It's clean like this everywhere I went!!! Subways, streets, alley ways, highway shoulders, public toilets, etc. And, get this, not many public trash cans! People just carry their garbage back to their homes. The entire country is "carry in carry out"!
@DeaconKC and others, I'm glad all of you are enjoying this. I want to thank YOU for letting me do this. It makes me re-live my experience of this one-in-a-lifetime experience. More to come!
Before I continue to the next shop in Tokyo I would like to take a little diversion to the 1:1 side of trains. As many of you know, the Japanese rail system (subways, commuter trains, short haul trains, Shinkansen bullet trains, etc.) is admired everywhere around the world. I have a friend who has been to Switzerland and Japan recently. (I've never been to Switzerland but it's on my list.) He thought the Switzerland rail system was great until he went to Japan. No comparison he said! While I was in Tokyo, there was "incident" where an engineer (not Shinkansen) left a train station 30 SECONDS early. That turned into a big bruhaha and a national apology was issued the next day in the media. That's how serious they take their rail system! Talk about stress! I've heard their margin of "error" is +/- 5 seconds of the published time. That is insane! The entire 15 days we were there I tried to call them on it every time by looking at my watch as a train arrived. I failed. Every one that we took was on time. It was unbelievable. After a few days, I just gave up. OK, let's start with Tokyo Station. This is the biggest train station in Japan. I heard that it has 28 tracks of mainlines! Yes, mainlines! That's because the various types of trains have their own lines. And certainly the Shinkansen lines are fully dedicated to their use with no railroad crossings and they are totally isolated from cars, trucks and people. This allows them to go all out when running. The back side with classic western style architecture. Rumor is that it was built to the style of Amsterdam's Central Station. The larger metropolitan train stations in Japan are not just train stations. They are multilevel malls with all kinds of full blown restaurants, eating establishments, merchandise stores and a few unique stores like Poke Man! Here's a place that sells all kinds of sushi rolls. We purchased a 72 hour unlimited subway pass, the longest duration they had. It was only $10+! To think a single ride on the NYC transit system is $2.90. The various trains come in all sorts of colors and design and even cartoon vinyl wraps like Hello Kitty (Shinkansen). Each line has it's own color like in many cities around the world. But the color is not just the line logo but the outside of the trains. Here's the pink line in Tokyo. I call it pink but officially it's the Magenta Line. It brings a lot of variety and makes riding the trains never boring. To continue the theme of "I can eat off the floor" cleanliness, here's my first venture onto a subway platform. Well, I'll let the picture say how clean the floor is! BTW, the arriving train is red in color so it's...the red line. Inside the train cars is no different! You can not eat or drink in the subways so maybe that helps but again, it's the culture. Note the clear plexiglass between cars and the shiny metal. No graffiti, no scratch-graffiti on the plexi, nothing! Jumping ahead a little, this is the metro in Kyoto. Note the green trim as that's the color of that line. When I got in I noticed matching green seats! And as I sat down, I notice my butt was cradled in comfort! Hmmm, this is odd. I'm used to the hard plastic seating in NYC subways and buses. Looking carefully I notice it's VELOUR fabric over cushion! Perfectly clean, with no stains, no rips, no tears and no repairs! This would never survive in NYC as it would be cut or damaged before I finished typing this sentence! @country joe clean enough????? LOL!!!!!!!
Hi Mike, Thank you for posting photos so far of your trip to Japan. Did you have any problems getting around in Japan language wise? Are all signs in both English and Japanese? Do most folks speak English? I've often thought about going to Japan, but I don't speak the language. Also I'm not a big sea food person, how much North American cuisine did you find in Japan? I'm guessing they at least have a McDonald's?
