Japan Going to Japan...

[I Love Film]

Ginza was best for camera shops. I went alone, without the family, since they had absolutely no interest in hanging around with DaDa gazing at used cameras for hours.

I liked the ticket machine system: looking at the plastic model in the window, then matching the writing to that on the ticket machine!

I was staying in Tokyo during summer too! (Nearby Tokyo Prince hotel)
Really enjoyed it!

I did the tourist things.
I liked:

• Walking through Ginza on a Saturday when the road is closed to traffic and opened to pedestrians.
• Watching people at Yoyogi park on Sunday (seeing people dancing)
• Watching sunset from the parks
• Going on long walks

I also wandered around Sensoji Temple in Asakusa for 2 days when they were selling Hozuki lantern plants.
And the view from the Government Metropolitan office!
and walking across the rainbow bridge to Odaiba (and breathing in all the fumes!)!

 

[I Love Film]

There are thousands of cheap ramen shops on every street and in every train/subway station. I did not eat a bad bowl of ramen, many styles and everything was good. One small shop near the hotel had spectacular ramen, the best I ever had.

The problem with the ramen shops is that many use a "ticket" system, as I said before. There is a machine in the front of the restaurant where you punch in your selection, size, type of meat, type of broth, etc. Then you feed in cash and you get a ticket, which you give to the chef, and he makes your order.

Everything is Japanese, no English, staff can't help you. If you don't follow exact protocol in some places, "no soup for you". Without my wife I would be stuck in many tourist places.

(when I got back to NYC, I started to crave ramen more often. there are some good ramen places here, but below the quality level in Tokyo)


(I found this page about the "ticket system" with a fast Google search)
http://blog.greggman.com/blog/ramen_ya__ramen_shop_/

 

[maddoc]

Somewhat alarmist, wouldn't you say?

Most of the food is not radioactive. If you're so worried, carry a dosimeter.

Based on official MEXT data from April this year:

Food contamination over 500 Bq/Kg per Prefectures Fukushima - 2.179 % (6745) [max 18700 Bq/Kg] Iwate - 0.460 % (5217) [max 2880 Bq/Kg] Ibaraki - 0.326 % (5824) [max 2200 Bq/Kg] Tochigi - 0.288 % (6257) [max 2490 Bq/Kg] Miyagi - 0.182 % (4958) [max 20290 Bq/Kg] Chiba - 0.117 % (1712) [max 993 Bq/Kg] Gunma - 0.032 % (6344) [max 768 Bq/Kg] Yamagata - 0.021 % (4851) [max 560 Bq/Kg]

BTW, food-contamination can`t be checked by a dosimeter ...

 

[Strangeluv]

If you want a good overview of Tokyo, pray for sunny weather and visit Tokyo Tower 🙂
Anyway, I think you'll have a blast. Love the city.