Japan Diaries #3: First day in Tokyo

Back by popular demand - this is a re-post of the travel diary of our recent trip to Osaka, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Nagano.

After a two-part subway ride, we were on the other side of the city in Ikekubekuro, our home for three nights.  Our hotel is nothing special - just a tiny room with a decent bed.  Oddly, the pillows are not filled with feathers or foam -- instead they are filled with tiny pebbles.  That's a new experience for both of us, but easy enough to get used to.

Back to our first hours free of our luggage... we found this poster to be quite appropriate for Yo to pose in front of:

Yo didn't even realize what was behind her

We stumbled on a street fair near Ikekubekuro Station that featured a mediocre band trying to pay homage to Bob Dylan.  They most certainly did not pull it off, but the locals didn't seem to notice.  This guy, however, was not impressed at all:

Outside the cultural center in Ikebukuro

A typical sidewalk in "Our neighborhood" is wall-to-wall people, even on a Saturday afternoon:

Pachinko parlors in Kanamacho

Next door was a huge concert hall and art gallery.  We got up to the fifth floor to view the art exhibits just as a show was letting out.  If you want to survive in Tokyo, you have to be ready for sudden flash floods of people to appear and literally wash over you.

Inside the cultural center in Ikebukuro

For dinner, we wandered in to the pachinko parlor area.  After sticking our heads into several sushi shops, noodle houses and other restaurants of questionable types, I spotted this one and knew it was our destiny.  We got out our translation book and ordered some raw beef, squid and chicken.  Our table had a small pot with glowing charcoal embers and a small grill on top.  The cigarette smoke and heat from the pot had us both sweating immediately, but it was great food and so much fun to cook it ourselves with chopsticks.  I managed to make it flare up but a host was there quickly to splash some water on the coals.

Do-it-yourself indoor barbeque

After dinner we headed for the biggest pachinko parlor in the neighborhood.  Every seat was taken, and we couldn't figure out how to get started, so we put it off for another day.  We were exhausted after 24 hours straight traveling and it was time to get some shut-eye.

Pachinko addicts at work