices have ATMs where you can use international credit cards, while most other ATMs - and I have tried a LOT of them - don't.*

*(I have successfully used my card in at least a dozen countries, from Egypt to Guatemala, Singapore to Norway. Japan was the only place I've found that had foreigner-unfriendly ATMs as the default.)

7-11 also often has international card-compatitble ATMs.

You should be aware that many ATMs actually have operating hours and may be closed/inaccessible at night.

Withdrawing from an international ATM generally incurs a currency conversion fee and a withdrawal fee, but this is usually still cheaper than converting your money at a currency exchange.

You can find currency exchanges around major cities in Japan, especially in very touristy places or in the most major banks, but they're not exactly ubiquitous. You have to seek them out, probably look up online where to find them.

Nonetheless, when it comes to money, do what's comfortable for you.

Traveller tips - Kawasaki and Yokohama hotels

Since I'm in the middle of planning my trip, I thought I'd share my process with you. ^_^

Hotels

I love this website: Jalan Net. Compared with English sites, you can find a much wider variety of hotels there, book them online, earn points which can be used in the future, and you can usually find things that are much cheaper than the standard range of 'international' hotels on English sites.

The problem? It's all in Japanese. Happily, with the help of Denshi Jisho, I have enough Japanese to work my way through it, but if you have no Japanese at all, it might be too difficult.

I've been in four different hotels in Kawasaki. The Nikko was the best, but then my company was paying for it at the time. ^_^ For cheaper ones, my favourite so far is 'Hotel The Crane', or at least, I had a good experience both times I stayed there. In my experience, service is efficient, rooms are fairly small but in good condition, but it's not far from the station, there's a bathroom, heater/air con, toiletries and Internet in the room (it's not a hostel, though the prices are cheap), you can get plans that include a simple breakfast, etc. Booking online, you can easily stay for 4000 - 5000 yen ($45-$55) a night.

A nice thing about travelling solo in Japan is that they often have single rooms and you are generally expected to pay per person. Like if you stay in a ryokan; often, one person or two can share the same room, yet each person will pay the same amount no matter its occupancy, which means it's no more expensive to stay there as a single than as a pair. In Japan, when searching hotels, I find it is a lot easier to find single rooms for single-friendly prices.

Staying in Kawasaki is nice too, because Kawasaki itself is a cool city, yet it's a bit less expensive to stay there than in Yokohama and Tokyo. But if you take the Tokaido line for ten minutes in either direction, you'll be in Yokohama or Tokyo.

Hostels in Yokohama

If you want cheap digs in Yokohama, there's a particular district which has a lot of hostels. It's near Ishikawacho station, about ten minutes walk from Chinatown and Motomachi. The street itself is not exactly pretty, but it's in easy walking distance of some nice places. Prices are quite good - you can pay  3000 yen a night! - but you'll get small rooms, shared showers and toilets, showers may be coin-operated, etc.

I have personally stayed at 'A Silk Tree' and 'Yokohama Hostel Village'. They're both cheap and good value for money; rooms are pretty small and basic, but that's what you'd expect, right? Location-wise, those two hostels are on opposite sides of the same street. I would recommend the Hostel Village; it just felt nicer. If you're into socialising in hostels, it's also a better bet. Silk Tree felt a bit drab and quiet, with no real public spaces.

Unless I'm on a really strict budget, I prefer to stay in Kawasaki because it's more lively and more central (also, my friends live there). If you're going to Yokohama station, it actually takes the same amount of time from Kawasaki station than from these hostels near Ishikawacho.

Japanese accommodation

I've mentioned before that I really like staying in ryokan (Japanese-style traditional inns) but I haven't recommended them in the case of Kawasaki and Yokohama. It's not that they don't exist - I assume there must be a few of them - but these are not really 'traditional' cities. If you go to a city like Kyoto, Nara, or Hakone, you feel it's a bit more traditional and natural; if you stay in a ryokan there, you feel like you're indulging in local culture. In Kawasaki or Yokohama, well, I guess you could do it if you wanted to, but since ryokan are often more expensive than regular hotels, I'd rather save them for a relaxing town with a fitting atmosphere. Also, it's really nice to stay in ryokan in towns that have an onsen (hot spring) culture, so you can enjoy the real hot spring baths.

