travel/survival language

A little into our Korea portion of the KJ trip, I started writing down what I thought was useful survival language for short travels. These were words or phrases that I either said a lot or didn't know how to say at first but really wanted to know (and then figured it out before the end).

The list, in no particular order...
- thank you (in various politeness levels would be good)
- please (as in "x, please")
- please let me pass ("excuse me")
- excuse me (as in "excuse me..." to ask for help, a question, etc.)
- greetings - hello, goodbye, etc
- Do you speak English?
- I don't understand _language x_
- numbers
- time
- slowly, please (i.e. please speak slowly)
- again, please (i.e. please repeat what you just said)
- napkin
- plate
- fork, spoon, knife, chopstick (chopstick only in Asian countries hehe)
- may I have an [extra] _utensil/tableware_, please
- this / that
- here / there
- where / how / which / when / how long
- left / right / straight
- x station, exit y (useful in Seoul for telling the taxi driver where to drop us off)
- bus stop
- Where is the bathroom/toilet?
- non-smoking
- bag (to ask for when shopping in grocery / convenience stores)
- ticket
- 2 people
- reservation
- have
- want / would like
- I would like to go to x (REALLY useful on Jeju-do)
- What is this / how do you say this in _language x_?

Not a complete list since I only wrote down things every now and then. Ideally, it's also good to know at least some basic food words (chicken, pork, beef, eggs, veges, etc).

The problem, of course, is that you have to understand what's said back to you... so it helped a lot that I had at least some passive understanding of the Korean I heard. And you have to be really attentive to what's being said, pick out the words you know, maybe make educated guesses at the words you don't know, interpret body language and gestures, etc, etc.

Before the trip, I had read that you didn't really need to know any Korean to travel to Korea but for Japan, it was good to know the language (why I switched focus pretty much entirely to Japanese). We found the opposite to be true. Ours is a biased assessment though, based on where we actually traveled. I think if you stick to the major big cities (which we did for the most part in Japan), then you'll be ok in either country. But, for places like Jeju-do (Korea) or Amanohasidate (Japan), which aren't as heavily touristed, it's helpful to know more of the language. (Oh, and Mandarin was sometimes quite handy on Jeju-do.)

Most basic expressions a person should definitely know regardless of how prevalent English is? Probably thank you, greetings, please, do you speak English, I don't understand language-x. I think that's a minimum amount to know to show respect towards whatever culture you're exploring.

Sometimes the language part is quite a struggle, but always fun ^o^

Day 16: Tokyo, Culture Day

There's a yummy bakery on the way from H's apartment to the subway/train. 'Chocolate croissant' is whole different thing here (vs Paris). ^o^

Of all places in the world, visit Cali...


Nov 3rd is Culture Day in Japan. It didn't really change anything for us, probably because I took it into account while planning the trip hehe. We did get to see some cool festivities on our way to Meiji Shrine though.


A lot of kids (as well as adults) in traditional dress again. I love the designs and colors ^-^ We see another wedding ceremony, too!



Vending machine -- this one contains many choices of coffee.

The 2nd part of the day was devoted to Odaiba. Switching to the Yamanote line Yurikamome monorail was impossible -- intense searching for it led us nowhere. Finally, we asked this guy in his 40's and experienced the Japanese kindness that everyone talks about. He explained to us that it was up above the stairs, and then, he actually led us up all four flights of stairs to the landing itself! Lots of どうも　ありがとう　ございました's and bows from us, of course.

The first half of the monorail ride was really cool; the weaving in and out of buildings from up high felt futuristic. It's almost like those movies with the flying cars!

Even though it's Monday, there were a decent number of people at Odaiba, probably because everyone's off from work. Our only real sightseeing stop in Odaiba was Miraikan, aka National Museum of Emerging Science & Innovation, aka Museum of the Future. I like the latter name more... "the future". Before that though, we got sidetracked by some really nice locking and popping on stage. I think it was some sort of dance performance with a lot of different local groups. The first group we watched only locked and they weren't that great, but the second group was impressive.


We stopped watching after that and continued through the park. Along the way, we encountered a bunch of people dressed up in anime costumes. They were quite well done. I managed one really blurry picture (not enough light) before this coordinator-type person ran up to me and told me pictures weren't allowed. Oops.

Finally, Miraikan. Lots of really cool exhibits, but I think we generally tend to like science and tech museums ^-^ One of my favorite exhibits was the physical model of the internet. You could send a message and watch it travel through and end up where you specified in your packet...


