Touchdown In Tokyo - Day 1, Part 2

So... the rest of Day 1. Dinner. We ended up wandering around for about half an hour before heading back towards the hotel and we spotted a neat little side stall with some Ramen plastic imitations out the front. It looked like a neat little place to eat, so we headed in. Trouble greeted us as we sat down - the menu in front of us (if you can call it a menu) was only in Japanese. Furthermore, the staff also only spoke Japanese. Arg. We did manage to order though - as we pointed to what we wanted to order (the imitations out the front). In the end it was quite a good feed, and it was also reasonably priced.

I've been told by almost everyone that everything in Tokyo is expensive. I don't really believe that this is the case, although it's really only Day 1. The ramen meal that I ate was 900 yen, which is roughly 9 Aussie dollars. Not too mch different than eating noodles back home. Will definitely have to see how it all pans out as the trip progresses.

One really odd part of the dinner experience was the lack of Japanese people around. For some reason this little Ramen shop on the main street seemed to be a bit of a foreigner's haven (although not foreigners in the blond hair and blue eyes sense). There seemed to be some people who spoke both Cantonese and Mandarin wandering into the store as we were sitting there. Strange. There were Japanese people inside though, but only a few.

So after dinner it was time to walk around for a little bit. It's always good to have a bit of a walk around after eating... well I guess it's always a good time to have a bit of a walk. Anyway, we walked this wide circuit out eastward gradually making our way back to the hotel. A few interesting points to mention whilst bumbling about town.

Petrol stations. Yep, petrol stations. Maybe it was the chilly night messing with my brain, or maybe it was something else - but I was thoroughly impressed with one of the Japanese petrol stations that we passed. The photo can be seen below. The fuel pumps come from the ceiling - quality. Furthermore, the price / amount of fuel is displayed on this electronic board above the entrance of the shop. I wish there was a Dr. Drive in Sydney. Classic. Actually, really don't know why I got excited about this... Japanese technology is great!

Respect. The Japanese seem to be big on respect, and this was quite true on the stroll around town. Being a big urban behemoth, Tokyo has quite a bit of construction work about the place. We passed by one of these contstruction sites and there were people assisting with the flow of traffic (both pedestrian and cars). As we were passing by one of the construction sites, one of the gentlemen there bowed to us. Impressive. Of course, a return bow was given :).

Finally, a little bit of humour - at the vending machine. Shenanigans at the vending machine - seriously funny. Got some video of this, but Blogger doesn't accept video as far as I can tell. If I can be bothered, maybe i'll whack it on You-Tube or something. So given that there are thousands of these vending machines about we thought we'd give it a try by purchasing some Hot Chocolate. It should have been easy - but it wasn't. Dave had a crack at the vending machine first - 120 yen required. Dave puts in a sucession of coins... all rejected. He gives the machine another look and tries again. Failure. Would have been highly embarrasing if anyone were to watch. So I then have a go. The money is accepted, I press the button for Hot Chocolate (as well as the funky one with the rabbit) and out it comes. Classic. In built discrimination! After I got my drink, Dave managed to get his. Quite the funny way to end the day.




Tokyo Tower at Night


Dr.Drive Petrol Station


Vending Machine Shenanigans