Tokyo was nice

The train system is fantastic – on time, reasonably priced and goes everywhere. It can be somewhat intimidating until you realize that the only consequence of mistakes is that it takes more time and you’ll get there pretty quick even if you don’t pick the perfect route. The people are friendly and you can ask anyone how to get somewhere and most will be able to help.

When we weren’t working, we did some exploring and went to Yokohama (lots of street activity and stores), Akihabera (Electric City – all the new electronics), Ginza (the famous shopping district), Imperial Palace Grounds, HamaRikyu Gardens (the old Imperial Duck hunting grounds), SengaKuji Temple (officially a Buddhist Temple but more tourist destination with adjoining blocks of tourist curio stands), and a boat tour of Tokyo (my favorite).



In the train area, the restraint and rule following exhibited by the Japanese would even put to shame that exhibited by a certain MN native. Japanese food is intended to be eaten just so with certain sauces on certain foods. More than once, it was too much for our hosts to see us put new food onto our plates that still had traces of the last sauce remaining. We had surprisingly many Indian meals in Tokyo. I’d have to say they were mostly Japanese Indian though. The Indian food in Dubai is much closer to that served in India than the Indian food in Tokyo.

One thing surprising in Japan is that most ATM’s are for local banks and don’t accept out of country bank ATM cards. Citi Bank and many Japanese Post Offices accept foreign ATM cards but the airport exchange is probably the easiest way to get a decent rate and avoid ATM fees. Unless your bank refunds ATM fees, you’ll pay $5 per visit plus a percent of the withdrawal for an average total fee of about $8. Hotel exchange rate comes out about the same as ATM since you usually don’t pay fees for hotel exchange. Another interesting practice was that the hotel didn’t need a credit card on check-in but did require payment of the bill once a week.