Sunny winter

As usual people from singapore (aka me and gang) once again display the pauper lifestyles they have to endure in this land of the rising prices by having instant noodles and canned food for breakfast in the warm dormitory kitchen. We are all reduced to paupers with all this inflation we encounter once we step onto japanese soil. Even a packet of tofu cost $2 at 7-11 here!

But anyway, after that priceless meal we went down to Asakusa, a place without the physically imposing skycrapers found nearer to the heart of tokyo city. Rather, we indulged ourselves with the sight of many edo-period buildings. Much akin those buildings where on the roofs you find prancing ninjas on a mission to assainate the evil gang leader, like in those movies. The main focus of the tour today was the Senso-ji, a temple erected in the year 600+ (or something like that) in worship of the guanyin pusa. Or issit the goddess of mercy. That makes it the oldest existing temple to remain in this city or country. Oh, and there are geishas to be found here too! I was so excited to see people that came right out of the time machine - their faces are so white and their hair must be either a wig or they use alot of gel.

The temple was nice, had alot of good food for rather steep prices, but we still bought it anyway coz you can't get anything more authentic than these. Takopachi was good, very generous servings (for $7!), and we also got fried egg wrapped around noodles-forgot-what-its-called. One thing remarkable while we were eating was the weather was damn hot. With the sun shining directly at us sitting down at the table eating hot food and drinking free warm green tea was discomforting to say the least - I was wrapped in 5 layers of clothing and was too lazy to remove the jacket. Who's to say winter's not hot?

More on the temple : it was nice, very big , and uh... very ancient looking, and the pagoda beside it was amazing too.

After that we discovered a cheaper railway alternative other than the JR line (Japan Rail), which was the subway lines (special mention goes to Paul btw). It was a culture shock at first, with singapore's railway only offering 2 directions at best. Ok, throw in the NEL, the LRT and the up-and-coming Circle line and that merely makes the situation more confusing a little. Come to tokyo and you find a myriad of interlocking railway lines with hundred over stations and 20+ lines and you become a lost sheep. Yet everyone knows where to go, which was remarkable considering the fact that the train station becomes more of a complicated cauldron of thousand over rushing people. And yes, the transportation fees are costly. The cheapest cost of one ticket is already $1.40, and yesterday when we went to yokohama it cost us a total of $15 pax. Sorry SBS transit: i shall not cheat the bus fares again, nor will i complain of the $1.60 i spend to travel to sengkang.

Sorry for digressing. After Asakusa we headed down to Ginza where only the rich and trendy hang out. Super crowded. No kidding. Everything is damn expensive there. Hermes, LV, Tiffany & Co, Gucci - you name it they have it. Bloody piece of shit, there are even two LV shops there, both within 1 km away from each other. Japanese really know how to pamper themselves. At least i bought something there - teriyaki beef don from yoshinoya costing me 420 yen = $6 (still expensive shit). Sony building, an 8-storey building showcasing the latest sony products, was the last destination in Ginza that we went to. 'Nuff said.

Oh and did i mention that electronics are slightly cheaper in Japan than back home? Tempted to buy camera but no yen lah. Perhaps Evon would like one. Tell me if u want one yah.

Figuring out there's nothing on earth that i can afford there unless i perform a striptease in the middle of the Ginza junction for 2 hours assuming i earn at least 100000 yen in an hour, i left ginza empty-handed but not empty-tummied.

Next stop : Tokyo tower. At last a tall building. Lit up at night with thousands of orange florescent light bulbs, it was a sight to behold. As usual, with billions of people in tokyo, even though there are so many places to go to, the queue to take the escalator 150m up the tower was packed with people, mostly unemployed japanese (i assume) and students. Ok, and maybe 3 foreigners. Probably i was too overwhelmed by the shag day i had walking around with a heavy bag, but i wasn't too excited at the prospect of being 150m high up above sea level, putting myself in extreme danger should terrorists decide to sabotage the hundreds of people stuck in steel manufactured tower with only 3 lifts and 1 flight of stairs as escape routes.

Shagged, i almost wanted to just jump off the tower screaming "Banzaiiiiiiiiii!!!" when i saw a familiar sight that was starting to even surface in my dreams. Think even you can guess it. Yes, throngs of nodding japanese are queuing up for the elevator to go down to ground zero. Sad country.