Rich, language was never a problem and we don't speak Japanese. Not all signs are multi-lingual. Sure, in public transportation and tourist areas, you will have Japanese and English signs. But if you go to mom and pop places on side streets, maybe not. Every restaurant that we went to, even those in off beat places, have an English menu if you ask. In touristy spots, the menu is bilingual. Most folks do speak English and those that don't, a few key words and hand gesture will get what you need. And with Google Translate on your phone, it should never be a problem. I was in one camera store (big - 5 floors) buying a lens and I was surprised that the staff's English wasn't as good as I expected. It was in a touristy location too. But, we were communicating back and forth via Google Translate. They were very patient and I did not feel a lack of service because of the language barrier. As for food, I plan to do a post later on about it. Everything has an Asian twist to it, even pizza but all done with a delicate twist. It's ok if you don't like sushi or seafood (we do!). Wagyu (or Kobe) beef is available and will send you to heaven! I tried it for the first time and it was authentic and words can't describe the taste! The other big non-seafood item is pork. They make all kinds of pork dishes and port katsu is delicious every where. Yes, they have fast food but not too many locations. McDonald's is the prevalent chain but I saw Wendy's, Burger King and KFC. Note, at least with McDonald's, fast food is kind of gourmet there if you can believe that! I had to eat at McDonald's twice because they had items that are not available in the US....like shrimp burger! If you have the opportunity, go! Life is short and I guarantee you will have a good time. I prepared for the worst and came back with the best experience of my life and I've been to far out places like the Taj Mahal, Great Pyramids of Giza and Valley of the Kings in Egypt. The Japanese are very welcoming and ALWAYS polite.
Next, we venture to the Akihabara neighborhood of Tokyo to a store called Yodobashi. The best way I can describe Yodobashi is think of a cross between Walmart and a tech store like the now defunct Fry's on the west coast or Micro Center on the east coast. Before the Walmart misnomer gives you the wrong impression, you will not find ANY large scale stores, or any store for that matter, in Japan that are disheveled as some of the Walmart stores you may find in the US. Again, I sense it's the culture. I did my research before my trip and some have said that Yodobashi has N-Scale trains. BTW, @countr yjoe, I forgot to acknowledge your statement that HO takes second place in Japan. Not only is it second place, it is a FAR second place. My sense is that N is 99% of the market in Japan. Many LHS don't even carry HO and for those that do, it gets half a shelf space. When I got to the Yodobashi in Tokyo, it is a HUGE multi-story building and I see this directory in front of the elevators. I don't know if you can zoom in but the English translation is on the left side in small letters. As you can see, no mention of trains let alone N-Scale trains. The best match was the 6th Floor - Game & Toy & Bicycle. Hmmm, Toy?, I didn't have much hope. Also, Yodobashi is a chain store with a store in every major city in Japan. Well, with all our experiences of chain stores here in the US, they really aren't known for stocking esoteric merchandise. They stock popular common items that can move as volume is their success. I didn't see model trains as a big volume mover! In we go and the first thing that assaulted my senses were the bright lights, the music, the flashy colorful signs, and the in-your-face amount of merchandise (remember the spare parts of the Kato Hobby Center?). Nothing done half a$$. We walked by the luggage section and this is only half of what they have. Something as mundane as luggage can command such a large floor space! This is starting to give me some hope for the trains. On the way up the escalator I decided to stop at the 3rd where the cameras were since photography is my other hobby. Had I been in the market for tripods I would have spent an afternoon in this section alone. I mean, look at the choices available!!!! It's almost like they self-breed! And right next to it, the telescope section. What stores carry telescopes now a days? We are in Tokyo, not exactly a dark location given all the neon signs! And look at the selection! These are astronomical telescopes (I dabble in this hobby too) and not something you would use to spy on your neighbors. Finally we get to the 6th floor, the toy section. But before we get there we passed the bicycle section. Yep, another full-on display. Look carefully allll the way to the back. Bicycles as far as your eyes can see! After a short walk (the store is HUGE), I came upon the Toy section. It's your typical toy section, Ken & Barbie, Legos, Hot Wheels, etc. Hmmm, doesn't look good. But wait! I suddenly see this. WHOA! This many plastic model kits? Some brands that I've never heard of before and some that I know are exotics or even not available in the US.
As I walk further to the back wall, I see this!!!!!!!!!! The hobby section and it starts with the glue section. Have you seen so many types of glue in one spot and nothing out of stock??? (Don't answer that! ) Continuing along this wall, I came to the paint section. It's bigger than the paint department in my local Home Depot!!!! Then came the hobby tools! 20 different types of tweezers, 3000 grit sandpaper, all kinds of hobby knives and blades. Again, very few out of stock items! Finally, we made it to the N-Scale section! OMG!!!! One again, full-on!!! I was not disappointed! The first section I came upon is Tomix. Tomix is much much more popular than Kato in Japan. But Kato is more DCC friendly whereas very few, if any, of Tomix items are DCC friendly at all. But remember, DCC is a rarity in Japan. Not be outdone, the Kato section. Then Greenmax. I bet you didn't know Greenmax makes rolling stock, locomotives and complete train sets. I didn't either! I thought they only make building kits. Need tracks and switches/turnouts (trying to keep the peace here )? Kato and Tomix are available for your buying pleasure. BTW, here's an interesting fact about buying things in Japan. The prices advertised/posted are your final price. Their 10% VAT tax is already included. No surprises at the cash register and no need to do math in your head to compute the tax. Also, a big plus for tourists, if you flash a passport at the register, they remove their 10% VAT tax on the spot! No claiming it back at the airport like the old days. Instant 10% off! But there is a minimum spend depending on the store. The ones I've seen are minimum $50 spend. Yes, I know what you're thinking. Already strong US dollar (150Y to 1USD) and now we get an additional 10% off with a passport???? Wait there's more! I'll fill you in on more discounts later. As we started to leave the store because my head was dizzy with all this N-Scale stuff, I see more Tomix! It goes all the way to the left side of the photo and then you hang a left at the corner!