Out of curiosity, I just did a perfunctory search for ryokan in Kawasaki or Yokohama, and the ryokan that came up tended to be rather far from the metropolises that surround Kawasaki and Yokohama stations. As I said, there probably are some in the cities themselves, but I don't know of any personally.

One thing you could do if you want a more Japanese experience is that a lot of hotels and hostels offer a choice of Western-style rooms (with beds, carpets, etc) or Japanese-style rooms (with futons, tatami mats, etc). They're usually the same price, so perhaps you could specify that you'd like a Japanese-style room, so long as you don't mind more sitting on the floor. ^_^

Trip!

I take a pause from posting from my old diary to say that I will be back in Kawasaki, my old stomping ground, next week on holiday. If it inspires me, then, I might have some new material. If I don't post, it means I'm having too much fun to blog. ^_^

Church

One thing I thought I'd write about is my church in Yokohama. I don't know how typical this church was - I'd say probably not very! - but in case you're interested to hear about church-going in Japan...

I found the church online; it was an ordinary, I guess you'd say Protestant, church. The reason I chose it was because it was multinational and bilingual - I didn't want to go to a church with only other ex-pats, since I was living in Japan, but nor did I want to go with only Japanese, where I wouldn't understand anything.

In that sense, this was perfect; there was a good mix of Japanese and international people attending. The church was led/run by Japanese Hawaiians, who spoke fluent English and Japanese. They gave the church a unique flavour; a lot of people wearing Hawaiian shirts, wearing leis, doing the shaka sign during the messages, etc. It gave it a nice, laid-back feel.

The church had one other quirk, which was that it didn't have a fixed location. There were four or five different venues, and the church moved from place to place according to the week and the venue availability. I got to see some new streets in Yokohama this way. ^_^

The meetings were bilingual. This manifested itself in three main ways:
-overhead projections were in both languages. For example, if we sang a song, there would be perhaps a couple of verses in English, then a Japanese version of the same.
-messages were translated. For example, the pastor would speak in Japanese, and have an assistant translating after every couple of sentences.
-when they handed out message notes, they had copies in both English and Japanese

You might think that it would be disjointed to have messages translated. But the translators were good at their job, and I rather liked it. First, it was good Japanese practice. Then, it meant the messages were usually kept a bit more direct and simple, rather than roaming into obscure theological tangents. Also, hearing a message at a slower pace, bit by bit, gave you more time to think about what you were hearing.

I liked this church. I only went for a few months, but it was a friendly place that seemed to preach the truth. This blog post is not meant to be an ad, but I might as well post the link, since I would recommend it: New Hope Yokohama.

Early impressions (6)

Every day in Japan there are 10001 things that are different from Australia. It's impossible to register them all, and before long you don't notice them at all. But there are just so many. I mean, just talking about the five minute walk to the train station makes me think of lots of things that are different from home.

There are vending machines everywhere; I pass at least eight on my short walk to the station. They sell both hot and cold drinks, in the same machine. It might sound strange to buy a bottle of hot green tea, or a hot can of cafe latte. But I've done it more than once. Around train stations, the vending machines often have sensors so that you can use your train pass to purchase drinks.

Now these train passes are really pretty cool. You buy a card and put credit on it, and it saves you buying tickets every time you use a train. You just touch it to the ticket gate - you don't even have to remove it from your wallet, 'cos the ticket gate can sense the pass through your wallet. They work on multiple train lines, and you can also set them as a commuter pass.

Back to vending machines... a lot of them sell cigarettes. Under 20s are not supposed to buy them (the age of adulthood is 20 in Japan) - but of course there is no regulation whatsoever in place to prevent 12-year-olds buying cigarettes if they so choose. Japan is actually a smoker's heaven, and the cigarettes are also relatively cheap. It's rare to find a cafe where you can't smoke at all. Usually there is a smoking and non-smoking section, but several times I have had to drink my coffee while inhaling smoke. You get used to it, I guess... I've also seen 'smoker's rooms' around the place, which always looks pretty funny to me. There's one right outside Yokohama station, it reminds me of a glass aquarium where the exhibit animals are cigarette smokers, haha...

On the way to or from the train station, you might choose to avail yourself of one of the ubiquitious 'conbeni' (convenience stores). Convenience stores are like mini supermarkets. You can pay bills there - bills arrive at your address with barcodes on them, you just take them into your local conbeni and pay them, it takes all of twenty seconds. I pay all my utility bills, my mobile phone bill, my upcoming Internet bill, etc... recently I bought an airfare (to Sapporo) and was given the option of paying at a convenience store...

