To the Northern Capital!

At the beginning of December my group of friends and I decided to go to Tokyo before most of them left for home, only three of us being extension students. So of course, we had to go there in a way that was unique to Japan: the shinkansen (aka bullet train). We took the slowest of the three that there are, heading out on the Kodomo line, which was also the cheapest option, Shinkansen tickets being quite expensive. It's a pretty nice train ride even on the slowest (meaning, mostly, that it stops at every station between Kyoto and Tokyo).

Basically, I ate this.

I noticed in most of my independent travel on trains, that each Shinkansen station, especially on the Todaiji Line, has a bento stand nearby, so that you can grab a lunch or dinner before your long trip. Because I was not feeling, I bought one of the cheaper ones. It had a little octopus in, that was a little fun to eat because it looked like a lot of pretty stereotypical octopii you see in anime. When I reread the label I learned that it was actually composed of dishes that "Go Great with Beer!" which basically means it was full of starch and spice, and was alright with my stomach.
Also a little disheartening was the fact that because we traveled at night, we did not get to see Mt. Fuji at all. I was hoping on a second trip out during the day to see it, but unfortunately because it was the holidays and no express trains were running I only made it about twelve or sixteen stations after Nagoya on my way to Yokohama and had to turn back, otherwise I would never have made it home it time. I might talk about these variety of trips another time, but the point is I still have not made it to see Mt. Fuji.
When we did make it to Tokyo, we braced ourselves for the massive amounts of people, as just pulling into the station we were baffled by how many buildings there were and how tall they were. Compared to the smaller department stores and offices we were used to in Hirakata, Kyoto, and Osaka, these were massive. When we got off the train we were not surprised, and when we made it out of the gates to the Shinkansen, we were left a little baffled as to how to get to the train we needed for Ikebukuro. In fact, just getting out of the gates proved a problem, and met us with our first surprise in Tokyo: someone giving us directions in English. Usually we ask in Japanese, or are told something in Japanese and go right along with the directions we were given. This was a bit new though, and somewhat surprising even though we were used to speaking English with each other. Once we did make it out of the gates, our friend, in the middle of her panic attack from the crowds, managed to get us on the right platform and off we went to Ikebukuro!
Rather than stay at a hotel, which can get to be pretty expensive, we stayed at a ryokan, or traditional Japanese hotel. It was significantly cheaper, but also probably significantly colder, the heater not doing too much at times. This is largely because Japanese buildings are built to let in the cool breezes in summer, but in winter that makes things a little difficult. Trains have the same weird problem, but that mostly has to do with whether the train's heat is on or not, and if it is, it is pretty minimal. The trains in Tokyo though, were also pretty odd for us to take, even though we stayed on the loop line. When we got on, despite it being rush hour and the train being packed to the brim (and I mean the brim), I noticed that they had two televisions mounted above the doors. One flashed travel info and stations, as well as estimated times, in English and Japanese. The other was there...just to advertise and offer trivia questions. It turns out this is a pretty common thing on more frequented JR lines, but I was still surprised.
When we finally made it to Ikebukuro, we followed the instructions that had been emailed to me, and made out way past karaoke bars we had never heard of, and of course some familiar faces as well, the first one greeting us right off the bat was Colonel Sanders! We were glad to see they had no shortage of 7-11's or Family Mart's either, and in a sketchy back ally we had even found a Lawson Mart (it was sketchy because it was such an old part of Ikebukuro, we couldn't find our ryokan, and it was rainy and dark). After we came around a different corner and passed a couple more hotels, we found our ryokan relaxing in a pretty subtle middle of the alley location. Despite this it's still a pretty nice ryokan for what your paying, so should you ever be in Tokyo I definitely recommend staying at Kimi Ryokan. They don't do meals like super traditional ryokan, but they do have Japanese style rooms, which is nice (though I'm pretty used to it, as that's how the Seminar House rooms are set up).
Because we did so many things in Tokyo, I'll have to spread it out through several posts, but even the first night was quite an adventure!
~Zenko~