Day 79 Japan Day 1 – Kobe to Tokyo

Japan customs took a really long time to clear the ship this morning. Everyone on the ship had to get their temperature checked and have a ‘face-to-face’ with a Japanese customs official. This didn’t consist of too much though other than going up to the faculty/staff lounge and getting our passport, showing it to them, and then walking in front of a camera that shows them our body temperature. The ship finally cleared around 2pm. Everyone had pretty much the same itinerary for when the first got off of the ship: go redeem our Japan Railways (JR) Rail Pass. What I got before in Vietnam was actually just a voucher for a 7 day JR rail pass, we have to go to an actual ticket office in Japan to redeem our rail pass for when we want to use it. Almost everyone on the ship got a rail pass, so the line was really long. This was expected though.
The JR rail pass covers us for all JR lines like the Shinkansen which is a bullet train that has lines going all over the country. The only line we’re not allowed on is the Nozomi, which is just a little faster than the regular lines. The pass also covers us on the extensive train system in Tokyo. So basically, we’re good to go anywhere we want in the country without having to pay anymore, which I think is pretty sweet. It’s definitely a must get for any traveler who wants to travel around Japan

Once we finally got our pass we found out that the next rain to Tokyo leaves in less than an hour (the trains all run pretty frequently) so we went and got ready to board for a few days in Tokyo.
I got some great tips from Randi Williams who spent a semester in Japan on things to do in Japan. If it wasn’t for her suggestions we would have been lost. Thanks Randi!!
Once we got into Tokyo we headed over to Shibuya which is just a neighborhood in Tokyo where there’s lots of stuff to do. With a little luck we were able to find our way there relatively quickly from the main Tokyo train station. Our first order of business was to find somewhere to sleep it was the weekend again so this turned our trickier than originally expected. We ended up staying in what they call a capsule. Basically there’s just this room with a bunch of holes in the wall, about twice the size of a coffin or so. Each capsule consists of an uncomfortable mattress and pillow, TV, Radio, and headphones. At the foot of your capsule there’s a screen that you can put down so people don’t bother you. It was quite the experience. There were lockers on the first floor where we had to put our shoes in (you can’t wear your shoes around the building), then there are more lockers on the 2nd floor that are bigger where we can put some of our bigger personal belongings, like our backpacks and such. I think there are also some public showers or a spa or something on one of the floors but I never ventured there. Another interesting thing about this place, we ordered our room through a machine.. like a vending machine thing located in the lobby. Everything on it was written in Japanese but the guy at the front desk helped us out so that was nice. You can’t check into your capsule until 5pm and you have to check out by 10am. If you wish to stay multiple nights, you have to leave and come back at 5pm. So yup.. that’s what a capsule is like in Japan. Each capsule costs right around $35/night.

We randomly ran into some other Americans staying at the same capsules that night. Two guys who at first told us they were here teaching English to Japanese students about 30 miles away. As the night went on they eventually admitted to us that they were from the US Navy and couldn’t tell us that at first due to security concerns. They’re stationed about an hour away from Tokyo. Last week some sailor from the US killed a Japan taxi driver, so tensions are still high in the area. They were nice guys though, they showed us around the area and where we could go for a nice cheap dinner and even some English pubs in the area. Dinner at this random restaurant that we found was pretty amazing. We split up for dinner though because Chris, Kev and Garret decided that Wendy’s sounded better than some authentic Japanese food. (don’t ask me how they came up with that reasoning).
Luckily, by the end of the night we were all so tired that we didn’t care how uncomfortable the capsules were. Another thing about the capsules though, there is no ventilation in there once you close your shade so eventually the capsule gets really hot, which just makes it more uncomfortable. It was quite the experience! Shibuya is a pretty sweet area of town to hang out in. The streets are all very lively with lots of things to do.