Supposedly there's a bunch of good ramen shops in this one section of Tokyo station so we head there for dinner. We ask at one of the station info desks, but the lady points us in this direction where there's only one ramen shop. Asking someone else gives the same result. We end up eating there, which is pretty good. Talking to H about it later, it turns out the area we wanted to eat at is currently closed for a few months for construction... ah.

Staying at H's is interesting. It changes our schedule a bit because we inevitably end up chatting for longer than anticipated. But he gives a lot of insights into the culture and 'the way things are'. It's a different perspective than from a native... he grew up and went to school in the States, then returned to Japan. So, a lot of the things we notice as 'interesting', he may have noticed when he first arrived as well, but since he's been here for a few years, he's quite in-tune with the culture and can explain the little cultural oddities to us ^-^

I realized on the subway yesterday that other people don't seem to eat on the trains here. I expressed that to H and he confirmed it. There's a lot of little things that can be considered 'rude' in Japan, and the last thing you want to be is 'rude'. But I think eating on the trains is one thing we won't change. It's not like we make a mess or anything, and we take our trash with us, which are the main concerns. Actually, 'taking the trash with you' (i.e., *home* with you) and not eating on the go, is why there are supposedly so few trash cans around. There are, however, recycling bins next to the vending machines. They're not for regular trash though. I guess a good place to find trash cans is right inside or outside a combini hehe, exactly where people may need them.

Day 15: Tokyo

Since we'll be staying with H starting tonight, we figured we'd get all our laundry done. Nope, I was never one of those that brought a suitcase of dirty laundry back home from school; I always did my laundry *before* going home. First, we checked out of our rooms. Then, while we waited for our clothes, K went out and picked up some food at a nearby combini. Speaking of which, there is *never* a lack of food or drink here. There's probably a combini every few blocks and vending machines every other block!

Akihabara.


Lots of people -- yep.
Lots of random electronic goods -- yep.
Maid cafes & random 'maids' handing out ads -- yep.

Cosplay and ads with anime characters -- yep.
Costume stores -- yep.



Unexpected cuteness?


Doner kebabs? Erotic capsule toys? (This pic is the tame one... there were others with missing tops and/or bottoms, in suggestive poses.)

It is indeed an interesting place to explore. Plus, a vending machine with canned foods (like congee)...


Our next location was much more tame, Yoyogi park. Actually, we walked through Yoyogi park, stopping briefly at the Meiji Treasure House, out to the other side to Harajuku, where there were plenty of people dressed up and just hanging out...


We then stopped by the Meiji Shrine for a little bit, knowing we'd come back tomorrow. On the way there, we saw a lot of little kids all dressed up in traditional attire. Some of the little girls even had their hair and makeup done!


We weren't sure what this procession was, but when I described it to H later, he said it was probably a wedding ceremony.

It sure gets dark early now! I'm glad Japan doesn't turn the clocks back like the U.S. Our dinner tonight is in three parts.


Part 1, yummy crepes at Harajuku.

While we were waiting for the next part, big cell phone ball...


Part 2, kaiten sushi. Supposedly kaiten sushi is at the bottom of the sushi chain in terms of quality, but if that's true, a lot of the sushi places in the U.S. must be below the bottom! The scallop here was mmmmm mmm good. Nope, have never had scallop like that in the U.S. The rest of the fish was really good, too! Maybe we just got lucky in our kaiten pick ^o^


Incidentally, the tea in Japan is usually powdered. (Ingenious!)

Part 3, oden + bento. Since K couldn't eat much at the kaiten sushi (raw), we stopped at a combini afterwards and ate our goodies back in the common room at the hotel. There was another family also enjoying their dinner, speaking Spanish. After curiosity took over, I finally had the courage to ask them where they were from. Mexico. We're both a long way from home haha. It's nice to know that 3 yrs of high school Spanish hasn't been entirely lost.

When we got to H's, he was already home, and we met his friend Jennifer who's also staying over (yesterday and tonight... she's apparently in town to watch a kendo tournament!). H pulled out a go board (actual go board with legs, just like on HnG!) and he and K played. I unintentionally fell asleep on the tatami waiting for my pics from the day to transfer. We moved to the room to sleep when they finished their game hehe. H is a crazy host... he had gone out and bought new futons and a new blanket! The futon was really comfy. Since it was placed on the floor, it was just like sleeping back home ^o^

Day 14: Tokyo

H's directions to his apartment are just as K would write them, with just the right details, leaving nothing to chance. He's working odd hours this weekend (graveyard to late morning shift and then again late afternoon), we drop by today to pick up his key for tomorrow. It was past 11am, but I think we woke him up =/ Turns out he had a late late night but didn't have to do graveyard.

