Surviving in Tokyo

I was under the impression that Tokyo was the most expensive city in the world. This may have been the case years ago, but I can quite safely say that London is a much more pricey city. Though, like in any city, avoid the tourist traps if you don't want to blow all you hard earned pennies on one meal.

Speaking to people, it seems that Japan is one of those places that everyone wants to go to, but not that many people actually do it. Is it because they think it's too expensive? Or is it because of the language barrier? It doesn't seem as daunting going to France or Spain, where the language is not completely different from English. But the Japanese language is structured in a totally different way with no familiar alphabet.

Do not let the language barrier put you off. You can survive in Tokyo without a knowledge of the Japanese language. Station names are written in Japanese and English, so you wont miss your stop on the train. Many also announce the station in English too. English is taught to all Japanese children at school, however, many don't get the chance to actually use it in a real life situation. So, though a basic knowledge is had, pronounciation will often be difficult to understand.

Travelling around Tokyo is straightforward. There is an extensive subway network and overground trains too. To work out how much your fare is, you simply look at the rail map above the ticket machines and the price of your ticket is written next to the station you are travelling to. The names of the stations will all be written in Japanese though, so you will either want to know how to read the Kanji, or just the location of your desired station on the map. If you get your fare wrong, don't worry - when you arrive at your destination, you simply visit the 'Fare Adjustment Machine' and pay the difference.

Smoking is not banned in public places in Japan (as it is in England), however, there are designated smoking areas. You will see smoking areas on the street and in cafes and restaurants etc. You can light up in most places, but you are encouraged to be a responsible smoker in Japan. Outside Shibuya station, near Hachiko, there is a large smoking area, the most crowded I saw in Japan. Most are not as crowded as in Shibuya, but Shibuya is a very busy area where there is lots going on. You are encouraged not to smoke as you are walking down the street, you will see signs such as "a lit cigarette is carried at the height of a child's head". And of course, dropping your cigarette butt on the floor is just not done.

In fact, there is hardly any litter in Tokyo or any of the places I visited in Japan. Though, trying to find a rubbish bin is not easy either. I couldn't work out why there was no litter anywhere, but there were no bins either. Where do people put their rubbish? I am guessing they take it home with them. The only places you really see litter bins are next to vending machines and drink/food outlets. You don't see people walking along the street eating and drinking; they will buy something and consume it immediately where they bought it, or save it until they get home. This may explain the lack of litter.

There is so much to see and do in Tokyo, if you have a limited time you will certainly not see it all. Apparently there is a Hello Kitty Museum (I think it's called Kitty Land). I didn't get to visit, but to be honest I don't think I needed to - Hello Kitty is everywhere in Japan. You can buy clothes, dolls, jewellery, umbrellas, phone pendants and much much more, all with the cute little kitty on. In fact, the most useful word I learnt in Japanese is 'kawaii' - cute. Everything in Japan is cute.

There is a limited amount of green space in Japan. This is something you really notice when you look at the city from Tokyo Tower. London and Paris both have large parks and green space when you look from the London Eye and the Eiffel Tower. However, Tokyo is a sea of buildings, as you can see from the photo above. There are of course several parks in Tokyo and they are very well kept as you would expect. The Imperial Palace East Gardens are particualrly pretty and worth a visit. There is also a lot going on in Ueno Park around the art museums and Yoyogi Park is worth a visit to see all the young fashion victims dressed up in their chosen style.

As Tokyo is such a highly populated city, the city is forced to expand upwards into the sky. Like New York, there are a lot of very tall buildings. What I found quite surreal was going to a pub or bar that was on the 15th floor of a tower block. You would walk into an office building, get in a lift, the doors would open on the 15th floor and suddenly you were in a pub. Very strange. But cool.

If you want to see more pictures of Japan look here.