Tokyo
Two weeks ago I went to Tokyo to write a Linguistics exam through Unisa (the University of South Africa). Unfortunately Tokyo is the place in Japan where Unisa students can write their exams. On the other hand, I am very grateful that I can write Unisa exams in Japan. :D
Tokyo is pretty far from Matsusaka, my home city. It's a short 2 hours if you take the Shinkansen, Japan's bullet train, but this option is quite expensive however.
Instead, probably because I have some Scottish blood, I took a Night Bus, which travels the distance in 7-8 hours at about half the price of the Shinkansen. (One of my work colleagues was kind enough to organise the logistics of the trip. It seems the website that can be used to make the booking is mostly in Japanese, and unfortunately still beyond my ability to navigate.)
The night bus was comfortable enough. It is a little bit like an aeroplane, but with more leg room, and you can recline your seat a bit further. I slept alright on the way to Tokyo, but on the way back I was quite uncomfortable. I would recommend getting one of those traveller's pillows that supports your head nicely. I think that one of these would make all the difference!
I arrived outside Shinjuku station, Tokyo's most used train station, on Sunday morning just before 6am. What this means is that I arrived just in time to see the last of the die-hard party-people of the night before staggering off in the sunrise, or climbing into cars with "new friends".
Using Google Maps I navigated my way to the Shinjuku Kuyakusho-mae Capsule Hotel - (Men Only), where I would sleep the next night. I would not be allowed to officially check in until 15:00, but they were kind enough to let me lock up some of my belonging so that I needn't walk around Tokyo with everything I brought with me.
As you can see from the image above, the entrance to the Capsule hotel is fairly nondescript. The sign is visible in the photo above. It has the red background near the top left of the photo, but with all the other equally-prominently lit notices around, it's easy to overlook the sign.
The idea behind a capsule hotel is to squeeze the maximise number of guests into the available space. They try to do this by using most of the space for beds. But they still want their guests to be comfortable, and they try to make sure the guests are comfortable.
So by putting all the bathrooms together like this, they are also saving quite a lot of space. Instead of having separate showers for each person, they would rather use the space to have a communal sauna. And the sauna was great. It was big and spacious, and felt far more luxurious than having my own small shower.
Here is the communal sitting room. Now here there is one major improvement that I would like. I would love it if the room was smoke free, but it wasn't. But hey, it's not the end of the world, and for 3500 yen for the evening, in the middle of Tokyo, it was a gripe I was quite happy to live with.
As you can see, the vending machines are also a nice solution to the midnight munchies :D.
This little notice is left outside the elevator that can be used to go between the various floors of the hotel. It looks all very sweet and innocent, but there is a surprise on 2F. Or at least it was a surprise to me. I'm sure it'll get many of you giggling :).
Also, interestingly, one of the main reasons for the existence of Capsule Hotels, is to accommodate people that are working late (or something) and don't have time to commute back home. For this reason the hotel provides you with toothpaste, toothbrushes, hair products, face-wash and basically everything you need, including your own pyjamas!
In the foyer, they even have shirts and ties on sale, in case you want to give the impression, "... of course I went home last night."
So after I spent the day moving around Tokyo and trying to study in Starbucks, I did eventually find my way to my own little capsule... it's the invitingly illuminated capsule in the bottom right of this photo.
And to be honest, this little capsule had everything I needed. A couple of square meters of bed space, a television (I think, although I never turned it on). I also paid an extra couple of hundred yen to get a power point (which was totally worth it as I had my usual arsenal of electronic devices keeping my company on my journey).
And this was what I saw moments before going to sleep. My TV (probably), my bedding, and the tiny bamboo roller blind separating me from the rest of the ruffians spending the night.
This is the night view of the view of the road I was staying on. As it turns out I was spending the night in Shinjuku's famous red-light district. Who knew?!? o_O
Well, all I can see, is that the pimps and hookers know how to decorate a road. Doesn't it look fabulous?
The morning of my exam, I got up early once again (05:45), just in-case Shinjuku station would prove difficult to navigate early on a Monday morning.
As it turns out, by getting out of bed early, it was very easy to get to my destination, so I had time for some last minute revision and a couple of cups of coffee before my exam. This Starbucks was conveniently only about 200m away from the examination centre.
The Unisa exam was hosted by... The British Council! Strange but true. I think that the British Council has some infrastructure in please to facilitate exams, and it seemed that there were 3 different institutions writing on the day I wrote.
Thank you British Council and Unisa for working together to help students change their lives. Your cooperation is very much appreciated!
So during my time in Tokyo, was I all work and no play? Of course not. One afternoon, between sprints of studying, I went to Ueno park.
This photograph is of a commemorative mound, built in honour of the Shogitai warriors; Samurai that resisted the Meiji restoration, unto their own death, here at the top of Ueno hill. You may recognise this battle from is poetic representation in the movie, 'The Last Samurai'.
Before calling it a day, and despite having walked excruciatingly far, I forced my feet to take me to the Metropolitan Art museum, surprisingly (and conveniently) located in Ueno park.
Ueno park in early Autumn.
Although this photograph is overexposed, I think it does nicely juxtapose the old and the new Tokyos, that seem to coexist quite peacefully.
After 2 days in Tokyo I began feeling fatigued by the sheer number of people that surrounded me every day. It's really quite overwhelming, and more than once I found myself thinking that it feels like every day in Tokyo is a Matsuri (festival) day.
In Closing...
So in case you were wondering, I think the exam went well enough. It wasn't easy, but I think I was adequately prepared. I'll be very surprised if I don't pass, and I would a lot less surprised if I did quite well. But it's always so hard to predict. :)
So in summary: The exam was not too bad. Tokyo was great. It's a beautiful city, with lots of well dressed and beautiful people. The downside of Tokyo is that there are many, many millions of people, all living on top of one another. Capsule hotels, they're cheep and not very private; but they're private enough, and to be honest, they're quite good value for money! And night buses. Well, in my opinion, I'd rather save 7500 yen, and spend it on something nice, than on the Shinkansen... but that all depends on how precious your time is.
Thanks for reading everybody. As always, please feel free to like or comment. It's always great to hear from you all.
And who knows... Maybe next time you hear from me... will be in person ;).
To all my friends and family, I love you all. And to perfect strangers... I probably love you a little bit too :).
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