Wow, clean and bare. Absolutely no clutter at all! It's inspiring, especially for a pack rat like me. The apartment is huge (compared to what we expected for Tokyo apartments) and has one room that's a traditional style tatami mat room with a sliding door. After chatting for a while, we're on our way with a key.


Ginza. I love pedestrian-only streets, which Ginza-dori is on the weekends ^o^

We attend to food first, and for doing so, we pick one of the department stores, Matsuya. In Japan, most of the department store basements are massive food halls of prepared foods. Any food-loving person *needs* to visit these. Breads, salads, yakitori, bentos, sushi, fried foods, random dishes... almost everything you might want to eat. It's hard to picture just how big these are -- you have to go there. (How did I not end up with a picture of one? Seems the food overwhelmed me =/) We discovered that both the department store and location affect the price -- the items at the Ginza Matsuya cost at least 25% more than those same items at the other Matsuya we've visited (I think at Asakusa). Bento for K, and sushi for me ^o^


SL suggested I drop by the Itoya store, so we did. I underestimated the seven floors of stationary goodness! Poor K. I'm a browser, but I did walk away with a few small items. Since next year is cow year, there were tons of cow stamps and other cow goodies! If you're lucky enough that one of your favorite animals is also a zodiac sign, come the autumn right before that sign's year =)


We were looking for tofu bread in the Kimuraya bakery, but either the sales clerk didn't understand me or my info was wrong. No tofu bread. We did leave with some yummy green tea bread though ^o^


Sony showroom... dancing mp3 player! Cute for a while, but totally impractical, I think.


Tokyo International Forum. The building is just stunning on the inside!

Shinjuku. Streets and streets of lights and people. Some buildings with floors and floors of clubs. Pachinko parlors all around. Unfortunately, my quick visit to a pachinko parlor was made even quicker by the heavy smoke =/



The govt offices buildings are a few blocks walk from the center of Shinjuku. Why would we want to visit govt offices? Free views from up high ^o^ Only one of the towers (north) is open at night though.

Kushiyaki. No pictures or sample food, but the menu's got romaji, not that it helps... I know hardly any food words! We randomly picked a few things off the menu hehe. Out of the six items we picked, K could eat three. The chicken skin, gizzards, and chicken wing just didn't cut it for him. He really liked the meatballs, so we ordered two more of those and also, another gizzards for me ^-^


Almost midnight, back to hotel. Sleep.

Day 13: Tokyo + Yokohama

I was quite saddened to read that they had closed off the early morning Tsukiji auctions to tourists starting from just a few months ago. Being the good tourists that we are, we didn't act against the officially posted info. I wonder if maybe we could have just pretended we didn't know. "Well, the guidebook said..." The 'off-limits' probably just reduces the crowd because there are good tourists like us. I bet if we went... no no, must be good tourist. Stupid bad tourists... touching the fish, some even hugging them or sitting on them (??!??)... kills it for the rest of us.

Anyways, we did wake up extra early though. No auctions, but 5:30am wake-up to get to Tsukiji at 6:40am to see the surrounding morning craziness. Lots of trucks zipping by here and there, carrying boxes and boxes of fish.

People going about their daily business. Wet floors. Lots of seafood, mostly fish. It was interesting to see the contrast with Busan's Jagalchi fish market.

Some sawing of huge tuna every now and then...


We were going to meet H at 7:30 for morning tuna. The meeting point was "next to the bridge to the market, on the market side" (my words after reading about Tsukiji layout), but when we actually got there, I confused the entrances. After a while, we figured we were waiting at the wrong place, but what to do? A guy talking on his cellphone gave me the idea to ask him to borrow his cell. But when I finally figured out how I was going to ask in Japanese, he had left. Grrr. I ended up asking someone else, who graciously let me put a quick call to H. After thanking him profusely and him continuing on his merry way, I realized 'hmmm... was that an international call?' (He was Caucasian.) Oh well. H came and met us ^o^

H took us to a small one-man sushi shop with yummy yummy tuna. There was even a cooked tuna dish for K (^o^). One thing I didn't expect... food vending machine (!), especially perfect for a small place like this =) After the meal, we parted with H, with a possible chance of moving to his place for part of our Tokyo stay ^o^ (if our hotel lets us checkout early).

Back at the hotel, we ask about checking out early and they say we have to give two days notice, so we'll be staying at H's starting Sunday night ^o^


Ueno park. We totally didn't expect the pond to be so green. It's just the leaves now, but I imagine it must be gorgeous in spring/summer!


