Tenacity
- Jackie Endres
- Oct 20, 2019
- 14 min read
We have less than one week left in Tokyo and are going to miss it something fierce. While the first several days can be characterized by emotion-filled assimilation and adjustment, our last couple of weeks have flown by as we continue to fall deeply in love with this organized, safe, and whimsical place.
And if there’s any lesson that has been valuable so far in Tokyo, it’s this: tenacity matters. Here, tenacity has created a unique series of events that would have been non-events had we not had what it takes to stand in the face of a (soft) X and say, “Not today, Tokyo. Not today.”
Here are some highlights of the Tenacious We.
That time natural disasters interrupted our travel
We’ve had quite the week of weather, starting right where we left off in our last blog post.
Remember that time we tried to stay up all night to catch a sunrise? We felt it the next day. To give ourselves time to recover, we had only one thing planned--an evening at the Kabuki theatre.
After arriving, getting our English translation screens, and navigating to our seats, we settled in. But eight minutes into the show, there was some subtle movement of the theatre, and it turns out that that was our first Japanese earthquake. A little one, but the epicenter was less than two miles away so it was enough that we felt it.
But it didn’t end there. At dinner post-Kabuki, we overheard a couple talking about a pending typhoon. They seemed somewhat worried based on news coverage (of which we had not yet heard/seen), and so we perked up and started following more of the weather. Over the next few days, the news exploded about Typhoon Hagibis, which was threatening to be the biggest in Japanese history since a devastating one in 1958.
Rain started rolling in on Friday, and the locals were ready for it.
We also started some of our own prep for the typhoon. Besides stocking up on groceries, we made sure to fill water bottles and bladder packs and filled our bathtub as well so in the case of water problems we could at least use that to flush the toilet. Our windows looked storm treated, but we closed the curtains so if any windows broke the curtains would hopefully catch some of the glass blowing in.
We had already planned to stay in a Love Hotel that night to experience that uniquely Japanese offering, and despite the fact that we would have to get home the next day (Typhoon Saturday) we stuck with the plan.
The Love Hotel had his and her Yukatas (fortunately not much difference between these but color), mood music and lighting, disturbing Japanese soft porn on the TV between the weather and the news stations, and in-room karaoke. What more could you ask?
We were up and out early on Typhoon Saturday, and one of the employees of the Love Hotel, Suzuki, armed us with two strong umbrellas for our journey home. It was a nice gift and gratefully received as it was already raining quite a bit.
Overall, much of the day in Tokyo felt like an easy midwestern rainstorm. It was a full-day affair, and we just sat inside, read, watched The Good Place, and napped. But a typhoon couldn’t hold us all day. By mid-afternoon, we noted that the forecast had moved out a bit, and we took the chance to adventure out, which was a pretty fun part of the day.
Sure, we got soaked, but we also got to see what one of the biggest cities in the world looks like when it’s basically empty. Most places were closed but some were open, so we ventured into a couple of the convenience stores to see what we could scrape up to get us through the rest of the day. And then we returned, put on sweats and stayed cool for the remainder of the storm.
At our dinner table, we got the first real excitement. While eating some pre-packaged convenience store sushi, the fish started shaking. And so did we and our entire apartment. At first, we thought maybe the wind was actually picking up, but we were mistaken. We were in our second earthquake, this one much larger and longer. It probably lasted 20 seconds during which Heather and I just stared at each other, mouths agape: we were in the middle of a typhoon and earthquake!
A couple of hours later, the worst of the typhoon came through Tokyo with high winds. We watched vegetation hang on for dear life, debris fly, and one of our windows getting owned.
Though this was the worst we witnessed of the typhoon, it was brutal elsewhere, with death tolls in Japan only surpassed this decade by Typhoon Talas in 2011.
On a lighter note, one of the treats we had bought from venturing back out in the rain brought us great pleasure, which we would have missed had we not been willing to play in a little rain before the real storm.
That time we almost struck out
After missing the Ghibli museum this trip, we knew that we needed to get out ahead of tickets for activities. Hence the plan to get professional baseball tickets the day they went on sale. But, by the time we had logged in to buy tickets, they had already sold out.
I dug in deep and started researching the secondary ticket market in Japan and discovered Viagogo. By that evening, we had found tickets for one of the last remaining games available, and it happened to be for the Climax Series, the equivalent of the pennant race in the MLB. Our hometown team, the Yomiuri Giants, was playing.
The game itself was a cultural event. Though in many ways it felt like home being at a baseball stadium, there was still a lot to note that was different.
Affordable bento boxes instead of overpriced burgers and fries.
