[rkbharat]

Its not exactly a travelogue but be something similar.

it was due from my side for some time and I was too too busy for anything other than work on weekdays, and weekends always goes in trips and sleeping.

Its almost three week after landed here in city of High rises and spaghetti train lines, and now I have started enjoying it after 3 weeks.

I landed at Narita airport on early morning on 20th July and first thing I did was exchanged the money. I had USD and got it exchanged for Yen @ 103 Yen to 1 USD, very bad rate, but no option, as I was not carrying any yen and was not sure about the places out side.

From airport to my first 2 day Hotel(Hakozaki, Tokyo), its was almost 40 Km, and Taxi was the most costliest option here(Though I had the option of using it at office cost). So I took Limousine Bus which cost around 2100 yes and dropped me the nearest TCAT stop. from where I took for just 2 Km and costed me 840 Yen.

First week was very horrible for me, specially on the food front. I had no veg options at all, and I am kind of 70% veg and 30%Non-veg(Eggs and only deep fried chicken). And everywhere it was raw meat, sushi, pork yukk. I was thinking how I am gona live here.

Any some good changes happened, I booked the hotel for 3 days, so I had the options to move somewhere else and I decided for some good Apartment in Shinagawa.

Atleast now I could cook something. but that was not the end of beatings. I went to department stores, and I said "what the ***", all in Japnese, no a single word in English(like they hate english, which they do).

But there is always a ray of hope, I took the snap each and every thing I thought I need, and took the printout and gave it to the interpretor in office and she did the nice job writing down the english. So I was on baby.

also found a McDees near by so had the option of eating chicken burger, life is moving.

So first weekend was the learning weekend, some of my team members are from China and they taught me how to use Tranis, Subways, Monorails and Bullet Trains(Shinkansen). I got a prepaid Rail card SUICA. very help if you do not know japanese. Will explain you how, later when I will try to write on transporation.

Last two weekends I visited lots of near by places like Shimbashi, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Yokohama, Akihabara, Yurakucho, Odiba(Fuji Building)etc etc.

This saturday I visited Mount Fuji, but luck was not with me, and it started thunderstrom as I reached, so had to cancel the climb at 5th Station.

There are lots of experience, problems,furstration, delight I will share frequently in this thread
Here some of the random pics.

View from IBM Building in Hakozaki




Shinagawa Station


Some view of Tokyo Bay Area












Some Local festival snaps:

[rkbharat]

Snaps from yesterday's trip to Mount Fuji, Sad that I could not climb..

I took the Bullet Train, Shinkansen as they say, for some distance and decided to take a longer route which goes via some old area.

Also I learned that local and outside Tokyo trains does not have instruction in english. but I always find someone who feel very good to help me in english. but its 1 out of 10 who knows english. Chances are high with young ones, Polics and Stations emplyees (Sometimes)

From Gotemba I took bus which takes upto the base 5, 5th Station. In 30 Mins and 11 Km we reached from 10mt to 1880mt height by bus. Its was a pretty steep climb the was even tough for ISUZU powered super bus.

But on the way it started raining heavely and was almost like thunderstorm. On the way we saw two broken in to peices, strucked by lightening.

Though do not want to try Mt Fuji again, But I am planning for a trip to Haokne, more famous for Five Lakes, which gives a very good view of Mt Fuji on a clear day.

Pics are not very good because of the clouds and rains

[desideep]

nice pics but i really expected some nice Jap cars to be in there

[rkbharat]

Originally Posted by desideep

nice pics but i really expected some nice Jap cars to be in there

Buddy, you are right, but hold on for some, I have lots of them, need some time to sort

[ASHISHPALLOD]

nice pics.
please keep updating.
cover all aspects like culture, roads, cars, people, tourist spot etc.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Wow... really interesting.

I used to work for a Japanese company in London, and things were just opening up nicely, with ideas like visiting head office (I think one senior Brit employee did) when they were taken over and the clock got put back a hundred years. I love sushi and sashimi, but they tell me that it is a luxury food over there too.

Your pictures make everything so clean... And ordered; a city landscape like it is made of Lego!

But it would scare me. As I spend a lot of time hanging around an Indian Travel site, I know that India scares people, and I often wonder why: it is travelling to China and Japan that scares me!

I would still have liked to have gone, but my flight budget always had India at the top, and now I'm living in India there isn't a flight budget.

[normally_crazy]

Nice pictures RK. I will be glued to this thread. And some more pictures of the trains (if you have) from the inside would be nice.

[dadu]

Nice travelogue & pictures, I will subscribe to it.

I am least aware of the Far-east and their lives (although I have a cousin settled there), your experiences will bring throw insight.

"Life of an Indian in Tokyo" should be a better name for this thread

[rkbharat]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

nice pics.
please keep updating.
cover all aspects like culture, roads, cars, people, tourist spot etc.

yes sir, I will

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I love sushi and sashimi, but they tell me that it is a luxury food over there too.

Your pictures make everything so clean... And ordered; a city landscape like it is made of Lego!

But it would scare me. As I spend a lot of time hanging around an Indian Travel site, I know that India scares people, and I often wonder why: it is travelling to China and Japan that scares me!.

Sushi is no more a luxury here, but honestly every thing is luxury in Tokyo. Its so damn costly. Wait for some time and I will post the rates common grocery items.

But yes, Japan is not English people friendly at all, and they do not care about it.

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

Nice pictures RK. I will be glued to this thread. And some more pictures of the trains (if you have) from the inside would be nice.

I will surely post, now that bought my Olympus SP560-UZ today .

Originally Posted by dadu

Nice travelogue & pictures, I will subscribe to it.

I am least aware of the Far-east and their lives (although I have a cousin settled there), your experiences will bring throw insight.

