A Yen for Tokyo

  

Be Prepared | Addresses | Shopping Locations | Acquisition List | Customs
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Be Prepared

There are some things you’ll need to research and purchases you should strongly consider BEFORE you fly.

Reference Books

The Tokyo City Atlas – a must purchase. I bought mine at AbeBooks. Make sure you get the latest version.

Japanese Phrase Book & Dictionary – a must purchase. I bought the Berlitz version, and am quite happy with it. I admittedly only used it twice during my trip (once to order white wine and the other to explain my osteoarthritis condition). Side note: you CAN get by without speaking Japanese. I strongly urge you to know the basics (greetings and expressions of gratitude), but otherwise, the Japanese understand the international language of gesturing and the body (although do so delicately).

Local Activities

Narita Airport - See what you’re flying into.

Limousine Bus – Print out the schedule if you want to be extra efficient.

How to fill out a parcel label – Print this out for reference. You may also wish to print off postal rates for your region. Unless you live very close to Japan or are anxious for your purchases, you’ll be shipping by Surface Sea Mail.

Peruse the following web sites for items of interest (i.e. customs, districts, museums etc.) — it’s fun planning your own tour:

• Japan Visitor
• Japan Guide
• Digi-Joho Tokyo

Subway

Understand the Tokyo subway system. The Tokyo subway system is highly efficient and politically the most complex system in the world (I wager). How do the politics and economics of a subway system affect you? You have three major players, and they all have different subway lines, and some you can buy ticket upgrades for when transferring from one company line to another and sometimes not. And then there are the smaller, independently owned lines. Headache inducing? Can be. But you’ll likely be using the main JR lines and some of the Toei lines, so I wouldn’t worry too much.

Here’s a nice big pdf of the subway system.

This is a great outline of the JR Yamanote Line, which is what you’ll likely be riding most often.

You may also wish to visit the Toei and Tokyo Metro Subway website to get a sense of how it all works. This site is great as it has sections on how to ride the subway and purchase tickets.

A day pass is the only thing I can suggest if you plan on travelling a lot in one day – but remember that a day pass is only good for that company’s lines, not all lines. So plan your trip accordingly and you may find it cheaper just to pay as you travel. I usually used the subway only twice in one day – on rare occasions, four times. You will walk a lot and Tokyo is the greatest stair climber in the world. You will lose weight and you will be fitter than when you arrived.

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Addresses

Understand how addresses can be applied to a map. This is not easy at first, but is highly logical once you understand the method. Finding places is accomplished in one of two ways in Tokyo – a map with land marks and labelled streets (when the streets are labelled), and with an actual address. It’s the address that confounds everyone – even those who were born and raised in Tokyo (yes, I’m serious). I joke that only mail carriers are given the divine knowledge of address comprehension, but thankfully the code has been cracked for us non-Japanese.

Now let’s take a practical example. The Mandarake in Shibuya is awesome, and highly recommended for a day trip. Its address is: B2 31-2 Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. Grab the Tokyo City Atlas, flip to the Shibuya section, and find the subarea of Shibuya called Udagawacho. Great, now look for the 31st block. That’s your ticket. After that, it’s a matter of circling the block until you find Building Number 2 (the “B” indicates basement), but honestly, most buildings don’t have numbers. You MAY find a placard near the building (maybe even ON the building if you’re lucky) with the address, but this could be in any location and are there to aid the new mail carriers who’ve been inducted into the auspicious position of mail delivery. And don’t think the building numbers are in any sequential order, because they’re not. Blocks are relatively small in Tokyo, so a circle around the block is all that may be required. Oh, and what’s the B2 part of that address? That’s a unit number in the basement of the building. There will be signage outside the building, but not necessarily in Romaji.

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Shopping Locations

Plot out the locations for otaku shopping:

CuSO4’s Tokyo Anime/Manga Shopping Guide – this is the ultimate guide and while it may not be totally accurate as shops move, it’s a MUST have. Print off maps and lists for every area you think you’ll be in. THIS, coupled with the Tokyo City Atlas are your bibles.

Visit the most common shop websites on line for locations (addresses and maps that you can use in concert with your Tokyo City Atlas).

• Mandarake
• Animate
• Book Off
• Toranoana

If you’re super keen and want to be super organized, use sticky flags to point out locations on your Tokyo City Atlas. Transfer all the location information of everywhere you could think you want to visit to your Tokyo City Atlas and you’ll save lots of time and hunting. Certainly bring additional information with you to Tokyo, but leave that in your hotel room and just take your Tokyo City Atlas.

Side story – I couldn’t find the Mandarake in Akihabara (it was right in front of me) and when I asked a well to do Japanese man in the café I’d decided to rest in for a moment to point out on my Tokyo City Atlas where the café was, it took him 15 minutes and he was still wrong. So asking for directions of the locals may not always yield the results you want.

Another tip for finding things – Tokyo is layered. They build up and down. So you may be staring at the exact location of where you know something should be (like the Mandarake in Akihabara), and still not immediately see it. Get closer. See stairs? Look up, look down, look for entrances to the building.

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Acquisition List

Prepare your list of acquisitions – If you like, you can use my partial list as an example of the type of document you’ll wish to compile. For manga, sort your list by mangaka and by publisher (yes, that’s two separate lists). For doujinshi, sort your list by doujinshika/circle, fandom and pairing (that would be two or three lists).

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Customs

Get to know the customs and understand the culture and Japanese etiquette. Remember, you are a visitor, and an outsider – having respect for the Japanese and their way of life will go a long way.

• Learn to bow (you’ll be doing a lot of it).
• If you like, learn a few key phrases (greetings and expressions of gratitude).
• There is no tipping in Japan (for meals or service industries).
• Never put anything on the floor that you will be giving to someone else. Never sit on the ground, if you can at all help it. The floor is for walking on and is dirty.
• Use the money trays whenever purchasing something. Never put money on the counter or directly into the hands of the cashier.
• Respect personal space. The Japanese are a land of Virgos and highly organized. They are efficient beyond measure. This is largely due to a system they all have ingrained into them since day one. There may be a sea of people in the subway station, but VERY rarely does anyone run into anyone else. Be mindful of the flow of people, don’t bump or run into anyone. You’ll get there. Also, even on crowded subways, people manage to stand in such a way that they aren’t THAT squashed. It’s amazing to see in person. Remember, you’re a visitor in their lovely country – YOU adapt to THEIR ways.
• In a sushi bar, it’s okay to simply shout out what you’d like if you don’t see anything on the conveyor belt that strikes your fancy.
• Avoid natto. Period. Unless you’re sick like that.
• Slurping noodles is just fine, and in fact, is quite the learned art form. Good luck

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