"DutchieDC2R" (dutchiedc2r)
11/10/2016 at 16:10 • Filed to: None
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"DutchieDC2R" (dutchiedc2r)
11/10/2016 at 16:10 • Filed to: None | 8
| 12 |
Not your typical touristy Tokyo image...
A while back, I promised some of you that I would get back to you after my trip to Japan. I had already composed a post before I left, asking you what you’d recommend in doing there, car-related and non-car-related. Thank you for all the help. :)
Well, as sad as I am to say, the trip is over. It was one hell of a holiday, filled with amazing things, amazing people, amazing experiences. Here is Part 1, a small write-up with pictures about my experience in Japan:
Before the trip:
You often hear people talk about their bucket lists, about their goals and missions in life, about the ‘things they would like to do or finish before they die’. Well, believe it or not, visiting and experiencing Japan pretty much defined a ‘bucket list’ top priority for me.
I don’t really have a fetish for Japan. My room is not full of manga figures or anime booklets, my Integra does not have a Japanese flag painted under the hood or any ‘JDM’ stickers on it, however, my interest in Japan goes a long way.
I can’t really remember if my love for games or my love for cars came first, what I do remember is that as soon as I learned that Japan is pretty much a Mecca for both, I just knew I had to visit the land of the rising sun.
October 12th, 2016, it finally happened. 5 months before, I visited two good friends of mine and threw a proposition on the table: We can get plane tickets to Tokyo for 410 Euros per person right now! Who’s in? It really went that ‘easy’. I selected the people I wanted to go with based on previous travel experiences and decided I wanted to head out there for 2 weeks.
From there on, it was pretty much a ‘save as much money until October 12th’ situation. Naturally, the closer we got to October 12th, the more nervous and the crazier I got, but hey, what can you do, it’s Japan!!
Nighttime Tokyo..
Japan: Tokyo:
After a 14 hour flight with a layover in Shanghai, we were finally there: Tokyo! I nearly fell to my knees and kissed the ground. Before getting here, I had certain expectations and certain....daydreams, if you will, of what Tokyo was, how it looked like and how it felt like being there. I’ve seen plenty of images and plenty of video’s/tv shows about Tokyo, but actually being there, actually seeing it, hearing the city breathe, walking around and gazing upon the scenery, the cars, the people, taking it all in......it really exceeded all of my expectations.
As a European, a Dutchman coming from Rotterdam, the 2nd city in Holland (which really does not say a lot about the city at all), Tokyo struck me as a chaotic city, a busy city, a city that, while overwhelmed with people and buildings and movement from vehicles, managed to have some sort of structure, some sort of organization within its chaos.
A good example of this particular feeling: On the first day, we took a subway to the ‘Electric City’, Akihabara, to do some sightseeing and just walk around aimlessly. As we paid our subway tickets, we made our way down to the subway station. We got to the platform, put our bags on the ground and waited together for the metro to arrive. As I waited and looked around, I couldn’t help but notice something. At first, I didn’t realize what it was that was bothering me, but I knew something was off, or rather, we were off. I took another look around and realized something we had forgotten: It’s a normal thing in Japan to wait in line before the metro arrives, in order to get in the metro without creating a hassle for the people getting out.
Waiting in line to board the Shinkansen.
Besides being a busy city, Tokyo is also a city with a shitload of things to do, to see, to experience and to know. It has a wide array of places to visit, whether you love anime, cars, games or traditional Japanese culture.
We mostly stuck to non-touristy stuff, but occasionally did the standard ‘hi, we’re Western tourists doing the Western tourist thing in Tokyo’ route. We made a list of things we wanted to do while there, dividing a bunch of things per day. Visiting the ‘Electronic District’, visiting a number of temples, the Government Building etc. In the end, we managed to do just below the halve mark of our list. It’s not that our list was too long, we just did not anticipate that we would stop and stare every 10 minutes. I can’t really explain it here, but whether its a weird car passing by (this happens ALL the time!) or a weird building, a weird sign, it doesn’t matter, you’ll stop and stare/take a pic every 5 minutes.
And it’s not just a feast for the eyes. As a foodlover, Tokyo was heaven on earth for me. I am not a seafood person, at all, but I do promise myself each time I am on a holiday: Niko, stop being a wuss and just eat whatever the locals eat, try as much new and unknown things as you can. After all, when’s the next time I’ll get to try raw octopus, fried eel with white rice or okonomiyaki (Osaka special)?