The in-stand service was left up to attractive women who wore their hats half-on and had kegs of beer strapped to their backs so you could always get a cold draft.
The lack of high-fiving and the prevalence of soccer-like orderly cheering.
Bugles-like treat flavored with green soy sauce.
Churros upon churros (this isn’t just a ballpark thing, there are a lot of churros here in Japan which made me wonder where they originate. (The answer, thanks Googs, is Spain and Portugal, though there is also chance the Chinese did it, but less likely they called it a churro).
The Giants won the game and were one step closer to the Japan Series (the Japanese equivalent of the World Series, which, lbh, is not the World Series but the Canamerican Series). They ended up winning the following night as well, woot, so the Tokyo team is in for the championship game.
But what else did tickets to this game afford us? A visit to the stadium grounds which is a theme park. Enter, Tokyo Dome. Another magical place within Tokyo that has rides, games, a haunted house and more. Our quick review of attractions:
Thunder Dolphin: This roller coaster threatened to be pretty demanding. Before released to the line-up, we had to remove our earrings, watches, scarves… anything loose or metal on the coaster. But the build-up was worth it. We rode this one twice just for the view. It was fantastic. The first hill climbed 90 degrees up for an eternity and at its crest (before plummeting us straight down) gave us a fantastic 360-degree view of Tokyo and its hugging mountains. The second time we rode it Heather remarked, “I even kept my eyes open this time!” It was that good.
Super Viking SORABUNE: Who doesn’t love a belly flip? What could make it better? How about a Japanese child sitting directly across from us that couldn’t decide whether she was terrified or thrilled and her face changed about every five seconds to display this indecision.
Big O. It’s a Ferris wheel. How great can it be? Let me tell you. We got to the front of the line and were able to choose between two tracks. The normal track and, you guessed it, the karaoke car. Obviously, we chose the latter. Hits we hit include Last Christmas; Call Me, Maybe; I Want it That Way; and the tried and true Bohemian Rhapsody.
That time we lost our key
Not that Tokyo Dome day wasn’t full enough, but that morning, we also had quite the adventure. I’m not good at suspenseful stories, so I’ll tell you the end of this one first. We left our key somewhere in Nakameguro and subsequently found it, incidentally, in the place we left it.
We had spent the morning running, having breakfast at a Portland-esque place Tractor, and sauntering through the neighborhood which is sort of hipster-residential, lined with boutique coffee houses, restaurants, and indie shops selling sweatshirts from Germantown, Wisconsin.
One unexpectedly fabulous stop was the Starbucks Reserve. I’ve been to my share of Starbucks, and none really feels more special than the others. But this one was different: three floors, a rooftop seating area, in-house large coffee roasters, and a tea smelling section. Fanceeeeeeeey. We ordered a Shakerato (is this a thing in the US? Because we have only just discovered them in coffee places in Tokyo thus far…) and relaxed on the rooftop terrace.
On our way to the train home we stopped at a popular pancake place Flippers to grab some food for later (I thought we were getting pancakes, Heather thought we were getting strawberry parfait). As we started walking away from Flippers (pancakeless, sigh), we realized we had misplaced our apartment key. It had simply been zipped into a running shorts pocket that also held our money, so it could have been lost at Tractor, or the Don Quijote (remember, the we-sell-everything store, AKA Donki) that we stopped at and got mesmerized by the eels, or the vending machine in which we got a can of hot corn soup, or somewhere on our run…
We first went back to the Donki but no key. X.
Our next stop, and best guess for where we left the key, was the Starbucks Reserve. We walked the mile back and approached the counter, but the host that had sold us the Shakerato was no longer at the desk. We tried to ask the woman currently working there if she had found a key, but she just directed us to another area (her line was long) indicating that we could also order coffee down the bar. But we didn’t want more coffee! Then, with a halo and a bright glow surrounding her, our former host descended the stairs and smiled knowingly at us and without English or Japanese, she said “I have your lost key, my children. Have no fear for you are in my care now.” And then we got our key back. Rad.
That time we kept getting rejected from sumo
As a tourist in Tokyo, it’s common to spectate either one of the sumo tournaments or practices held. We weren’t fortunate enough to have any of the Tokyo tournaments scheduled during our stay, so we booked tickets to watch a practice.
Well, we tried.
Heather booked via Voyagin, a site that enables foreigners to book attractions, often at a discount. But, she got rejected twice because the dates she booked later ended up being full.
So I booked a practice with Klook, the competitor to Voyagin. I was successfully scheduled for the 12th but got an email saying later that, apologies, this had filled up, too. (The issue here is that Voyagin and Klook don’t always run the tours, but book via local third parties and it’s not always fool-proof the availability.) But good news, there was space on a few future dates, so I selected the morning of October 15th.
