Travelogue of Tokyo & Osaka, Japan

Categories: Life 2023-12-17

Origin

After several years of the pandemic, there was no opportunity to travel abroad, which was quite frustrating. At the end of November, the team outing’s preferred destination was an overseas trip, and finally, my colleagues settled on Osaka, Japan. Since I had visited Osaka 5 years ago, I decided to arrange this trip with 1.5 days in Osaka and the remaining 3 days in Tokyo to see what Asia’s number one city, Tokyo, was like. Coincidentally, I was watching “Money Heist” at the time, and one of the characters was also named Tokyo, which made me even more eager to visit Tokyo.

This travelogue aims to casually discuss the preparations before departure, what I saw during the journey, and the differences between my expectations and what I actually experienced. I hope to provide some input to friends who read this. There may be some misunderstandings in my views, and I welcome corrections.

Before Departure

Before departure, the main tasks were applying for a visa, buying a power bank, purchasing insurance, downloading Google Maps and translation software, topping up my Apple Pay Suica card, exchanging currency (I’m lazy, so I exchanged it with a colleague before departure), buying a Japanese data SIM card (don’t be greedy for cheapness, buy one with more data), and filling out the Japanese entry declaration materials in advance. Most of these tutorials can be found on Xiaohongshu.

The round-trip flight from Hangzhou to Osaka was very cheap, only about 1500 yuan. Then I booked a hotel. I remember last time I also stayed in Namba, Osaka, which is very convenient for getting around. When booking a hotel, I recommend trying several platforms, such as Booking, Agoda, Google Maps, Fliggy, and Ctrip, to compare reviews and locations and find a better value for money.

Since the exchange rate is very favorable and it’s duty-free, if you’re interested in luxury goods, I recommend doing your homework. Buying the right items can save you the cost of airfare and hotel fees 😁 However, I suggest remembering to throw away the boxes and invoices or put them in someone else’s luggage when returning to China.

I even made a mind map to plan the itinerary, but often plans change, so it’s mostly just a reference. The detailed itinerary will be discussed in the second part.

The Journey

Day 1 of the Journey · Osaka

It wasn’t really a full day. I left Hangzhou after lunch, took the subway directly to the airport, and the flight at around 4 p.m. took 2 hours and 20 minutes to Osaka. It felt really close, almost like I could go to Japan three times compared to a trip from Hangzhou to Xinjiang.

Since Japan is in the East 9th time zone, it’s one hour ahead of China’s East 8th time zone. For example, when we arrived, it was 8 p.m. in Japan, but only 7 p.m. in China. We took the subway to the hotel, arrived at around 9 p.m., checked in, and then went out for a stroll. Haha, for example, Tobita Shinchi Restaurant Association is a good place. After strolling, it was past 10 p.m., and many restaurants were closed. We found a local Japanese barbecue stall and had something to eat.

Since it was my second trip to Japan, it was different from the freshness of the first time. So I specifically observed local things and found some different aspects. I plan to summarize them in the last section.

Day 2 of the Journey · Tokyo City Area

From Osaka to Tokyo, you can take a plane, Shinkansen, or night bus. I ruled out the plane because of the hassle of round-trip travel. The night bus looked good and cheap, but a colleague who had taken it before said it was very uncomfortable for a whole night, so that was also out. Choosing the Shinkansen has a big advantage: if the weather is good, you can see Mount Fuji along the way. The disadvantage is that a one-way ticket costs about 700 yuan (similar to the price of a first-class seat on our high-speed rail). Finally, I found a travel agency through Fliggy that offered Shinkansen tickets for 450 yuan, which saved a lot of money for several people traveling back and forth. After purchasing, you will receive instructions on how to pick up the tickets, which can be picked up directly at major stations.

Here’s an interesting choice: there are several types of Shinkansen tickets. One type is unreserved seats, which means you can take any train within the day’s time slot. The first few cars are set aside for these tickets, and it’s first-come, first-served. It’s difficult to guarantee a fixed seat. However, the sellers on Fliggy sold them all at the same price. Also, if you want to see Mount Fuji, you need to sit in a D or E seat, so I definitely chose a fixed time and fixed seat.

Due to domestic habits, I thought I should leave a buffer of more than half an hour, so I bought a ticket for 9:30. Since the subway was on time and there was no security check, I left the hotel at 8 a.m. and picked up the ticket at 8:40. It happened to be Thanksgiving Day in Japan, so there were quite a few people. As a result, I waited for about 40 minutes. The lesson here is not to go too early; a 10-minute buffer to find the platform is enough.

