This bus is O!H! K!

Doing a good job or not of keeping it LoPro?

A really cool moment I captured on the way to the Hiroshima Memorial Museum.

I swear this one isn’t Photoshopped.

No comment.

Who loves drugs…?!

Get your Starbucks Frappucciono with coffee jelly. (Not a far cry from some of the interesting boba drink combinations!)

Bee-ru! Gotta love Kirin beer just because they’ve created this awesome billboard…

Park it anywhere as long as there’s an empty gas pump above. Smart!

Start Your Day Early

I woke up at 5 am to ensure I’d be able to grab a quick snack and shower before meeting up with Ed Lau. Our plan was to head out to the Tsukiji Fish Market for a one-of-a-kind epic sushi breakfast.

When you’re on a fast-paced schedule, you can’t waste time lying around…er…sleeping! This was good too since Ed and I ended up getting slightly lost on our way there. Nothing we couldn’t handle. Besides, sometimes getting lost is the fun part! Just remember to give yourself enough time in case you do.

Research Your Transportation

The getting lost part leads to my next tip: make sure you research your transportation to your best ability. Some cities are walking-only cities, some are car-only cities (Los Angeles for the most part), some have good public transportation, and some have the most advanced public transportation you’ll ever see in your life (i.e. Japan!). Taking public transportation in Tokyo means you should know which train to get on, how to find your stop, which side of the station to exit, and which direction to head. The hardest part is finding the right train in which direction since there can be a number of different trains on different platforms leaving from any one station.

Ed and I had the problem of heading the wrong direction out of the station. This can be a problem if you’re not too keen on reading maps. The huge maps next to the train stations don’t always point North and South according to the top and the bottom of the map (North may be pointing 20 degrees to the left, for instance, which is indicated), so make sure you have a map on hand to compare direction.

I don’t know what I would’ve done without Ed. I definitely would have studied the system more, but I’m glad he had a few weeks to figure it out for me In Japan, however, once you’ve figured out the system it’s pretty much a piece of cake after that.

Create Your Game Plan

One of the biggest time savers is already having an idea of what you want to do or see when you’re in Tokyo. I don’t need to tell you that there are endless possibilities, so make your plan beforehand and commit to it.

As for myself, since I love food, my day mainly revolved around meals and filling in the time between meals with shopping. Therefore, I had to secure lunch and dinner and the rest was icing on the cake! Ed and I had planned to eat at Sushi Dai in the fish market (line in front of entrance shown left), which he heard was the best restaurant there, then head to Harajuku for some fun shopping. Sounded good to me. We got to the market by 9 am and waited in line for two hours. Feel free to read about the entire adventure here.

It was definitely worth the wait. Some of the items I’d never had before, like clam, uni (sea urchin), swordfish, and shiraebi (baby shrimp). Each one had a unique flavor and texture that I won’t be able to find here in terms of freshness, but that’s OK. This adventure hasn’t ruined sushi for me, just given me a newfound appreciation for it! If you find yourself at an amazing sushi restaurant, go ahead and let the chef choose the items if you feel up to it. We ordered the “Trust the chef” set, as it is actually called. Check out this video that Ed put together:

After our epic sushi adventure and Harajuku/Shibuya scramble (post and pictures to come), I headed back to my hotel to meet up with my college friend Asuka for dinner. Being from Japan, she was gracious enough to locate an izakaya for us called DDSK just a couple train stops from my hotel. Izakaya is basically a Japanese pub restaurant where you can drink and eat small plates, sort of like Spanish tapas but Japanese style.

How we ended up there was interesting. She chose two restaurants, both of which were full (remember, most of the good restaurants are pretty small). The second restaurant suggested we try their sister restaurant which was next door and down a stairwell. We were assured we could order their yakitori (grilled appetizers) from there. Awesome. And if you weren’t looking for it, you wouldn’t find it…my kind of place. We descended down the steep path to find a quaintly dark and narrow room. One table, a small bar, and a private room with space for a small dinner party. That’s it.