On the 11th, I got a confirmation email from the third party (Beauty of Japan Experiences) giving me the meeting time, meeting place and staff’s name. We were going! Our tenacity had paid off!
But then, at 10:42 PM on October 14th, I received this from Klook:
Sorry for keep you waiting.
We're informed by the operator that the activity is not available on 2019-10-15 and other recent dates. We can only cancel this order and give you a full refund. The order will cancel after we received your reply.
We were to meet near the sumo stable early the next morning but were just informed our tour was at capacity. Sumo is a cannot miss event in Japan. What could we do?
Well, we just showed up anyway with the confirmation email from Beauty of Japan.
We had clearly been confirmed, so they’d have to let us in. The BoJ rep was confused because our names weren’t on his list. But, his was on mine (athankyou, Kono-san), and so he just let me scribble my name down and they made space.
We were ushered into the small stable with the rest of the (mainly white, English-speaking) spectators and led to our cushions on the floor. We were required to follow strict instructions to avoid getting kicked out of the stable:
No talking. Including whispering.
No videos.
No showing the soles of our feet to the ring as this is a sign of disrespect. Must sit cross-legged, with feet flat on the floor, or with legs bent behind.
The practice began with 15 minutes or so of the wrestlers counting in Japanese while going through a series of stretches and leg slaps. Then there were warm-ups of shuffling through the ring. Finally, two of the wrestlers reset the ring by sweeping the dirt back into a neat circle, and the fun began.
Most of the remainder of practice was a series of one-on-one matches where the winner stayed in the ring. These guys were athletes: built, wily, flexible, strategic, competitive. It was remarkable to view.
The cooldown itself was an event, with the practicing wrestlers getting their turns trying to push the (we assume) head wrestler (at least the biggest) out of the ring, and if they failed they were pushed to the ground. The practice closed the same way it had begun, with slaps, stretches, and counting.
One of the things we enjoyed most was the authenticity and tradition. This isn’t some commercialized reproduction of a ceremony or activity that has since been wiped out (like you often see in the US), but a real execution of a sport that is both modern and historic, with its roots being set more than 2000 years ago.
After the practice, we were all shoved into a corner to form a “line” for photos. That part felt somewhat commercial, but the wrestlers seemed to really enjoy it, and we got an appreciation for their carefully constructed massive size.
By the way, during the practice, we also got a feel for their personalities. It wasn’t all business--there was joking around, competitive spirit, and even an English quip from one wrestler to another, “You’ve got to let it go man, walk away.”
Heather and I enjoyed it so much that we looked for whether there was an actual tournament anywhere in Japan while we are here through November. And sure enough, there is one in Fukuoka, so we used (the teeniest amount of) miles to book flights and hotel there, and will be attending a real tournament near the end of November.
That time we weren’t monkeying around
The most involved and expensive excursion we booked was to visit the snow monkeys in Nagano. This isn’t a zoo expedition, it’s a hike through their natural habitat to a hot spring area that the monkeys use to keep warm in the winter.
Fun fact, these monkeys are the coldest weather primates next to humans.
Anyway, we had an early morning to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Nagano. (Side note: the Shinkansen is boss. Driving to Nagano would take 6+ hours. The train? 2.). So we arrived at the train station, got to the ticket booth and were…
Rejected.
The ticket machine said the train we wanted was not available. Typhoon damage. We went to the information counter, worried but, of course tenacious (we are doing this!) in hopes we had another option to get to Nagano in time for our 9:30 tour (it was just before 7 AM at this point). He nodded that there was. We had to go to the physical ticket office to purchase our tickets.
We did, and the train left later than normal, but still with enough time to meet our group for the tour.
The tour started at the Zenkoji Shrine and was followed by a sake tasting and lunch.
Before the hike through Monkey Park, we had some indication that we were in for a tough day. The Facebook site said, “No Monkey” for the park only one day prior. The live cams showed no monkeys in sight. But we don’t give up!
So we got to the park and saw this…
Followed by this …
Turns out, the typhoon caused significant damage to Nagano (not just the trains), and especially this park. All the construction taking place was only a result of rebuilding after the typhoon. And they haven’t seen monkeys at the park since it came through. In fact, the day we were on the tour was the first day since the typhoon they actually ran it (two groups in our tour had been scheduled at earlier dates that were canceled).
This wasn’t boding well for us. We did the whole hike looking up and down, we sat patiently near the hot springs. We tried looking over the cliffs.
No Monkey.
