I’ve wanted to visit Japan for a while, but I was a little anxious about visiting Tokyo, specifically. I knew the food would be phenomenal, but Tokyo is a very big city… I mean, like very big. Just the city proper has over 14 million people, and if you include the entire metropolitan area, it’s more like 37 million. If those numbers are hard to process, then just know this: Tokyo is the largest city in the world by population; it is 4 times the population of New York City. That gave me some serious anxiety when we were preparing to visit Tokyo. I’ve visited NYC a number of times, and while I have really enjoyed every visit, the crowds and noise stress me out. How was it going to feel visiting a city 4 times as populated? To make things more stressful, I know essentially zero Japanese. I can say “hello” and “thank you” and that is about it. And certainly don’t ask me to read Japanese, that would be next to impossible. So how did the visit to Tokyo go for this ramen-loving girl who doesn’t speak/read Japanese and gets anxious around large crowds? Well, I’ll share more of the details about the entire trip in a later post, but for now, I thought I’d share my first takes of the city.
Take #1: Tokyo has the best metro system… in the world.
I feel confident saying that this isn’t just my opinion but a fact. The subway stations and trains were super clean (often more than I can say about most metro systems). Even with my nonexistent knowledge of the Japanese language, I could still navigate the stations and trains well. They were also really easy to use. We used the Suica cards, which we could download to our Apple Wallets and add money directly from our phones. All we had to do was tap our phones at the gate and walk on through. Piece of cake. And let me tell you, these trains ran like well-oiled machines that they are. The efficiency… oh, the efficiency! I’m not sure we ever dealt with delays and the stations are conveniently located to get you almost directly to wherever you need to go. We may have only walked for at most like 7 minutes after leaving any given station. I also really enjoyed how people waited in neat lines to get on the subway. Even the people were efficient! Those who need to exit a car go first, and then everyone else files in staying in line the entire time. It was very different from the pushing and shoving that I’m used to in order to get on a subway in the States.
Take #2: Tokyo seems as safe as people say it is.
I’ve heard a number of people say that Tokyo is one of the safest cities in the world. They may be right. I can’t believe the number of bicycles I saw parked on the sidewalks that were not locked up. And the ones that were locked often seemed haphazardly done. When I lived in Seattle, it was recommended to use 2 different types of locks for your bike and even then, it may get stolen. Even crazier… we were at a bar having some drinks and there was a woman by herself standing beside me. She left to go to the restroom and get this… she just left her phone and wallet on the counter. Just sitting right there! It was lunacy. There isn’t a single place that I would feel comfortable doing that in the US besides maybe my home, and even then, can you really trust your spouse? Not sure.
Take #3: Shhh… keep your volume down, this is a quiet city!
For a city of almost 40 million people, Tokyo has to be one of the quietest cities I’ve ever visited. When we arrived, we took the metro from the airport to our Airbnb and it was smack dab in the middle of rush hour. The trains were packed! But even then, it was so quiet. People rarely spoke on the metro; I often felt like I had to whisper to Christian when I wanted to talk on the subway. It was even quiet on the streets in most of the neighborhoods we visited. There seemed to be very few cars, so less traffic noise than I’m used to, and the people themselves generally seemed to keep their voices down. You could be walking by large crowds of people and I just kept thinking, “How are all these people so quiet?” It was wild. I just assumed that Tokyo would be this crazy, bustling city, and while it was in some ways, it was also shockingly peaceful and tranquil.
Take #4: Not everything is efficient.
I am a big fan of Japanese engineering (I drive a Japanese car and let me tell you, I wouldn’t trade that car for anything in the world and it’s not even something special), and I already told you that their metro system works like a dream… that said, um… I never knew where to walk. They drive on the left side of the road, and in general, they seem to walk on the left side. Ok, that’s fine, I just need to get used to the switch, right? Wrong! You often walk on the left, but not always. Now, there were usually signs in the metro stations to tell you which side to walk on, but why was it sometimes on the right?! And then that spilled onto the sidewalk… it was just chaos walking on the sidewalk. I’d try to stick to walking on the left, then someone would come at me because they were walking on the right and I didn’t know where to go! I’m flummoxed as to how a country that is so neat and organized in every other way can’t seem to get a good system in place for walking around. Let’s address that, Tokyo, okay? It’s literally my only complaint about the city.
Take #5: People were really friendly and helpful.
I’ve been to places where you try to speak the language and the locals scoff at your ignorance and lack of skill and then are entirely unhelpful (I’m talking to you, France). Even when we encountered people who didn’t speak much English, they would still try to mime and help us out. And the people seemed genuinely excited when we tried the few more complex Japanese phrases we learned. I doubt we were saying them anywhere close to correctly, but they still seemed happy we tried. Overall, everyone seemed super welcoming and kind. Japan is hardly the first country I’ve been to that has been like that, but it’s always nice to visit somewhere that is welcoming to foreigners (now I’m talking to you, USA). And if you happen to visit Tokyo, I highly recommend visiting the bar, Knock on Wood. Honda, the bartender, was one of a kind. He may be one of the friendliest people I’ve met… ever. Just tell him Ro-Co and Chi-Me sent you, he’ll know what it means.
Camping & Caviar 