I would be in such shock, seeing displays such as these.... Simply unbelievable. I envy your experience in actually seeing such displays in person. Wow. Just WOW.
LOL!!! You ain't see nothing yet! I thought this was the ultimate but as I found out, as we progressed on our trip there was more INSANITY! Stay tuned! @BoxcabE50 you are absolutely correct. For everyone to see these pictures on Trainboard is pretty impressive, especially if you are using a big monitor (I sized them to be large at 800x500). But when you are there in person it's really like a deer caught in headlights! It is total shock! Your sense of time, logical thinking, next steps, etc. totally go out the window! My initial plan was to get a freight car or locomotive or something as a memento of the trip. But that went out the door immediately once I saw these displays in person. It got my head spinning so bad that we left without buying anything. (Remember, the prices were cheap and minus 10%). You become unaware of your surrounding and start to mumble "What should I get? What should I get?" It's psychological torture!
Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have a ton of things on my Honey Do list, I'm going to do a side bar concerning food. Looking at all these N-Scale trains just raises your blood pressure and increases your metabolism such that you get hungry pretty quick. And @Rich_S can get more answers to his food questions. As it turned out, it is pretty common for all department stores, even Yodobashi, to have food courts on the top floor(s). You can see that on the directory a few posts back. Many have two floors and the choices are phenomenal. We're not talking about your typical food court you see at US shopping malls. No fast food at all. All sit down places with some really eye catching food. And you know how the Japanese always have a (plastic) "model" of their dishes at the front door to entice you. Well, they do it here in Japan too but their models seems to be much much more realistic than the ones you see in US Japanese restaurants. Now if they could invent model steam/smoke... Maybe I should advise them to add a Seuthe smoke unit to the models. While we were at Yodobashi it was lunch time and we were getting hungry and we didn't want to wander the streets of Tokyo looking for places to eat. So we went upstairs to the "food court". Holy moly! Another full-on experience! TONS of restaurants where each one seems better than the last! Here are some examples. This one has a mix of meats and seafood dishes. Japanese meals (not snacks) often come as what they call a "set" meal. Entre, rice, salad, soup. If you can zoom in on the prices, they are $8-$10 or so for lunch. That's a full meal, freshly prepared and includes seafood if you want. The ones on the left seem to be non-seafood with the upper left being shaved pork bowls, probably in teriyaki sauce. And for you meat lovers. Wagyu beef!!!!!!!! It is not cheap but I guarantee it's cheaper than US prices and authenticity is for sure. Here is another option of pork katsu (deep fried culet) over rice with Japanese curry. There's also a pork katsu sandwich on the left. That one is my wife's choice. She threw it into the picture. But the entire set meal was $15. BTW, the entire country does NOT believe in tipping. So no tipping at restaurants, hotels, taxis, even the guy who gets your luggage from the underside of the bus. I've been told that if you tip, it's an insult to them. And every worker in the service industry do their jobs with a smile. A simple "thank you" to them really makes their day. Pride and ownership for doing a job to your best ability is incredible there. This was SO refreshing for us! Your restaurant bill is your restaurant bill! Omelets, Japanese style, is also very popular if you want a lighter meal. Yes, they actually look like the model when you order one! And they are all shaped like that because there is filling inside. But alas, this place caught our eyes. All they make is shaved pork bowl. It's their specialty. OOOO-MMMM-GGGG it was so delicious! A set meal for the pork bowl, salad and soup was $7 out the door (it would have been cheaper had we not order the extra egg). Oh, before you get grossed out about the raw egg, they raise their chickens in a special way where it's totally safe. At no time did we see any fine print on any menu about "Consumption of raw food may be unsafe...." This includes the raw fish! Ordering the meal was interesting as there were NO wait staff. And there was no one to take your order. What the hell? Then we finally figured out the system by watching others. There were two machines in front of this restaurant with a display screen. You order what you want and pay for it and the machine spits out a ticket with a number. You find your seating and wait until your number is called or displayed. You go get your food. You clean up after yourself. Interesting concept. I would say half the eating establishments have this kind of set up. Initially I thought it was to save money hiring staff but I don't think this is the case as there were plenty of staff in the kitchen and there were a few wandering the floor wiping down tables with a wet towel. We shall continue to the next LHS after this. A more "mom and pop" store that has a twist on how to beat the big guys like Yodobashi. There is more insanity to be had! Happy Thanksgiving to all!
