20 things you did not know about Tokyo

What I expected to find in Tokyo

Before I visited Tokyo, when thinking about this city these points came to mind:

• an enormous metropole (correct)…
• … that’s very crowded (less than I expected)
  

  The famous Shibuya Crossing. Here the city surely comes across as busy. But it’s very different in every neighbourhood.

• sushi, chopsticks and sake (check)
• kimono’s (check)
• shrines (yes)
• kawaii (omnipresent)
  

  Very happy, kawaii promo-van in Akihabara.

• expensive (yes and no)

As always, when you visit and explore a place, combined with the research you do before and during that visit, you learn a lot. Some of your assumptions get confirmed, others are proven wrong or get put in a different perspective and you find out a lot that you did not know before.

That’s why I’m able to present to you now: ’20 things you did not know about Tokyo’.

20 things you did not know about Tokyo

…and neither did I.

1. Tokyo is immense. I mean, I knew it was big, but I did not know it is THIS big!
   The metropolis consists of 23 wards, 26 cities, 5 towns and 8 villages resulting in a total population of 13 million.
2. Even now, in 2015, not many people speak English.
   Asking for directions often resulted in people jumping away from us in an opposite direction. Yes, finding our way was a challenge ;-).
3. Tokyo is a great city for biking.
   I was surprised by the number of bikes and people biking. The bikes have baskets front and back, and/or children seats. Tourists can rent bikes and some hotels lend them to their guests. I almost felt as if I was in my home country Holland;-).
   

   Just like in the Netherlands!

4. Everywhere in the city you find small alleys.
   Many of them filled with cafes, bars, restaurants, hairdressers, shops and businesses. The alleys are charming, but they make it difficult to find your way and no matter how good your map, you WILL get lost sooner or later.
   

   What will we come across in THIS alley? Always a surprise.

5. There are a lot of hidden and ‘micro’ places.
   Bars and restaurants for 3 to 8 people. Shops in which three customers feel like a crowd. Cafes that you would never find without knowing exactly where to look for them. Once inside, you almost literally sit on top of each other, in these mini establishments, making it easy to start up a conversation….IF your neighbour at that bar or restaurant would speak any english, that is…hahaha.
6. Tokyo has it’s own Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty.
   Tokyo Tower is -purposely- a bit higher than the original in Paris. The Statue of Liberty measures about a quarter of the one in NY.
   

   Frits ‘does’ the Statue of Liberty pose.

7. The city has beaches on a man-made island in the bay of Tokyo.
   We had a nice half day strolling around on Odaiba, as it’s called. From there, you have beautiful views of the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo’s skyline.
   
8. You can find vintage shops all over Tokyo.
   They have a lot of cool stuff, often very affordable. But if you have a European size 38 or over, you will not have much success in finding vintage clothes that fit you.
   

   One of the shops that I loved: Shimokita Garage Department in Shimokitazawa.

9. Most Tokyoites are well-dressed.
   A bit boring maybe (excluding the Harajuku over the top girls and boys). Clearly less is more. But the clothes are crisp, clean and seem high quality.
   

   Fashionable couple. But as you see: safe in black and denim.

10. Taxis are expensive.
    Still we ended up taking a taxi 3 or 4 times during our Tokyo City Trip. Our feet and backs were just killing us after walking 10 kms every day and sometimes finding the metro was more than we could handle at that moment. Expensive, yes, but it did not bankrupt us.
    

    Fun fact: all taxis in Tokyo have white crocheted covers over the head supports and seats. And do you see the outfit of the hotel-girl who opens the taxi-door for us? Cute, right?

11. Cuteness (=kawaii) is everywhere.
    
    

    The orange bus has/is a dog, the blue one (left, back) has/is a cat. Kawaii!

12. Vending machines are everywhere.
    
    

    Most vending machines sell softdrinks, coffee and snacks. But there is also a whole range of vending machines like these ones that spit out toys.

13. Tokyo CAN be very expensive, but it does not HAVE to be. You just have to know where to go in order to get cheaper stuff.
    

    Delicious pumpkin soup in Shimokitazawa. This bohemian enclave is one of many neighbourhoods where life is a lot cheaper than e.g. in Shibuya or Ometesando-dori.

14. Public transport is fabulous. Not being able to speak or read Japanese sure makes things more complicated, but it is still relatively easy to use public transport in Tokyo.
    

    Luckily here the station name is also written in Roman or Latin letters. That’s not always the case. But still: not easy to pronounce for us westerners.

15. Going to the toilet is a party, with pre-heated seats and displays with buttons for all sorts of things. You can even push a button that starts the sound of a waterfall and singing birds. Not for your own relaxation, but to camouflage the noise you make doing your business so not to upset your neighbours in the toilet next to you;-).
    

    There are toilets with a lot more options even, than ours at the Hilton.

16. 100 yen shops are fantastic!
17. Pachinko parlours are unbearably loud. These gambling halls can be found everywhere in Tokyo. The game is played with hundreds of small silver metal balls and the noise of the balls and the machines is C.R.A.Z.Y.!!!!!! Advice: wear earplugs, when visiting a Pachinko Parlour.
    

    Pachinko is a complex slot machine game with which a lot of money is made. Not by the players;-).

18. Tokyo is clean and very safe.
19. Tattoos are associated with organized crime, so good luck getting in an onsen (=public bathhouse) with even the tiniest tattoo.
20. Phoning in public and blowing your nose in public are a few of many things that are considered not done in Tokyo.
21. Just for fun I give you number 21: damaging or throwing away money is forbidden by law and can get you in jail for a whole year!

So tell me: how many of the above “20 things you did not know about Tokyo” were new to you?