Japan really is a cash-based society. People don't use credit cards that often, and when you see, for example, their bill-paying system, you can understand why. I guess it's also a very safe society, so it's safer to carry around more money. I've heard a few people mention losing wallets and having had them returned.

Just looking around a simple convenience store will yield many things unrecognisable to Western eyes. There are lots of bento - boxes of cutely packaged, various Japanese foods - and lots of other little pre-packaged foods. Sometimes I buy a pack of cooked rice, and they'll heat it for you.

There are the usual things you would find in Western convenience stores... cheese, drinks, chips and chocolate, a bakery section... Every time I see the so-called 'bakery' section of my conbeni, I think of something my friends did before I left Australia. As a joke, we all brought the worst and funniest food items we could find - the kind of thing you see in a supermarket and think 'who BUYS that?!' I tell you what, I would win that competition with the contents of the conbeni bakery section. I will be the disgusting food QUEEN! I mean, they have strawberry sandwiches. With actual strawberries and cream smushed in there. But the 'sandwich' bread doesn't even look like bread. I can't describe it...

There's a small section selling money envelopes; they're quite distinctive-looking and have little ribbon threads on them. In Japanese culture, if you give anything, the wrapping is important, and I guess so is discretion. So if you give a gift, it's always wrapped in a nice way. If you give money, it's always in an envelope. For example, I will pay my shamisen teacher by putting money in an envelope. I bought blank envelopes though; for all I know, the ones with writing on them say 'condolences on your loss' or 'congratulations on your wedding'...

There's also a section of comic books. Lots of people read manga (Japanese comics) in Japan, including adults. You often see businessmen reading them on trains; there's no stigma of them being 'for children' (though of course there are lots of manga produced for children). There also seem to be quite a few girly magazines (as in, soft porn) in the conbeni. Sometimes I'm slightly disturbed by the covers of various manga magazines and girly magazines - lots of pictures of girls bursting out of skimpy tops. I've heard that porn is popular and not that stigmatised in Japan. I know I've unwittingly stumbled across it in various unexpected stores and places, though fortunately never anything hard-core.

Anyway, obviously not all the manga and magazines in conbeni are porn, I just can't help noticing those that are, they kind of draw the attention. -_- In Japan, it's normal for people in bookstores to stand and browse the books. It's quite funny to go into a bookstore and see thirty or forty people all standing holding magazines, for example. In Australia, if you did that, surely someone would tell you 'this is not a library'.. hahah...

What else... there are so many different things, just on one street. The garbage system. Confusing, with different types of garbage being collected almost every day of the week. There are posters on lamp posts announcing the days of collection. Garbage has to be tied up in transparent plastic bags so they can see that you are throwing out the right type of garbage. Garbage usually ends up in masses of plastic bags, bound by nets, tied to signposts on the street.

Lots of the small, locally owned shops, seem a lot smaller than any stores in Australia.

Coffee shops. Coffee is very popular in Japan. But coffee shops and cafes are not the same thing, and I have learned to read the signs. There are several places selling coffee on my way to the train station, but I will only drink lattes or cappuccinos. (There are no such things as 'flat whites' here.) This is because Japanese coffee tends to be Strong Espresso. You can get it with milk, but then it becomes Strong Espresso With A Teaspoon Of UHF Crema. Like, I had a coffee at Subway once and couldn't quite believe what came out of the machine. Imagine drinking four or five shots of espresso in one cup. It was horrifying!

Anyway, quite a few places do have cappuccinos and lattes - though there are plenty of coffee shops that don't. Cappuccinos are interesting, as you never know exactly what it will be... sometimes they come topped with chocolate, sometimes with cinnamon, and sometimes with nothing at all. Often with lattes and cappuccinos, I find the froth to be a bit too foamy and bubbly for my taste (okay, I'm a sad, over-fussy coffee snob) so my favourite has become (guiltily...) Starbucks. Starbucks coffees here seem to be a little smaller and stronger than in Oz, so they're much nicer, and have a good consistency of froth. In my defense, though I may patronise Starbucks almost every day, I have at least tried cappuccinos at virtually every possible cafe and fast food restaurant in the area...