"Life of an Indian in Tokyo" should be a better name for this thread

Thanks dadu, honestly speaking I might not be able to post the picture of an Indian, unless I stay here for long time. But for short term travelers, I can try

[motorheadinc]

Also post on
a) Do's
b) Do Not's
c) Buy
d) buy not's
e) eat (veg/non veg)
f) eat not's

also what you may need in terms of clothes etc to carry along.

EDIT: Enjoy your stay dude.
Dont bother to write all in detail. Just a general idea

Cheers

[Amien]

Awesome pics and write up. I love the country and hope to visit it sometime. Will watch this space, this thread has great potential!

[rkbharat]

Before I explain in detail, lets put the Rule no.1 on table, pack everything you need and do not plan to buy it in Japan, or else you might end up paying 3-5 times more than what you could have paid in India.

Cloths:

Depends on which season you are in, July - September is Summer season in Japan (please search net for other season),and its very very hot and Humid, like in Mumbai. So you need Cotton Shirts and Trousers for formal and Tees and Jeans for Weekends.

Launder is very costly, For a shirt, Hotel will charge 1100 Yen. I am going to another laundry which charge 550 yen to wash and Iron the shirt. it also varies on type of cloth, like cotton, linen etc.

Buying cloth is very expensive, unless you travel long distance to find some cheap shops.

I wash inner in the machine provided in the apartment. You can find good detergent on department shops, though I took two days to understand which one is for washing cloths .

Black trouser and light color shirt is a trend here, but nothing strict. BTW most of Japanese love to be very well dressed, specially females (sometimes less dressed as well ).

If you plan to visit Mount Fuji or Mount Takao in summer, you might need some warm jacket. Its was chilling there this Saturday.

Also you need some good walking shoes, and you will have to do lots and lots of walking. I carried one pair of formal and one pair of Sude shoes

Also pack a portable but strong umbrella with you. You may need it anytime.

Toiletry:
if you are coming for short time, get enough with you, and for long term, it does not matter, you will have to buy from here. But lots variety are available, costly obviously.

Medicine
Carry all you need,all general and personal medication

Food
If you are a hard-core Non-Veg, this place is a heaven for you. if you are hard-core vegetarian, you will be dead with in a week, unless you know cooking and have time to do that (or you have lots of money for Indian Restaurant).

And if you are somewhere between above two, like me, You will have hard time.

Bottom line, this is not a place for vegetarians, so I carried lots of packed food(MTR) and Cup Noodles with me.

Also if you plan to cook, pack all the spices you need. You will not find anything other than salt,chilly powder, mustard powder in local departments. It took me two weeks to find Turmeric, found it in an Italian store in Shinagawa station, BUT, 620 Yen for 70 gm. So did I told you, PACK every thing from India.

For long term, there are some Indian stores around, but I have no idea.

Also there are some Indian restaurant as well. I tried one in Hakozaki owned by a punjabi from Jalandhar. Food was good but COSTLY. A full meal dinner for a person cost, 1700 yen, without drinks.

In shinagawa I found an India restaurant, charge 900 Yen for small meal and 1900 yen for full meal, and food does not taste like Indian.

Also McDonald is good for me. Chicken Burger with Large Fries and Medium Drink costs, 630 Yen, but fills the stomach very well. KFC serves bucket which is different than what we get in India.

At apartment, I am cooking rice, potato, Pasta, noodles etc some times. Pororoca is the department store where you can find vegetables. One single tomato cost 100 Yen, 4 medium size potato cost 198 Yen, 2 big size onion cost 150 Yen and similar prices. You can find lots of vegetable there.

There are lots of Japanese restaurant serving famous and good food from 600 yen to 1000Yen. So Non-vegies have no problem

Stationary
Carry whatever you need

Guides and Documents
Carry all essential document.

For travel guides/maps/routes, BUY it from India. Lonely Planet guide for Tokyo was around 600 Rs in India, here it is 2700Yen. So you know the message.

search Internet for all the railway/subway/monorail maps/JR Lines/Shinkansen(Bullet). I will share most of them in another post dedicated to transportation.

[mjothi]

Rajiv, The picture in your first post. Where did you take it from? Any chance was it from Oimachi? or its also from Hakozaki?
Just curious, because I see almost same view as from my office in Oimachi.

[jaysmokesleaves]

@rkb> This is one thread i will be glued to. I really appreciate you taking the time out to share so much considering that you are busy trying to adjust and get set there all the while.
Always wanted to see Japan once and experience their culture place and way of life. The information you are posting first hand is very valuable to people like me who have no idea but would love to be enlightened before we get there. PLease keep posting pics. Also appreciate if you can write a bit about the japanese way of life from your perspective and more travel tips on local transportation options for tourists and the best ways to get around seeing Japan.
Many thanks.
Regards,
J

[vezj420]

Hi RK....must say, this is a good thread so far. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I have to admit you're not doing too bad there at all! I know some Indians (esp. vegetarians) in your place who would have come back on the 2nd or 3rd day itself!

Keep it up with your cooking! I always knew Japan (esp. Tokyo) was very expensive. However, I've been to Seoul (S. Korea) and found restaurants to be even more expensive there (with a typical dinner for one being around USD$20)! That is mostly if you go to continental places like Bennigans, TGIF, etc. Local cuisine is a little less, but there's only so much local, Far-East cuisine that Indians can stand. I am a hard-core non-veg, as you say, but I still found it difficult to palate some of the exotic local dishes there...

It's always fun and a great experience to visit/live in a completely different place, and I wish you all the best. Looking forward to your reviews/pics on the Japanese car industry. If you can, PLEASE get some insight on the car-modding industry there as well. Would love to read about the tuners there! Take care, bro.

P.S. Jaysmokesleaves, I like your name