You can usually see Mount Fuji about 1 hour and 45 minutes after departing from Osaka. Just calculate it directly. Basically, when you reach Shizuoka Station and pass through a tunnel, you can prepare. Since I bought the ticket relatively late and only chose BC seats, I waited until the time and went directly to the connection between the cars to see Mount Fuji. There’s a better advantage here: no one, big windows. In addition, the windows in Japan are very clean, so I took the beautiful photos below. It looked even better in person.

We arrived in Tokyo around 12 p.m. Then, a local friend of my travel companions took us to eat Kobe beef near Ueno Station. It was the kind where everyone gets their own pot. The meat was very tender and slightly sweet, which was nice. The local specialty beer was very popular among locals, but I found it a bit bitter. We also chatted a lot about the situation of company employees in Japan, which I will talk about in the “Impressions” section later.

The population density of Tokyo is much higher than that of Osaka. It feels like there are people everywhere, and they walk very fast. The population density is 2-3 times higher than that of Shanghai. After eating, we went to Ameyoko shopping street opposite. It is a cluster of shops under the elevated railway line, with many food stalls, a bit noisy, and very lively. Due to the high population density, and since we just finished eating, we walked directly through this street. It’s also amazing that when cars pass by, the buildings and even the tall buildings in the distance sway slightly from side to side. At first, I thought I was seeing things, but I asked around and found that many Japanese buildings are designed this way for earthquake resistance.

After passing through Ameyoko, we arrived at Senso-ji Temple, the oldest temple in Tokyo. The main gate is called “Kaminarimon” and has an iconic large lantern. The overall temple architecture is very beautiful. We had been looking for luggage storage along the way. There are usually storage lockers in stations, but most were full because there were too many people. Later, we found one near Kaminarimon and stored our luggage there. There were many local Japanese people at the temple. I found that, just like in China, they also like to pray to Buddha, and there are also fortune-telling services. There are also many coins in the pool. Since there were too many people, we took some photos and left, because we saw the Tokyo Skytree, which was really, really tall and beautiful. The key was that the weather was particularly good these days, and we could see far into the distance, and the sky was very blue.

Then we walked to the Tokyo Skytree to buy tickets, intending to go up the tower and see a panoramic view of Tokyo. Unfortunately, there were many people, and we had to queue for tickets, only getting tickets for 7 p.m. We spent the extra time walking around outside, resting, and found a local old couple’s yakitori shop, where we had dinner. The meat was good, and the taste was decent. After eating, we slowly went to queue up for the Skytree. The tower is over 400 meters tall, the tallest in the world, and looking down was very impressive. I took many photos and videos. After finishing, since we had walked too many steps, we went straight back to the hotel.

Day 3 of the Journey · Tokyo Disney

The itinerary for this day was to spend a day at Tokyo Disney. As mentioned above, Japanese people are not competitive, but when they go out to play, Tokyoites are as competitive as Chinese people. The night before, we had checked the strategy and thought we must leave early. We thought early was before 8 a.m., so we finished breakfast and left. We arrived at Tokyo Disney around 9 a.m. Before entering, we also visited the souvenir shop, which was the first stop. After coming out, we queued up. There were really a lot of people, a super long queue. Only then did we realize we were late, late, late. Finally, after queuing for about 40 minutes, we finally got in.

Since we arrived late, the first thing we did after entering was to buy a FastPass. This is relatively fair; everyone rushes to grab one, and after playing one, you can only grab another. It’s hard to even spend money. When we entered, only Splash Mountain was available. The first ride we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean, where you cruise through the pirate world. It’s a must-do for fans of Captain Jack. Later, we rode Big Thunder Mountain, which I think was the most thrilling one there. Then we went to Splash Mountain, which is basically a log flume ride, also thrilling and a great experience. The snacks inside didn’t feel as expensive as at Shanghai Disneyland, and they were quite tasty. After that, we took a few boat rides, which were very leisurely. There was also a thrilling ride called Space Mountain, which was the only one that repeatedly emphasized not to ride if you felt unwell. In short, we basically experienced all the thrilling rides. The popular Beauty and the Beast ride always had a long queue, so we gave up on it.

