June 4, 2016

Today was the first full day of traveling in Japan. I'm here with my mom for the next week, staying with the family of Natsuko Yaguchi, who mom's family hosted at the end of my mom's senior year, when Natsuko was an exchange student. We learned today that she didn't know any English before going to Homer. That is so incredible to me, and so brave!

Today we had lunch at Kamakurayama at Futago-Tamagawa Station in the Setagaya section of Tokyo. Natusko lives in Yokohama, but we discovered it is very big. According to our trusty Lonely Planet book, 3.7 million people live in Yokohama (13.39 million live in Tokyo). Her husband drove us to a train station a 10-minute walk/bus ride away where we took a 15-minute train ride to Yokohoma Station, and then we took a subway, where we met her 7-year-old granddaughter Aya. We then took a train to the restaurant, part of a shopping center, where we met up with Natsuko's son Takahiro (Taka) and his fiancée Megan. We had a wonderful conversation and filling meal!

This was just the first course!

After lunch, we took a train to Shibuya Station, to see Shibuya Crossing, also known as "The Scramble" because of the crazy intersection in front of the station, rumored to be the world's busiest.

A highlight of our first full day in Japan was the Hachikō Statue, a statue of the real-life Hachi (Richard Gere started in the direct to DVD movie, Hachi: A Dog's Tale, which is a guaranteed hour-and-a-half cry). Hachikō came to the station every day to meet his master, a professor, after he returned to work, and continued this tradition 10 years after his death. It was so cool to see this symbol of this real-life dog!

 
Megan told us about a gift shop that sold Hachi gifts, and we also learned from her about the Pasmo pass, which is their equivalent of the Charlie Card, only you can use it on trains, buses, and limo buses. Plus, at the end of your trip, you can use it for snacks, drinks, and souvenirs. Using this was a lot easier than having to figure out how much we needed to put on a ticket for each mode of transportation we were using. Buses had a flat fee, but the trains and subway prices depended on how far you were going - you run the ticket through or swipe the card on the way into the station and then swipe it again on your way out, at which point the ticket gets swallowed up/the card gets deducted. I had read in Lonely Planet about the Japan Rail Pass, but this seemed to be different, especially because you could use it for more than just transportation - more like the SUpercard at SU that you could use for laundry and concert tickets!

It was a great first day! -- POSTED BY COLLEEN