Last Work Day - First Night In Tokyo

Up until now, I have been spending my days at Camp Zama and a few train stops around it in the local community. We went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant in town with Ed and Chris today. We sat around a low table on grass mats and had to take off our shoes before we could sit (recline) at the table. It was nice and different, but today, we checked out of Camp Zama and (after a full day of work) caught the express train to Shijuku – a ‘region’ of Tokyo proper.

Tokyo is phenomenally huge and stretches for as far as you can see. Shijuku is mostly a business district with skyscrapers and several large train stations. Remember how important the train stations are in Tokyo life? Well, just one of these train stations (think large mall) is about 10 stories high with several basement levels. The labyrinth of walkways under ground open up to the streets where over a million people pass through every day! STOP! Think about that… a million people every day! That is more than the entire population of Minneapolis and Oklahoma City combined passing through one train station every day!

Needless to say, the station(s) here are huge and full of shops! In many cases, the stations are connected to mega stores that also encompass a city block and rise for 9 to 10 stories! The crowds of people are all very well mannered and polite. Many people wear surgical masks while in town and on the train. I figured that it was because so many folks are there that they were afraid of getting sick and that may be the case for some, but I was told that most of the people wearing masks are sick and are afraid of spreading germs to the commuters around them – Talk about polite!

The express train was luxurious and smooth as it plied through outlying neighborhoods towards downtown Tokyo. When I say neighborhoods, I would not be able to distinguish between them. They are mostly defined by train stations, but from my perspective, it is all just one endless mass of buildings, houses and humanity. We arrived at the Hilton and turned in, resolute in our desire to get out to see the city. The concierge recommended a Teppanyaki place on the other side of town, so we jumped on a train and headed out.

The restaurant was very nice! They cook the food right in front of you, but it’s not the grand show that you might see at Benihana. It’s classy, quiet and very refined! We both got steak.

Japanese steak is very different from American beef and very very good! The service was (as it has been everywhere) impeccable. We even got bibs to wear in case we got messy…

After eating, we walked around to see the night life. Outside, the night life is noisy and dizzyingly busy with people everywhere! As we returned to our hotel, Fred told me that there were a number of “private hotels” as we walked around. I hadn’t even noticed! Even houses of ill repute are dignified around here it seems.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a complete description here without mentioning the bidet toilet… an interesting amenity that I won’t describe any further here, but I figured you should know about it. Take a close look at the picture here and you can get the idea…