To the Left, To the Left: Love and Frustration in Tokyo

Tokyo is a pretty safe city, so I’ve felt comfortable wandering around without much of a plan. I’m trying hard to adapt to the local customs, and the biggest challenges for me so far have been as follows:

Walking on the left side of the street. I’m immediately sorry for all the glares I’ve given to people who don’t walk on the right side at home in NYC. Here they walk on the left side, so I’m always mucking it up and getting in people’s way. That is, of course, except when they change it and walk on the right side! Help!

Not eating in the street. It’s frowned upon to eat while walking, or while sitting on benches in public. And yet, it’s perfectly ok to eat on the train. Sort of the opposite of NYC’s unspoken rules. As I’m on a budget and often grabbing street food, I’m then faced with the conundrum of…where to eat it? Tokyo is a marvelously clean city, but there are also hardly any trash cans to be found. Interesting…

Not being able to use credit cards. Cash is widely preferred, which is kind of a pain when you’re trying to manage money on just a few days’ trip. That said, the yen converts easily to US dollars in my numbers-challenged head.

Despite these challenges, I’ve found the Japanese people to be pretty accommodating of my bumbling around on the wrong side of the street while I take in the city. So here’s what I love:

That there seems to be a mascot for everything.

It’s easily walkable. In the span of about 20 minutes I meandered from Akhibara, a district known for lots of electronics shops and manga cafes, to beautiful Ueno Park, where hundreds of folks stood stock still catching Pokemon while I stood stock still taking in the cicadas trilling in the lotus blossoms.

There are vending machines with iced coffee EVERYWHERE. They’re all curiously run by the major Japanese beer brands, but I’m endlessly grateful for being able to grab a caffeine jolt on the go in this tea-loving country. (Yeah yeah, I know, tea has caffeine too. It’s not the same!)

Matcha everything.

The train! The seats are soft and comfortable, run perfectly on time, and are a great place for people-watching, whether it’s the hordes of Japanese salarymen in the exact same outfit, stunningly beautiful Japanese women, or goofy teens in funky outfits. I’ve loved just chilling on the subway and observing.

 

And finally, and obviously, the freshest sushi I’ve had in my life.