As I am writing this, I realize that I’m not going deep enough into my experiences. I realize that I can’t properly write down how it feels to walk through the city center of Tokyo, how it feels to walk through the narrower alleys with local restaurants with Japanese-only menus, through Shinkyuku, with its famous crosswalk.
New York City you say? No, not even close....
What I can do is tell you that, if you have doubted about visiting Tokyo or if you are planning to do it or are thinking of doing it, let me take all the hesitation away: DO IT! The people are amazing. We’ve had a bunch of times where we didn’t know where we were headed, with the help of Google Translate and Maps, we managed to get some help from the locals and guide us to the right spot. Even if the Japanese are not that great in speaking English, they’ll try to help you out as much as they can and won’t stop until they have. We managed to actually make some proper friends out there, connect to people which I talk to on a weekly basis since I’ve come back.
There’s really no reason not to visit the country. I may be biased since I’ve had a positive opinion about Japan even before visiting the country, but I assure you, just go and experience it.
I know I haven’t really posted the standard touristy stuff that’s to see and do in Tokyo, that’s mostly because we didn’t do the standard stuff, or at least, for the greater part of our trip we didn’t.
To award you for still being here after such a long read, here are some car pics (More to come in pt2!):
I fell in love with all the Toyota Crowns and whatnot, the luxury sedans driving there are just....wauw.
This thing looked stronger than ever.....and quite yum too!
TVR in Japan! At least his steering wheel is on the proper side.
These vans were a dime a dozen in Japan, but this one looked particularly cool with those wheels.
GT-R! We saw a bunch of these in Tokyo but I only managed to snap a quick pic of this one.
Type R!
MK4 with a complete Veilside bodykit and special candy paint. We stood there for 3 hours talking with the (Japanese) owner. Awesome guy, awesome car.
Obligatory: The Spoon shop. Awesome guys, awesome cars, awesome shop. As you can imagine, I creamed the shop floor upon entering.
S660 (bring that car to Europe already!!!) with some Spoon goodies and its bigger brother next to it.
Dream trip!
Golden Oldie right here.
We also went to the Seeker shop, but it was closed that day. :(
Old and new combined. The S660 is such a gorgeous car. DC5 kinda looks ruined, the EG on the other hand, wauw.
Havent seen them as good lookin and clean as this yet.
Mmmmmmmm......
HOT DIGGIDITY!
Kind of a weird sight between all of the VIP-look sedans, but I do like it.
This particular underground garage had a poster on each level where you could send in your ‘Spots’, your pictures of the Kawaii cars and someone would choose the ‘Spots of the Month’, these would be put on the posters and spread across the underground garage.
Mmmmm...so clean....so pretty...
Thanks for surviving my post. Ill be back with some more parts, some more stories and some more pictures. :)
Pistol Whipped Cream
> DutchieDC2R
11/10/2016 at 17:20 |
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GREAT Write up! I am looking forward to PT 2.
I traveled to Japan last November and loved every minute of it. It is so different than being here in the states. The culture was awesome. I find it hard to describe being there. It is one of the top 3 places I have ever traveled to.
Flavien Vidal
> Pistol Whipped Cream
11/10/2016 at 17:53 |
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Great article man! Glad you liked it... Moving to Japan is something I don’t regret at all :)
gin-san - shitpost specialist
> DutchieDC2R
11/10/2016 at 18:55 |
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The cars are more or less what I would have expected. However, there’s always this unique feeling when you go somewhere new - it’s this weird melange of anxiety, excitement, awe, and a growing sadness towards the end that your time is finite. I love seeing new places and I never get tired of that feeling.
What were your top three dishes there (unless what you wrote about the octopus, eel, and okonomiyaki were your top three)? I’m still dying to try good ramen since the many places all seem to do their own take on it; I’d love to sit somewhere in front of a hibachi grill while some veteran who has been hibachi-ing for decades cooks; I’d love to go to their dedicated KitKat shops and try the various flavours. Going to Jiro’s sushi restaurant would be an absolute dream, although a $400 (CAD) meal is obviously a true luxury.
I’m going to try to go to Japan next year - I have family in South Korea so I figure it’d be nice to go to Tokyo either before or after South Korea.
I’m glad you enjoyed your trip and I hope to read more about it!
pip bip - choose Corrour
> DutchieDC2R
11/11/2016 at 04:03 |
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awesome!
