Jaunted in Japan: Sayonara
10/20/2006 at 3:05 PM
Tags: Jaunted Field Trips, Japan Field Trip (all tags)
Isn't it trippy when your plane arrives home earlier than it departed? I left Japan at 11:00 a.m. yesterday, and touched down at 10:30. Someone get Stephen Hawking on that piece--it's weird!
So I'm home, and though I still have a few listings to tip you off on, I figured I'd share a few thoughts. I spent 8 nights in Japan--five in Tokyo and three in Osaka--and it felt
short. I can do a day and a half anywhere in the world, or a month, but somehow the in-between is always awkward. I had just enough time to think about how tired I was.
Tokyo: You can check out my room at the Seiyo Ginza over on
Hotel Chatter--I went all-out in Tokyo and this place was worth it. I'm glad I didn't stay at the Park Hyatt, which is more expensive and seemed too out of the way (I had breakfast there). As far as first impressions of the city go, Tokyo is HUGE! Also, it is pretty impossible to find anything there, so get ready to lose about 25 pounds just trying to locate the tempura joint that will help you pack it back on.
Osaka: Props to
Lonely Planet for being one of the only Japan guidebooks to not call this place a stinkhole. If you have time, consider swapping a night in Osaka for a night in Kyoto. My hotel, the Ritz-Carlton, though "cheap" for an RC, wasn't worth the price--nice staff and really good cold soba noodles, though. I was fortunate enough to spend an afternoon with
Hiroshi Yamanoh, from the
Osaka 21st Century Association, who introduced me to my favorite neighborhood (Nakazakicho). I can't wait to return and spend some more time cafe-hopping there.
Speaking of returning, I've come home with the sense that the best way to experience urban Japan is to leave and come back. I wouldn't call it
scary (hey, I'm a New Yorker), but in less than two weeks, nothing is really going to sink in there. And that's fine. I'm on a certain high pining for "my" neighborhoods and "my" record stores, and there will be nothing like rolling into Tokyo Station some day in the future and knowing just how to make a beeline for Vinyl Japan.
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