Shibuya. The busiest intersection of the world. When the movies show Tokyo with all these people crossing the street, this is the intersection they show.

We were actually here to visit T at the G-Tokyo office. Totally unexpectedly, four other engineers from the MV office [who K knows] are here today!

The lunch food was pretty good (but I generally like G-food hehe). A major highlight [for me] was the snacks and drinks! Japanese snacks and drinks! Free, of course. And since this is Japan, the free drinks are in vending machines, of course.

Train to Yokohama. Cool surpise for us -- Pokemon isn't dead in Japan! And so many Pokemon we didn't even recognize! The store was awesome, selling just about everything you can think of, including food.



It wasn't just the store either... there was a big Pokemon balloon hanging in the mall! Makes me wonder what Neopets goodies would be here if they'd been based in Japan.


Pokemon's Japanese, but Snoopy? Too cute!

Yokohama Chinatown. They even have sample Chinese food. Ah, Japan. The food here was kind of expensive though, that is, in terms of how much one expects to pay for Chinese food based on prices in the States (~$10 for 3 buns? Cute, but still...). We were planning to go to the Ramen Museum, so we didn't eat anything in Chinatown. K said this Chinatown was even cleaner than the one in Singapore. I still think Singapore is the cleanest one I've seen, but Yokohama is certainly a very close runner-up.

Ramen Museum. The exhibit was in Japanese, so we couldn't trace the history of ramen. K got a spicy ramen; I got a more mild one. I guess it's nice to visit once, but actually, ramen's everywhere in Tokyo. The ramen was yummy, but according to one of T's co-workers (a ramen fan), the best ramen is elsewhere in Tokyo.

Day 12: Start of a week in Tokyo

Left the capsule hotel and checked into our actual hotel for the week. Since it was early, our room wasn't ready yet, so we just left our luggage, then headed out.

Combini (convenience store) stop for breakfast. What I had heard wasn't a lie. So much yummy food! It's also where I started my search for green tea kitkats. But sadly, I found none. I did, however, see (and buy) blueberry ones.

Imperial Palace East Gardens. You can't visit the palace [of the current emperor], but you can visit the gardens around it. It was somewhat of a downer though. Most of it was just flat, paved strolling paths, but there was a small section of it with a pond that resembled more of my image of a "Japanese garden"...



We were quite surprised by the big spiders with their big webs crossing over the paths in the other areas that were not near the pond. Of course, we only noticed them because we looked up. And since they crossed over the path, I'd quickly rush under them to the other side when I saw one... never know when one might decide to drop down! Actually, Korea had a bunch of big spiders like these, too (but off the path).

No cherry blossoms because it's autumn, but the flowers are just as pretty...


At first it seems a bit odd... guy in business suit sitting on the subway playing his DS, but it's Tokyo (yes, that does totally explain it).

From what we've seen, the standard dress for men in Tokyo is suits, regardless of whether they work in finance/management or not. I guess they are the people termed as 'salarymen', i.e. guys who work in an office job. Also, the DS is quite prevalent, as well as cell phone games (K fits in very well). And it seems just fine for guys to sport a pink DS or cell phone.

Sensoji... but first, food. First encounter with a food vending machine. I'd heard about them and we were both quite excited to use it hehe. It's easy. Put in money, select items, get tickets and change, give tickets to staff, and sit and wait for your food to be brought to you. The staff doesn't have to deal with taking orders or money. Ingenious! The pictures made ordering super easy, too.



It's fitting that soba and tempura should be our first sit-down meal in Japan ^o^


On our way to Sensoji... capsule toys galore!


It was crowded but festive. And the nice thing about it being Japan is you don't have to fear nearly as much about random pickpockets (unlike people-heavy places in Europe!).

Walking back from the temple, we encountered ninjas! Well, these people putting on this act thing which we deduced to be advertising for their show later that night. It was pretty funny to watch, especially when they jumped out at random people passing by. What would you do if some random guy dressed like a ninja started chasing after you with a sword?

Kappabashi. Kitchen town. Store after store of kitchen supplies. Tableware, cookware, bamboo, random signs, appliances, even neon lights. Everything you could possibly need for a restaurant. And a few fake food stores, too. They call it 'sample food' here. Ah, just can't get enough of sample food. I contemplated buying a few for myself and/or friends, but really, what would you do with it? Collect shelf dust.


For some reason, the knives stores reminded me of V... so my tribute photo to V...


Nice nap in the hotel (while K checked his email) before heading out to dinner at a nearby shokudo, which is a 'cafeteria style' eatery. More yummy food! ^o^