Tokyo Disney is still far less thrilling and fun than Universal Studios Japan. It’s very suitable for young girls, almost like a fairy tale world. Luckily, it was two couples traveling together; otherwise, it would have been very boring if it was all men.

After watching the parade, worried about the crowds on the subway, we started to head back. Haha, we chose to go to Kabukicho to take a look. It’s a very interesting place, and those who like novelty in Tokyo can just go and see it casually.

Day 4 of the Journey · Casual Play in Tokyo

This was the last day in Tokyo. We took the Shinkansen back to Osaka in the evening. A friend from Tokyo invited us to have lunch together in Shibuya. So I woke up naturally in the morning, then happily went to Tokyo Station to find a place to store my luggage. This way, I could play locally all day, and then pick up my luggage on the way back. I thought about strolling around Ginza after storing my luggage if I had time.

As it turned out, this was also unexpected. Tokyo Station is super large, and there are many places to store luggage, but all of them on the first floor and basement were full, and even the small ones were gone. I spent half an hour looking for a place and still couldn’t store it. Then my Tokyo friend suggested that I directly bring my luggage to Shibuya. So I went to look for the subway entrance of this line. As a result, because the station was so large (I later checked that it covers 182,000 square meters and has 450,000 passengers per day), I had no choice but to find a staff member. It was also amazing that he pulled out a paper map of Tokyo Station’s interior, and like playing a game, he drew a path for me. I was very grateful for this map, which allowed me to find the station entrance, and finally arrived at Shibuya Station at exactly 12 p.m.

Shibuya Station was also super crowded. There was a landmark statue of Hachiko, where many foreigners were taking photos. My Tokyo friend took us to a particularly delicious chicken curry rice. The most amazing thing was that it had a chili flavor. The food in Japan these days was really too bland, so eating such a meal was really satisfying. I finished a bowl of rice, vegetables, meat, and even the soup. I suddenly felt that this was much better than Japanese barbecue, haha.

After eating, we just walked around Shibuya for a while. There were quite a few underground idol girl groups doing promotional activities there. Some fans even rented a bus-like vehicle, and the underground idols sang and livestreamed for them on the bus, which was very interesting.

After strolling, we took the subway to Ginza. Tokyo is the most prosperous city in Asia, and Ginza is the most prosperous and high-end area in Tokyo. In other words, haha, Ginza is the most prosperous POI in Asia. We just strolled around, looking at jewelry, luxury bags, etc. I have to say the variety is really complete. I didn’t do much research at the time, so I didn’t buy much. When it was almost time, we walked to Tokyo Station and went back to Osaka in the evening.

Day 5 of the Journey · Osaka

We stayed in the same hotel as the first night in Osaka. It was a bit smaller than the Richmond Hotel Kinshicho in Tokyo, but it was really a small but complete place, with everything you need.

The last day’s task was easy: shopping. But I’m not a hoarder, so neither the pharmacies nor the character products attracted me much this time. The last day’s activity area was around Osaka Bridge, where we casually walked and looked around.

The first thing I noticed was that there were so many arcades, and many old men and even old ladies were playing inside. It was really a colorful and noisy experience. Then I saw a claw machine arcade, where you could play for 100 yen (5 RMB). I actually caught a nice doll on my second try, which made me very happy. Then I saw that the staff would help people who couldn’t catch anything after several attempts by opening the cabinet and moving the doll closer to the hole. Haha, it was very interesting.

After catching the doll, we went to a nearby department store and found nothing to buy. Finally, it was time for the team dinner, so we went there. It was a barbecue restaurant, and the meat was pretty good. Surprisingly, there was a place that could accommodate more than 30 people. After eating and drinking, everyone agreed on the time to meet at the airport, so we went shopping.

This time, we went to Parco. This place is great for shopping, with many luxury goods. The first store we visited was GUCCI. There were many styles, and I saw a bag I really liked, so we bought it directly. It felt like a great deal because of the exchange rate of 1:21 and the tax exemption. Compared to China, it felt like a 25% discount, so buying a bag felt like earning several thousand yuan. Later, we went to look at birds. It was a large store with two floors. Many people like this brand recently, but I really couldn’t appreciate it, so I gave up.

Then we walked around other stores on the upper floors. In fact, clothes were about 80% off compared to China, and even Lululemon felt like 60% off. I highly recommend everyone to shop there.

