Japan and Korea Trip: Recap and Photos

Hooray for me, it's been over 2 weeks now that I've returned from my trip to Japan and Korea, and now that I've mustered the energy to write the blog entry I've nearly forgot every detail. WOOO, but here we go:


Sunday, June 24 - Flight from DC to Tokyo

Cindy and I took the direct 16-hour flight from Dulles to Narita airport via All Nippon Airways (ANA). After the positive experience of my direct flight from DC to Seoul on Korean Air, I was eager to compare Japan's national airline (in addition to JAL) against the Korean airline. My score breakdown is as follows (each score out of 5):

ANA
Boarding/Check-In: 5
Crewmembers: 5 (our first taste of first-rate Japanese customer service)
Comfort: 3
Food: 3 (this would be a 4 if it were not for the horrendous onion and mayonnaise sandwich they issued as a snack)
Movies: 3
TOTAL: 19

KAL
Boarding/Check-In: 3
Crewmembers: 4
Comfort: 4
Food: 4 (It's all about the complimentary Gochujang baby)
Movies: 5 (Korean dramas!)
TOTAL: 20


Monday, June 25 - Day 1 in Tokyo

We arrived at Narita airport on Monday afternoon. This was my first lesson in modern Japanese efficiency. That morning we had to A) get our luggage; then B) pass thru Customs; followed by C) withdraw Japanese Yen; D) book a limousine bus to the hotel; and E) rent a cellphone. This would take about half a day anywhere else in the world, but at Narita Airport we managed to hop off our plane and do all of the above and get on our limousine bus in 1 hour.

We arrive at our hotel in Tokyo, the Park Hotel in the Shiodome City Center (near Ginza). [As an aside, I did have fantasies of staying at the Lost in Translation hotel - the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku. However I figured that $350/night was too steep a price to re-enact a movie scene.] I highly highly recommend this hotel for anyone staying in Tokyo. It's luxurious but not absurdly expensive, and super-convenient as it's right above the Shiodome subway line. It also has a beautiful and tasteful glass and mahogany lobby where the staff greet all guests with a bow and a "Youkoso irasshai mashita!"

This was the view from our room (of Tokyo Tower):

Awesome.

Also awesome is the glorious Japanese toilet:

Equipped with heated seats, bidet, sprinkler, self-sanitizing mechanism, and "courtesy flush" noisemaker, you'll find it hard to crap in anything else once you've experienced the magnificence of this commode. Honestly, it's amazing that the Japanese get anything done b/c I can see all the guys back home wasting consecutive days sitting on heated toilet seats.

We were tired and jet-lagged, but did manage to wander outside our hotel for udon and Sapporo, which would mark the beginning our our noodle-tour in Japan.



Tuesday, June 25 - Day 2 in Tokyo

The great thing about being jet-lagged in Tokyo is that when you wake up in the wee hours of the morning, you get to catch the rare moments when the city is tranquil and calm. We decided to get the touristy/cultural stuff out of the way while we had the energy and took a train up to Asakusa where took the requisite photo of the Asahi Beer Golden Poop (supposed to look like a cloud of beer):


and saw some temples and shrines, which made us feel very cultured and refined.



This brings me to another point about traveling with my sister. She lies about wanting to see cultural landmarks! She professes her enthusiasm to see such sites, and then once we get there she becomes distracted by her one of her two true passions: shopping and eating.

Example 1: In Italy, while at the Trevi Fountain, Cindy is at the adjacent Benetton store buying pants.
Example 2: Again in Italy, while at the Pantheon, Cindy is distracted by the Gelateria.
Example 3: At the Asakusa temples, Cindy is too busy to look at Buddhist statues because she is buying Hello Kitty merchandise at the gift shops.



This is not to say that I'm a culture-geek either; truth be told, I was much more excited about the bowl of ramen we were going to have for lunch that day - A giant bowl of chewy noodles in rich soy broth, with a layer of fat coaxed from hours of simmering marrow. We went to a nearby ramen house recommended by the concierge and ordered the one with slices of pork shoulder AND pork belly, and soon joined the mass of slurping salarymen.



Warning: It should be noted that eating ramen effectively takes 3-4 hours of productivity in your day due to the inevitable ramen coma that ensues afterward. Upon finishing a bowl, it becomes a race against time to make it to a rest area before you conk out on a public bench. When we finished lunch it was 4PM and light out; when we woke up, it was 8PM and dark!

Stay Tuned for Shibuya and Day 3