Beshiros @ Home

Tokyo has one of the most confusing mass transit systems I’ve ever encountered. It’s not surprising considering you have at least 3 distinct subway providers (note I said providers, not lines) and local rails. This means there are at least a combined 20 subway/train lines covering the city.

You have to understand thought, with 13 millions people living in Tokyo alone, talking the car is not an option. An approximate daily ridership of 8.6 millions (more than twice the population of Montreal), the system must be efficient.

Lets start with the subway map.

You’ll notice that the lines are divided into two providers, Tokyo Metro and Toei lines. These are the two main providers for subway in the Tokyo area. Price schemes are variable, depending on which station you are starting and where you are going. There is a special transfer service for people transferring between the two providers. Note that having multiple lines at a station does not indicate an easy transfer. I’ve seen subway lines connected by a 850m walk (10-15 minutes). My favorite transfer is at Awajicho, where you need to exit the station and walk 300m outside to catch your transfer. Then there is the Keiō line, which is operated by a third party and serves the western part of town. You’ll need those trains to reach the Square-Enix store.

Next is the JR lines.

The JR lines will get you pretty much to the same places, but often with more of a walk. I found myself sticking more to the subway during my stay, but I’ve been told using either is a matter of preference. The price schemes are variable again, and there are no easy transfers with the subway lines. Note that many JR line stations will not have English indications, so you might need help figuring out what your fair is. Popular stations in both systems are Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Akihabara, Ueno, and Tokyo stations.

Finaly, if you need to get somewhere fast, you take the Shinkasen, the high-speed train in Japan. Although it’s pricy, it will get you there fast.

The Tokyo mass transit system might be complicated, but it’s efficient and easy to use once you get the hang of it. Just give yourself some time and you’ll be fine.

Akihabara is often describes as an anime lovers’ and gamers’ paradise. Every year, thousands of foreigners will visit this district, in the hopes of finding that cheap/rare find that they can’t find on the Internet. However, to properly explore Akihabara, you must first understand it.

The first time I visited Akihabara, I was severely disappointed. Too much hype I told myself. After all, there were barely 8-9 shops for anime and 4-5 shops for gaming. Most of the stuff was overpriced, with a 150-200% markup on the prices you would find in super store. Nothing I would call paradise. But then, I remembered a quote from a previous article I had read: “Akihabara is built upon layers, with the bottom layer being tourist traps. You must rise to the upper layers. The higher you go, the cheaper the price.”.

I went back on a Friday afternoon, when the district was bustling with young adults. I took a moment to observe: where were the people going? Then I noticed a couple of staircases I had misses before, sometimes outside and sometimes inside the shopping building. I started exploring these staircases and discovered a whole new world. Shopping buildings with 2-3 stores on the ground floor actually hid 40-50 stores dedicated to figurines, card games and manga. The prices were a lot better too.

Note that I am not endorsing that you go up random staircases. These staircases are usually well marked (in Japanese) as having stores on the upper floors. Look for indicators such as B1F, 1F, 2F, often up to 9F or 10F. As for the prices, lets take the Transformers Blaster USB hub, normally found for 5’800 yens at a department store. At the street level, this particular item would sell at between 6’400 and 6’700 yens. I found the same item in a shop on the 3rd floor for 5’700 yens. The best deal I found was at a shop on a 5th floor for 5’400 yens. Usually, avoid buying an item the moment you see it. That’s not to say that there aren’t any good deals on the ground floor. I found a SkyLynx figure, in good condition for 3’500 yens, on the ground floor. The trick is too shop around.

It should be noted that Akihabara caters to all groups of anime lover. As such, it should be noted that a lot of adult related material can be found here, some times even at the street level. A particular manga store had several floors dedicated to adult novels, the place itself being overly decorated with posters of big-breasted naked cartoon teenage girls in explicit positions. It’s an interesting experience to say the least.

Leaving the main street, I mostly found cheap electronic stores similar to what I would find in Taiwan. There would also be young Japanese women, dressed in maid uniforms, offering flyers for the commerce they represent. Some of these were restaurants or hair salons where I can get services from young Japanese girls in school or maid uniforms. I skipped that part of the Akihabara experience.

On interesting concept is the rental clubs. These stores have several cube plastic lockers, about a foot in length, that people can rent to sell their used anime goods. Price of these lockers varies, from 2’000 to 4’000 yens per month. The store staff will take care of selling your goods for the marked price, keeping about 15% of the sales for the store. If you are in the market for used or older merchandise, these clubs are a paradise. I saw figures, cards, stuff toys, etc. It’s also a good place to buy pre-assembled GunPla models, which is good if you don’t have the patience to build them yourself. Note that these models aren’t cheap, but they are pretty impressive.

I’m happy with my Akihabara experience. To properly experience the area, you need to give yourself some time to explore, or have a Japanese friend who knows the area. But the experience is quite worth it.

Google maps has a cool functions where you can tag an annotate maps. To try out this function, I tried building a map of all the places I’ve visited. Pretty cool. Check it out.