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DutchieDC2R
> Pistol Whipped Cream
11/11/2016 at 07:16 |
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Thank you very much for the kind words. It is truly a magical place. Same here, Ive traveled quite a lot and Japan is the number 1 spot. :)
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DutchieDC2R
> Flavien Vidal
11/11/2016 at 07:17 |
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Thank you Flavien, and thank you for your help. I can imagine not regretting going there. Ive been looking into that too, but so far, the only opportunity for me would be to apply for a English teaching job.
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DutchieDC2R
> gin-san - shitpost specialist
11/11/2016 at 07:36 |
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Thank you for the kind words.
As far as food goes, I can promise you, whatever it is that you try, it will be good, if not great. Japan really is foodheaven on earth and whatever it is they try their hands on, they perfect it somehow. We went to a small, local pasta shop and, sure, Italian might make it better, but god, I havent had a Pasta Carbonara that good in my life.
My top 3 has to be:
1: Okonomiyaki: I promise you, this is.....I mean, when you look at it, it doesnt look all that much. Cabage, egg, special mayo....but that mayo, the mix that they make and the different tastes that come alive......I seriously have not had something as good as this, yet something made as simple as this, before.
2: Fried eel: It mightve been the spot where we ate, but this was so, so tender. When you dip your sticks into it, it softly breaks, thats how tender it is. The white rice complements the taste of the eel perfectly.
3: I have to say Sushi. I live in a country where the sushi is not ‘fresh’, or at least, not as ‘fresh’ as Japan has it, so you can imagine the shock I was in when I had my first, real, proper Japanese sushi. You cant have it fresher then walking around the Fish Market in Tokyo, that I promise.
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DutchieDC2R
> pip bip - choose Corrour
11/11/2016 at 07:36 |
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Thank you. :)
t0ast
> DutchieDC2R
11/18/2016 at 13:24 |
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Solid write-up and very nice car finds. Sounds a lot like my first trip there as well, especially the frequent stop to just take it all in and snap a few photos. I think I averaged over a hundred pictures per day over the course of two weeks. No joke. Everything from the mixture of old and new in Kyoto to the super-specialized districts of Tokyo just have so many cool details all over the place that you just have to sit for a moment and appreciate. I mean little things, like a seating area structure with integrated plant life used to create a natural canopy.
I think I too would have needed a moment at the Spoon shop. More Gran Turismo flashbacks... I really need to see if I can get to some of those tuner shops next time around. Same goes for manufacturers.
Definitely agreed as well that Okonomiyaki and Eel are just the best. The former actually isn’t very difficult to make on your own if you can track down some of the ingredients. I think I used this recipe as a starting point and have tweaked a few things since (like using cake flour for a softer texture and mixing kimchi into the cabbage for some spiciness). Eel is really enjoyable in non-fried form as well, IMO, and I’ll chase that stuff down anytime I see it now. My other favorite finds were bakeries in general (plentiful and all awesome) and a handful of excellent ramen shops that we tracked down through a publication called Ramen Walker.
Finally, if you ever get back to Akihabara, try to track down a place called D.D.R. (daredemo racer). They’re not far off from the main streets and have some really slick racing sim rigs you can buy time on. Amusingly, I only found out about them after hearing some loud car noises coming from the floors above a Hard-Off (basically a Book-Off branch dedicated to electronics) and wandering around until I found it.
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DutchieDC2R
> t0ast
11/20/2016 at 09:11 |
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Thank you very much for the compliments. We didnt do Kyoto, it was in the initial plans, but after re-calculating our travel time and the fact we only had 2 weeks in Japan, we decided to dedicate a whole holiday to Japanese culture (Kyoto and Hakone will be in the next holiday).
As for the racing sim shop, I unfortunately did not come across it, which is a shame, it sounds like something that I would spend quite some time in/on, hahaha.
You are right about taking it all in, though. It was something I did as well. Just sit down somewhere for a moment and observe. Observe the views, the tastes, the different scents. There are dozens of things that I did not take a picture of, because I was too busy actually enjoying them.
HideyoshiJP
> DutchieDC2R
11/22/2016 at 17:58 |
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That location looked familiar. >_>
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DutchieDC2R
> HideyoshiJP
11/23/2016 at 01:26 |
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It was really one of those moments where I had to stop, turn around and snap a picture...:)