Disappointed, we left Monkey Park. Heather and I aren’t one for calling trips a waste of time. We still got to see a beautiful temple, have a delicious lunch, drink and learn about sake, and visit Nagano, site of the first Winter Olympics ever! (That I remember…)
Because we had time left over, our guide also took us through a nearby small Onsen town that the monkeys sometimes also visit. People were walking through the town when we got there, donned in their Yukatas and visiting the various Onsen. It was ADORABLE.
We also got to purchase and eat a soft boiled egg that had been cooked in the hot springs. It tasted just like an egg.
We were walking slowly back through the town, knowing we needed to leave soon when we heard a dog bark. I walked towards it, but the rest of the tour group was quite a bit ahead of us (we were looking for a place to kindly throw away an eggshell) and we saw their excitement first. We hustled ahead, and there, perched upon a retaining wall, were several monkeys.
We saw the alpha, and mamas and babies. We even witnessed an injured one that appears to have hurt or lost his legs but climbed like a total champion.
In summary...
We saw monkeys!
Our guide said that these monkeys look like the ones who had previously frequented Monkey Park, so I wonder if the typhoon had forced their relocation. We didn’t get more than 15 minutes with the monkeys though, because we had trains to catch.
But, the cherry on the sundae, we got to ride in the front car of the train at sunset.
That time we were told we couldn’t eat sushi
Our first non-Japanese friend came to visit this past week for his BIRTHDAY! So, we celebrated that some.
His one request was to eat some good local sushi. So we found this well-reviewed, but itty bitty place Akasaka Sushi. However, it was… well, a little too tiny. When we arrived there were only two seats available (about 10 total seats in the place), so I stood outside and waited. As soon as one person left, I went in and asked “San-nin?” (three people?) and immediately got an X and bow. No.
I don’t know enough Japanese to continue the conversation and ask, “No forever, or no right now…?” So I left a bit confused and dejected and walked to the wine bar where Heather and Jason were having a glass.
This place was tricked out for Halloween, and I started chatting with the woman working there asking if she planned on getting any trick-or-treaters. She did, and that sparked more conversation with her about Halloween, things to do in Osaka, Jason’s birthday, etc. We then asked her where we could get some good sushi (since we had been rejected next door) and she responded with, “Next door.” I explained to her our situation and asked her if she wouldn’t mind helping us to see if it would be possible to eat there at all tonight.
She gladly obliged, walked next door, and came back and said, yes, we can eat there, they will come to get us when the group of four leaves.
It was only about fifteen minutes later when we were notified that the hour of sushi was upon us. We squeezed into the sliding doors, sat at the counter, and ordered omakase.
Oh.my.kase.
It was delectable, delicious, well-prepared, savory, all the things. And I don’t normally like eel, and his preparation made that my favorite piece.
The best of the rest
The rest of our recent adventures, we’ll leave to bullet points and pictures. We…
Went to two amazing museums: Trick Art and Borderless
Met a robot lady and Heather won both a cork shooting game and poop-sucker claw game all at the Aqua City Mall
Visited the replica statue of liberty and nearby word signs
Had our feet nibbled on by little fishies
Got sick and tried to follow convention (incidentally, also pulled curse or no luck oracle cards consistently)
Visited the Shitamatchi museum
Played a VR horror game, Taboo
Had an alone day where we toured a bit on our own
Visited Mount Fuji when it was rainy and foggy and saw no Fuji-san on day one, but were lucky to see clouds part the day we left to catch the base
Stray Observations
Japan really seems to be getting into the spirit (yep, I did that) of Halloween. However, in true Japanese style, decorations are omnipresent, yet adorable and well-executed.
It is expensive to drive in Japan. For our road trip to/from Mt. Fuji, our tolls alone were about $60.
There are so many sizes of beer in the grocery and convenience stores.
Yeah, we all know there is combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bells, but in the hipster neighborhoods of Japan, it’s all about combination boutiques & coffee shops.
Some fruit is crazy expensive, like a meal Alinea or even luxury car expensive. We’ve learned it’s because the Japanese don’t eat fruit often so when they do, they desire a special experience (we saw a $60 cantaloupe).
Tsutaya Book is the more carefully organized Powell Books of Japan.
Many shops are closed on Sundays, particularly after a Typhoon; however, people are out and about and the city is alive.
Fall arrives quite late in Tokyo....on 10/13 it’s 78, humid, and nary an orange leaf.
With names like “Chicago” & “Florida,” Tokyo thrift shops often pay homage to the primary source of their goods, with Shimokitzawa being the holy land for well-curated second-hand stores.
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