Cafes also have a wide variety of other drinks, most of them look sickly sweet, things like 'creme brulee lattes' and 'caramel cream lattes'. I have never seen a Japanese person order a cappuccino or cafe latte at a cafe - it's always strong black coffee, or one of the sickly-sweet conconctions.

One non-coffee drink I am quite partial is the matcha latte. (Matcha is the really traditional Japanese green tea - the kind they do 'tea ceremony' with. It is thick and dark green, slightly bitter, and looks foamy, like soap bubbles. I don't like the taste as much as 'ordinary' green tea, but it's okay.) Matcha lattes are pretty good! It comes with cream, so it's like drinking a hot cocoa... except it's matcha... hmmm...

Early impressions (5)

More of my diary from when I first came to Japan (three years ago). Sorry that these are the only posts I make now, but since I'm not in Japan at the moment, I don't have the inspiration to write much that's new. ^_^

This post shows a nice contrast to my post on taking trains. In that post, I said that actually, taking trains in Japan is reasonably simple... but advised readers to procure a map. This old diary entry of mine proves why a map is a good thing. (It also helps if you're not a person like me, who hates asking people for help. Hahaha.)

***

Going to Roppongi, aka 'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing'

[I wrote this on Christmas Eve as a way of venting my frustration. It's probably rather laborious to read, so just imagine doing it!... This is an entirely accurate representation of my worst experience on Japanese trains. :)]

What a day...

This morning I set out for Sakuragicho to enjoy the sunshine. (I love the word 'Sakuragicho'. It just rolls off the tongue.) It was nice too. My plan was to then go to the immigration office in Ishikawacho - I brought my visa papers - and then finish the day by seeing the Christmas lights in Roppongi. (Roppongi is in Tokyo.) Remembering what happened the last times I went into Tokyo, I made sure to bring my train line maps with me. I knew from experience it can be difficult to negotiate the train system if you don't have your own maps.

In Sakuragicho

As it turned out, I forgot to bring my passport, so I couldn't go to Ishikawacho. Instead I came home to get it, decided I didn't have enough time to get back before the immigration office closed, and by that time had started developing a cold. So I decided to chill out until the evening when I went into Roppongi.

As I got on my first train to go to Roppongi, I realised that I didn't have my train maps. Drat! I'd put them in the bag with my visa papers - because I had thought I would be taking that bag with me to Roppongi - but then left it at home. Nice going! You did it again! I was having a really triumphant day with remembering things...

After that, I made just about every mistake it was possible to make!

Anyway, this is the process I took to try to get to Roppongi without a train map:

I took the Yokohama line to Higashi-Kanagawa and then changed to the Keihin-Tohoku line.

I took the Keihin-Tohoku line to Oimachi because I had a vague memory that the train line I wanted went from near there.

It didn't. But by the time I realised that, I was in the Saikyo line station, so I didn't want to go back to JR Oimachi to get back on the Keihin-Tohoku. This Saikyo station at least had a map on the wall. Roppongi wasn't on it. The only thing I knew for sure was that Roppongi was a Tokyo Metro station connected to the Hibiya Line, so I decided the only course was to get myself to a station I *knew* was connected to the Tokyo Metro, so I could at least see a subway map. I didn't recognise any of the stations on the Saikyo line as being on the Metro system. Thus, I took the Saikyo Line to Osaki so I could change to another line.

In Osaki I changed trains. I had to decide whether to go to Shibuya or Shinjuku, as I knew they are both connected to the Tokyo Metro. However, the Osaki map, not being a Tokyo Metro station, didn't have Tokyo Metro stops printed. So I didn't know which Metro train lines connected through Shibuya and Shinjuku. I (wrongly) 'remembered' that Yoyogi was on the Hibiya line, and Yoyogi is near Shibuya, so I went to Shibuya. As it turns out, Shinjuku would have taken me to a line connecting directly to Roppongi. But Shibuya didn't.

At Shibuya, I had a choice between walking to the Ginza or the Hanzomon lines. I knew that there was another line connecting directly to Roppongi apart from the Hibiya line, and I knew for a fact that it wasn't the Ginza line, and I couldn't remember what it was - so maybe it was the Hanzomon line? So I walked to Hanzomon Metro station, which was, of course, further away.
You must realise it took me all this travel time simply to get myself standing in front of a Tokyo Metro map.
Once at the Hanzomon line, all the train maps had English on them, except the map of the Tokyo Metro - the one I wanted to consult. By a Freak Chance, I recognised the kanji for 'Roppongi' - it's made up of three of the few kanji I know - and realised that I had to take the Ginza line and then change in Ginza. Drat!