View Places I’ve Visited in a larger map

The summer program I participated in had two destinations: Japan or Taiwan. I pick Taiwan for obvious reasons, but I still had a big desire to visit Japan at least once in my life. Birthplace of Anime, Gundam, Transformers, Sushi and J-Pop, I wanted to see at least Tokyo with my own eyes. So after the internship in Taiwan, I took a plane to Japan and visited for 4 days.

My friends who have visited Japan before me often describe it as a mind-blowing experience. Having lived in Taiwan for 2 months now, my perspective was very different. So, I decide to talk about Tokyo, comparing it to Taipei.

Insanely big shopping malls like Yodobashi often come up in conversation. I had my shopping freak-out in Taiwan when I first visited a huge Sogo store, or the computer market, or even the Jade market. By then, the Japanese shopping malls didn’t seem so incredible.

With Tokyo’s large population, you won’t see as many scooters in the street. In Tokyo, mass transit is the way to go. Tokyo also seems more of a by-the-book society. Even stairs will have specials marker on where to go up and where to go down. Silly me, I always thought stairs were bi-directional.

You’ll find a lot more police and surveillance camera in Tokyo. Where in Taipei, police officers are seen most often as traffic agents, the Tokyo police are seen most often giving directions. Another key point is the level of English. I was surprised to see the low level of English in Tokyo. True enough, it’s a lot better than Taipei and you can usually find a Japanese with good English to help. However, most people I interacted with had very little knowledge of English, especially the direction giving police officers.

One of the most striking differences between the two societies is how they deal with adult-related material. In Taipei, you’ll have a hard time finding an adult store. Most of them are very well hidden and only discretely advertised. Tokyo will have large neon signs advertising adult stores, pimps in the streets offering help to find a good striper, and young girls in maid uniform inviting you to special parties.

I enjoyed visiting Tokyo. It’s true that much of the amazement factor was quashed by two months of living in Taipei. However, I enjoyed visiting many of the places I’ve only read about on the Internet, while soaking in the rich culture. I would definitely recommend Tokyo as a vacation spot for a couple of days.

So I’m in the Taoyuan airport, getting ready to leave and head back home.  It’s been a long 2 months, full of discoveries and excitement. I’ll never forget my summer 2010.  But what are my final thoughts on Taiwan? I learned to love Taiwan, and I learned to dislike Taiwan at the same time.  I’ve met some of the nicest people in Taiwan. I’ve also met some of the nastiest. It’s a culture side-effect that requires a bit of context to understand.

If you’re not from Taiwan, you are a “foreigner”. It’s a label that will follow you, regardless of how long you stay here and how hard you try to integrate. I have a friend that’s been here for 8 years, learning the language and the customs.  People still treat him like he’s fresh of the plane.

As a common rule, Taiwanese people do not know how to interact with foreigners. I’ve met several Taiwanese on this trip who told me: “You’re the first foreigner I’ve talked to and interacted with”. It’s not a bad thing; it’s just that there is a lack of exposure and understanding. The younger generation is usually very open with foreigners, with some exceptions of course.

It’s the older generations you have to watch out for. A Taiwanese friend of mine told me that his aunt believed that the world is divided into two islands, Taiwan and Foreigner Island. Apparently, all non-Taiwanese people came from this island. This sums up the “outsider” mentality well. When interacting with the older generation, I can expect several different reactions. Some will be annoyed or angry, because I don’t know Chinese. I’ve had a cab driver tell me for 10 minutes that I should be learning more Chinese and that it’s “easy”. Some people will not look at you, simply ignoring you. This is because their inability to communicate shames them. This makes ordering at restaurants difficult, as your waiter might be avoiding you. You have to be patient and not push them. With time, Taiwanese people will warm up to you.

But that’s not to say that Taiwan is a bad place. As with any country, you’ll meet different groups of people.  I would say that Taiwan requires more patience and political finesse than I have.  As such, I can’t see myself living here on a permanent basis, especially when labeled as a foreigner. I’ll always treasure the time I spent here, and the friends I’ve made. But it’s time to head back home.

This has been one insane week. Four days to explore Tokyo in all it’s glory, I’ve been running around most of the week. Add to that a side trip to Shizuoku to see the giant Gundam, you have an incredible trip.

I’ve got a lot to say about about Japan, but I’m currently a bit jet lagged. So the articles will be coming. Until then, enjoy the picture galleries. First, there is Tokyo.

Tokyo 2010

Ueno park is a large park found in the middle of Tokyo. It’s the one stop for all the big museums, the concert hall, the zoo and an insanely large park. I found myself walking a bit through the park and the zoo.

Ueno Park 2010

Akihabara is the mecca of anime, game and electronic lovers. It’s also quite tricky to navigate properly. I’ll be writing about it shortly.

Akihabara 2010

Shizuoku is not your traditional tourist spot, it’s got factories and a convention center. But one of those factories just happen to produce Gunpla. Thus, this year, on the 30th anniversary of the factory, you can find a 59-feet Gundam near one of Shizuoku’s train station. Taking the train is also a good opportunity to catch a glimpse of the Tokyo country-side.

Shizuoku 2010

Last weekend in Taiwan, and I had a chance to travel with friends and my brother. This time, it was Yeliou. On the east coast, Yeliou is known for it’s beautiful beaches and mushroom rocks.

Yeliou 2010