Finally, we took the subway to the airport. This was the worst experience I had. Kansai Airport is actually not big. It was Sunday, and there were many returning flights. Ours was at 7 p.m. We went to check in our luggage at around 4:30 p.m. and were at the front of the line, but we ended up queuing until 7 p.m. The plane was about to stop security checks, and only a few people had entered. Most passengers had not yet gone through security and were still queuing outside. Finally, the airline had to open a convenient channel for quick security checks, and the plane took off after everyone was inside. I thought, “Damn, our 2 hours of queuing were completely wasted.” And finally, we arrived in Hangzhou after 10 p.m., packed up, went to sleep, and went to work the next day.

Unique Feelings

Human Aspects

1. It’s hard to lose things in Japan. In one case, a colleague of ours went to see a fireworks display in Osaka at night. When getting off the train, they were in such a hurry that they forgot their bag, which contained the two most important items, their passport and ID card, inexplicably together. It was a real rush. It happened to be a Friday night, the next day was Saturday, and they needed to return to China on the third day. They reported it to the police and the subway staff, and were already prepared to go to the embassy on Monday to handle the return procedures. However, at 7:50 a.m. on Saturday, the bag was delivered to the subway station near their hotel. It was a thrilling experience, and on the one hand, it deeply touched me. In my impression, the Japanese work at a leisurely pace, but they handled this urgent matter so well.

2. Most people dislike disturbing others and are very obsessive-compulsive. I observed this twice on the Shinkansen. A Japanese person sitting next to me bought a beautifully packaged bento box with a wooden case. The process of unpacking it was very quiet, and they ate without making any noise… A while later, they finished eating everything and meticulously put everything back in its original place, even tying it with a string. It looked almost identical to how it was when they took it out. At that moment, I almost gave them a thumbs-up, and suddenly felt like I was a fake obsessive-compulsive person.

3. Most Japanese girls dress in a cute and refined style. For young girls, their bangs are usually slightly curled, and they dress very elegantly, with a bit of blush on their faces. Many also wear skirts with bare legs. I also noticed this 5 years ago when I first visited Japan, that young girls like to wear skirts with bare legs in winter, which surprised me. As for women who are a bit older after marriage, they generally wear mermaid skirts, many mermaid skirts. Overall, they are all dressed very elegantly. This might also be because I was in a bustling city like Tokyo.

4. I found that middle-aged people particularly like to use flip phone cases. I looked it up later, and it’s for better privacy protection and phone drop protection. On the other hand, Japan has a lot of cards, so it’s convenient to use a flip case to store them. In terms of phone models, there are many iPhones, but I rarely saw new versions, and rarely saw anyone using an iPhone with a Dynamic Island. I also found several people using phone cases with broken corners. I’m not clear about the reason here and won’t comment.

5. A small number of boys dress in a very Japanese anime style. Not many, but very refined. I encountered such scenes 5 to 6 times. For example, blue long hair, makeup, nail polish, and some even wore a black choker around their neck. You can probably imagine what they looked like.

6. Young people can actually drink a lot. I remember on the first night, at a local izakaya, many young locals had large mugs of beer on their tables. I even saw several girls finish a large mug of beer in a few gulps, which was very impressive, and they seemed very happy.

Life Aspects

1. Shops support many kinds of payment methods. In China, Alipay and WeChat are mostly sufficient. Their convenience stores even support dozens of payment methods, which is a bit like actively adapting to various payment methods, including some Hong Kong and Taiwan payment methods that I don’t recognize, allowing people from all over the world to pay there. There’s another amazing thing here: they support cash and automatic change machines. Even when checking in at a hotel and paying a deposit, the machine can spit out coins for change, which was a bit surprising. However, most locals in Japan seem to use cash and bank cards more often, and Suica cards are also widely used for transportation.

2. The online ordering tools for restaurants are a bit old-fashioned and simple. Compared to China, there is a big gap in performance, user experience, and aesthetics. In many cases, the pictures for barbecue ordering are still of raw food before cooking, and many don’t even have pictures. This would be unimaginable in China. However, there is also an advantage here: most Japanese online tools, such as booking and ordering, do not require logging in. You can just scan the QR code and use them directly.

3. Milk in convenience stores is actually cheaper than water. It’s a very strange feeling. Also, fruits are very expensive. I had seen this on social media before. Two bananas cost about 15 yuan.

4. The local food tastes generally bland. Speaking of the barbecue we had that day, it generally tasted natural. It is common to eat seasonal fresh and natural food here, including the grilled meat we ate in the following days. It’s okay to eat it occasionally, but if you eat it long-term, it might be a bit too bland for someone with a Hunan palate.