So I walked back where I'd come from, to the Ginza line, and took the Ginza line all the way to Ginza.

In Ginza, I changed to the Hibiya line and took it for a few minutes.

FINALLY ARRIVED IN ROPPONGI AFTER TWO WHOLE HOURS AND SIX WHOLE TRAINS.

And don't forget, every time I leave a train station to change trains, it's costing me the fare of a subway ticket! -_-

I realise this whole affair makes me sound really incompetent, but the fact is this: because Tokyo is connected by multiple rail networks, often you can NOT find a map you need and so you have to just randomly go somewhere and hope you end up able to get to the right place. I don't know what people do. You might say 'well, if you left your rail maps at home, why didn't you pick up another one at the station?' They don't HAVE them! Or if they do, they're hidden somewhere!

My main fault was in not deciding to just go to a station where I *knew* there was a Tokyo Metro stop, to begin with, and imagining that Oimachi connected when it didn't (actually the stop I wanted was Hamamatsucho, so don't ask me how I got those names confused...).

This was the first time in Japan I ever thought 'I wish I had my car!' It would have been nice to have been able to just drive home, comfortably, in the warm, without having to stand in trains, get off and on, off and on...

Roppongi Hills was okay. They had nice Christmas lights, and a small German 'market', and some carol singers. I had a hot bowl of Chinese soup. It's not quite my scene though. I never like designer shops; in fact, designer things and rampant commercialisation actually kind of annoy me. Also, it's funny to see how my attitude changes when I have a cold and I'm annoyed after spending two hours catching six trains to get somewhere!

You see, Christmas Eve is a time for lovers, and there were soooo many young couples around. Ordinarily I'd be like 'ohh! That's so sweet! Isn't this nice, all these cute young couples!' But with a runny nose and my head all stuffed up, I was like 'geez... there are too many people here... all this lovey-dovey stuff is getting on my nerves... have a bit of self-respect, girls... and don't buy such expensive jewellery, you don't need it...'

Hahah...

Anyway, coming home was much more straightforward, as I'd seen every possible Tokyo train map by this stage. I still had to make a number of choices on my journey home, but this time I learned my lesson and made the right decisions. The lesson is: if presented with a choice between a) an unknown option that *may* be quicker/more direct, and b) a known option which may be slower but will definitely get you to the right destination - always, ALWAYS choose B!

Even a 'straightforward' route home from Tokyo can look like this:

I took the Hibiya line to the end of the line as I could see a way to end up at Kikuna, a station on the Yokohama line.

The Hibiya line went through Ebisu. The announcement said that this station 'connected to JR line'. Yes? Which JR line? It's kind of a relevent detail, you know! So, not knowing if it would be a JR line that I wanted, I stayed put.

At Naka-Meguro I stopped to get on the Tokyu Toyoko line. The first train that came along was an Express train. Well, I didn't know if Express would include Kikuna (I was 95% sure it would, but by now I was a broken woman, unable to face the possibility of getting it wrong yet again), so I had to wait for the next train. 

The next train, unfortunately, didn't go all the way to Kikuna. So I had to get off halfway and wait for the next train (along with everyone else on that train). The next train, unfortunately, was a Ltd Express. Again, I didn't know if it would include Kikuna so I had to wait for the next local train AGAIN. (To be fair, the trains are not far apart. But it is absolutely, completely FREEZING tonight, so not much fun waiting on platforms outside.)

Finally arrived in Kikuna. Changed trains to the Yokohama Line and finally returned home.

Yeesh! I should have just stayed home!

***

[Update, 2011: Just to comment on this, express and limited express trains DO stop at Kikuna. At the time I wasn't familiar with station maps and the features of the stations I was to frequent, so I didn't know how to check. I think I was reluctant to ask anyone for help because at that time, my Japanese was very basic, and I had had a lot of rather demoralising experiences in train stations failing to communicate and ending up more confused than when I started.

I can also report that what most Japanese people do in situations like these is check train timetables on their mobile phones. Failing that, of course they would ask the station staff, like a sensible person. Also, I believe train maps can be gotten from many stations; at least from major stations; but you have to go to the information counter and request them; they are not just sitting around for the taking.]