For those in the US, I hoped everyone had a great Thanksgiving. The journey continues... We are still in the Akihabara neighborhood of Tokyo. My next search was for a store named Popondetta. Like the Kato Hobby Center, you would walk along narrow streets and swear you were lost and there's no way a LHS could be here. At the end of a narrow street off the beaten path I see this! Yes, if you are wondering, the "B1 - 5F" on the sign is the basement to the 5th floor. FIVE floors of N-Scale trains!!!! I must apologize for my pictures. Many smaller LHS do not allow photos and videos. Why? I have no idea. I assume this place was like that so my initial photos were my best impression of "spy photos" estimating where my cell phone was pointing. It was only when I got to the lower floors when I saw the sign "Photos and Vidoes OK". DOH!!!! We started at the top floor and it turns out that the 5th floor is for used trains. You can see some of the older price tags on these sets. Interesting thing about used items in Japan. They look like new!!!! Their zen philosophy and culture is that everything has a purpose and that you own it only to take care of it for the next person. I went to camera stores in Tokyo where used equipment look brand spanking new! But the prices reflect used equipment so you come out SO ahead when you buy used in Japan. Of course this makes it not so easy if you want to sell your equipment. The shop owners are VERY picky in buying your used equipment. Any blemish and they refuse to buy. More used items on the 5th floor. The prices were unreal (on the good side). Here are buses. How about shells, sorted by color???!!! And more used equipment. Then we moved down to the next floor for new stock. WHOA! Remember Yodobashi? They display all there stuff in the boxes and cases that the trains come in. It was totally dizzying even with simplistic displays like that. So these smaller shops do one better to try to beat the big boys. Let's display what's INSIDE the box! Talk about dangling the carrot. Their marketing is we can sell more if we display the trains all strung out! More trains! Even more trains! How about some Shinkansen bullet trains? All set up for your viewing (and buying!) pleasure. Hope you will buy one after seeing them all nice and pretty on the shelf. Of course spare parts are always needed though not as extensive as at the Kato Hobby Center. But Popondetta is right in the heart of Akihabara so it is easier to get to. Finally, there's a layout in this store too. Many mom and pop LHS have layouts in the store for the customers to run trains. This is another profit center for them as many Japanese live in small apartment with no room for a permanent layout. Even if they setup some tracks on the floor and take them down after running, it can't be that big. The stores set up these large layouts and charge by the hour so you can run your trains. This one was 600 Yen for 20 minutes or about $12 an hour. That may seem steep but not really if you think about it. You come with your trains and immediately have fun. No setup, no take down. Everything works. The layout is fairly large. When you're done, you go home. No fuss, no muss. There were other LHS that I visited but those specifically had signs saying no phots and videos so I put everything away. Didn't want to cause an international incident. A few of them were pretty large but were not multi-floors. Next stop Kyoto via the Shinkansen bullet trains. Another eye-opening experience. Stay tuned!
The other LHS'es where I couldn't take pictures are just as impressive but I didn't realize at the time that I haven't seen the Mother Load yet! Leaving Tokyo, I was wondering to myself why such full-on with hobby stores when other countries, like the US, hobby stores are extinct? And we're talking about Tokyo, a major city and the capital of Japan. It's like a major city like NYC having 5 hobby stores. Ain't gonna happen. The only reason I can think of is that Japanese society places trains, both model and 1:1, as an important aspect of their culture and lives. And you'll see in my next post how serious they treat the bullet train. It's the equivalent of how important cars are to US society and how they are part of our lives. We use them every day, the commercials in the media, an industry revolving around them, the cult following of certain models, etc.