5. Public toilet seats are very clean, heated, and have warm water for washing. I used public toilets several times, and most of them had these features. Even the public toilet on the first floor of the hotel had automatic white noise water sounds, probably to avoid embarrassment or something.

Transportation

1. The cars on the road are super clean. This was very surprising to me. Do they wash their cars every day? Even the cargo trucks were spotless, with no mud on the wheels. Many small cars looked old, but they were really clean.

2. Japanese subways and public transportation do not require security checks or real-name registration. You can just buy a ticket and go. Even the Shinkansen (similar to our high-speed rail) does not require real-name registration or security checks, which gives a strong sense of trust.

3. Their transportation is very, very punctual. You can even see the timetable for each train on Google Maps, and there are basically no errors. So you just need to arrive at your platform 1 minute early, and there will be no problems.

4. Japanese subways have many detailed usability optimizations. For example, the subway seats are covered with a soft cloth similar to those on high-speed trains, and some even have heating, which was a bit unexpected. Also, the height of the handrails at standing areas varies, making it convenient for people of different heights to hold on.

5. Although many subways are old and some make sounds like the old green-skin trains from childhood, passengers are very quiet, with basically no talking. It feels a bit rigid yet unexpected.

Work Aspects

1. Japan has many holidays, and there’s no compensatory day off operation. An interesting thing is that if, for example, Tuesday is a public holiday, companies usually also give employees Monday off, so they can have a 4-day break. The same applies to Thursday, which would be combined with Friday. Additionally, there are various types of holidays, such as the birthdays and death anniversaries of emperors. As history lengthens, it seems there will be more and more holidays, including Coming-of-Age Day, Vernal Equinox Day, Greenery Day, Marine Day, Mountain Day, Autumn Equinox Day, Health and Sports Day, and Culture Day.

2. Japanese workers are never late, always punctual. Especially in Tokyo, I clearly felt that people rushing to work in the morning had a quick, small-stepped pace. Later, I asked a friend, and it turns out that Japanese people believe being late implies untrustworthiness, so they take punctuality very seriously. Coupled with the punctuality of public transportation, it’s easy to arrive exactly on time. I asked my friend if there were any special circumstances, and indeed there were. For example, if the subway is accidentally delayed, everyone is issued a delay certificate to submit to their company, which is quite interesting.

3. Japan has a sound social security system for work, with a strong sense of rules. It sounds like they have corresponding unions for large companies, which can effectively help employees protect their rights, including overtime pay, annual leave, and insurance coverage. Compared to Chinese companies, it’s like having an additional third-party organization providing protection. If a Japanese person joins a large company, and many have lifelong employment, for those who seek stability, it’s similar to the feeling of being a civil servant in China before, with great security. However, there is also a drawback, which is that the cost of changing jobs for ambitious people is often much higher than in China.

4. Many young Japanese people realize early on that they tend to “lie flat” if there is no class mobility. When asked, it is generally believed that class mobility means an annual income exceeding 10 million yen, which is about 500,000 RMB or more. This also reveals that Japanese high salaries are not as high as we imagine, but because of good welfare and extremely low loan interest rates, this salary is equivalent to their disposable income, so it is actually quite a lot. Therefore, many young locals realize that no matter how hard they work, their income will only increase slightly, far from reaching this stage, so they tend to “lie flat” at work.

5. In many Japanese workplaces, most people need to wear suits, which is quite formal. It happened to be Friday that day, and I saw that most office workers in the morning were wearing suits, dressed quite formally. Later, I heard from a friend that even many programmers sometimes need to do this when meeting clients, which is quite amazing.

Concluding Remarks

This trip to Japan, through seeing with my own eyes, corrected some of my previous prejudices. Even though I experienced the non-advantages of Tokyo, such as too many people, cramped spaces, small hotels, daily items being more expensive than in China, and passersby being very serious and even a bit “old-fashioned,” overall, the level of social development, public etiquette, and the friendliness of public facilities are still worth learning from and aspiring to.

In recent years, my interest in checking off destinations during travel has not been that great. I prefer to observe local people, events, and lifestyles, and then reflect on and compare them with my own experiences. For things I don’t understand, I learn more by researching them. This “pretentious” process of learning is actually very interesting, and perhaps that is the meaning of travel.