Adventure In Tokyo, Japan!

Holy bananas do I love Tokyo! I've always enjoyed traveling, and am fortunate to have parents who believe that visiting and learning about other cultures is important, and have taken me to a great many places during my youth. I truly appreciate and value how much the world has to offer. I have a loooong list of places I would love to visit in my lifetime, as I am sure many people do, and one of the places I always wanted to go to was Tokyo, Japan! And I was able to make that a reality this past November, when my sweetie Scott and I hopped on a plane and spent about a week and half in this amazing city. Much too short, but there's always a next time!

It was funny, when Scott and I met, one of the questions he asked me was what city I would love to visit. And Tokyo was definitely on the top of both our lists. It's an amazing place, and a serious culture shock. I think we both knew some of the novelty things to expect, the things that you hear about like self-cleaning toilets, vending machines around every corner, small living spaces (yes, this includes hotels), massive crowds (this feels like an understatement), efficient subways, all night arcades (okay, maybe not all night, but practically!), and more, more, MORE! But really my expectations were surpassed, lol.

The first thing I did to prepare, and I'm pretty sure I can confidently say that I did MOST if not all of the preparing, was to find some travel guides. Not alot, just a couple that I felt really hit the main things of what I was interested in. It's really important to plan out the things that you want to do and see, places you may want to eat and shop at, especially in a foreign country where you are NOT fluent in the language. Which I am definitely not, and don't expect that they speak English, best to assume they don't. And really, for the most part, we got along fine despite the language barrier; this is because:

1- Restaurants often offered English menus or at the very least menus with pictures. The great thing is that I don't have any food allergies - so I wouldn't have to ask "What's in this?" And since I'm not a vegetarian, I wasn't too concerned about what "exactly" I was eating. Let's assume it was all "normal" lol! Actually, it really was, we weren't trying anything exotic, everything was pretty much beef, pork, chicken, or seafood - served with rice or noodles - and plenty of noodle bowl and sushi houses to choose from!

2- Commuting is super easy in Tokyo, don't be frightened about this at all! Okay, so there were maybe 3 occasions where we needed to use a taxi. The first being when we arrived. We just wanted to get to the hotel (and I picked a hotel that was in a major district of Tokyo, Shinjuku, and also had easy access to many Subway lines that could take us to other districts of interest - Shibuya, Harajuku, Akihabara, etc.), since we were disoriented, we felt like the best thing to do was hail a taxi cab and show them the address. I guess addresses are a little more complicated system in Japan then I realized, as showing it to him didn't seem to make a "click of recognition." He took some time finagling with his GPS thing to try and figure it out, and I tried to name some places that I knew were right down the street from the hotel. At any rate, he did not speak English, and subsequently we found out that he was not the only taxi driver to not speak a lick of English! BUT the great thing is Tokyo's subway! As long as you properly plan out your main destinations, either before you leave your homeland, or before you leave your hotel, you'll be all set! It was easy-peezy navigating their subway lines, the signs and maps were very clear, everything was color coded, and the great thing is the subway is easily accessible no matter where you are or where you want to go. And having a good guidebook will help you out with this too.

3- Signs, signs, signs! Both visual and typographical, there are signs depicting just about everything and anything you could be looking for, from food to restrooms to shops. And honestly, if you are going to a foreign country, you ARE there to explore! Take advantage of it, and don't worry so much about not being able to "understand." Just wander around and soak it in, believe me, you'll find a lot of recognizable and "comforting" restaurants and shops, from Wendy's to Gap. Though I highly recommend you try something different, lol!

4- Ok so I said don't worry so much about the language barrier, cause it's so easy-peezy to find your way around even if you don't speak Japanese. Well, if all else fails and you really are lost, I promise, you'll be able to find one person that you will manage to talk to in broken English, lol! But truly, if you plan accordingly, and bring maps and some touristy guidebooks, you will be A-OK!