5 More Weeks and Counting!

Yay! Five more weeks and counting til I finally fly to Tokyo!!!  I am probably one of the many travellers who gave a sigh of relief when the Air Canada strike has ended.  I am strictly speaking as a traveller.  I do not want to get into all the labour details.

I have viewed and reviewed my itinerary.  I seem to be changing it everytime I look at it.  I know I'm never going to have a perfect itinerary but planning is part of the fun.  I have looked into options and possibilities of going to Kyoto and Osaka - would have loved to, however, I only have seven full days in Japan and decided to spend all these in Tokyo.  There's so much to see and do in Tokyo alone.  I'd like to explore the city as much as I can. 

The internet really is such an amazing thing, some useful sites that I found:

http://www.hyperdia.com/  enter your to and from station, and it gives you several options for your trip, with cost and time of travel.

http://www.japan-guide.com/  travel information, places to see, etc....

www.google.ca/maps  this is really a cool tool.  My hotel just happened to have a street view so I traced it from the station to my hotel and took note of the landmarks.  Hopefully, I won't get lost first time coming out of the station - assuming I exit from the correct exit - there are three I think!  I also read street names are almost non-existent in Tokyo. 

Doing all that research makes me more confident - well, sort of....my Japanese friends have assured me that the Japanese are really friendly to tourists.  When in doubt, just ask.....but not during rush hour!!!  Speaking of which, I've seen these youtube videos of the Tokyo subway during rush hour.  Unbelievable, until I heard Nihongo in the background and saw these white gloved station employees politely asking "May I push?" it was almost too funny.  I also found out that they are actually part timers hired specifically for that job.

My Japanese will be put into test.  With my limited kanji I think it would be really useful to memorize the kanji for beef, pork, fish, chicken.....as long as I know these, I know what's in my food.  I do love Japanese food so hopefully, how it's cooked will be a pleasant surprise.