DDSK Tokyo, near Shimbashi Station

Variety of fresh sashimi

DDSK’s version of the “trust the chef” yakitori set, which Asuka requested. Grilled chicken parts: thigh, skin, gizzards, cartilage, breast, and liver. Oishi!

We ordered two additional dishes which I forgot to snap pictures of. The first was a tofu sample dish with two types of fresh tofu: regular and peanut. Yep, that’s right, peanut tofu is a regional specialty of Okinawa and is served up at DDSK. It had a sweet, pasty quality to it, sort of like peanut butter custard. It was outstanding. The regular tofu was so incredibly fresh, I would visit DDSK just for the tofu, it was that amazing. The second dish was a grilled cod, which was also cooked to perfection.

Be Adventurous About Food

When I travel, experiencing different cultures (even in different States) means trying new foods I hadn’t thought of trying before. Being closed off to another culture’s food means rejecting their most essential bond. I try to take an Andrew Zimmern approach when traveling (although I don’t seek out the bizarre) — trying everything at least twice before making my final judgment. My best tip when traveling is to try to be open when it comes to food. You never know, you just might end up loving chicken liver!

Hmmm…that one looks sort of like a Scion xB. Hmmm…is that a Mini-Cooper? Nope. Just a tiny car.

One thing many of the cars had in common: size. These were some of the cutest, tiniest cars I’ve ever witnessed in my life. Most looked like some variation of a Scion xA or xB, or a Smart Car — the body type being either very squarish with a low front hood, or very round and stocky. Others resembled passenger vans that had been shrunken down and compressed from the sides. Some looked very similar to the Mini-Cooper. But all in all, many were very, very compact with very small tires. Some of these cars made my Scion xA look like an SUV!

Here are some pictures:

Check out how the car in the background is parked!

You can find the “Midget II Classic” on Shodo Island. There were two smaller-sized seats in this car:

The Suzuki Lapin:

My personal favorite: the Daihatsu Trevis. I would totally buy this car if it was sold here! Too bad the Daihatsu brand died in the States. Here is a picture of an older model:

I’ve been home for nearly two whole days now and one thing I’ve realized is I miss eating Japanese food everyday. Two weeks may not be enough time to get supremely home sick, but every time my belly tells me it’s time to eat, I find myself longing for rice and umeboshi (pickled apricot), onigiri (rice ball with seaweed), or a big bowl of tempura soba (buckwheat noodle soup with tempura). Not once during my two week trip did I long for a carne asada burrito or an In-n-Out double-double.

I also miss the politeness of the people I came across during my trip. People treating people with respect. I would secretly catch women bowing to each other from across the street upon recognition of one another…a deeply patient, respectful bow. What a contrast it is to find yourself deliriously exhausted after a 9 1/2 hour flight in the middle of Los Angeles International Airport, fighting to find the Super Shuttle amongst the heavy traffic, shouting, and beeping horns. Attitude to the left. Attitude to the right. Sigh…

I’ll be updating my blog with pictures and stories of my adventures. My family and I covered a lot of ground in our 12-day trip, visiting cities such as Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka, and Shodoshima (Shodo Island), to name a few. It was a fast-paced trip for the first 7 days, and relaxing in Kyoto and Osaka during the last portion. You can catch my updates here in the next few days.

Special thanks go out to my buddy Ed Lau who so graciously woke up at 5 am to meet me at my hotel at 7 am for our Tokyo scramble. Feel free to check out our epic sushi adventure here. I only had one day in Tokyo, and my main priority of course, was food. Special thanks also go to my college friend, Asuka, who I had dinner with that same night. Pictures to come.

Thank you to all of you who also sent well wishes and inquiries about my trip. I hope you’ll enjoy my pictures and stories as they develop in the days to come!

[Picture: The famous Shibuya Station Crossing, Tokyo]