Click here to view the video on YouTube.

From the Wikipedia article:

The Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge (明石海峡大橋 Akashi Kaikyō Ō-hashi^?), also known as the Pearl Bridge, has the longest central span of any suspension bridge, at 1,991 metres (6,532 ft). It is located in Japan and was completed in 1998^[1]. The bridge links the city of Kobe on the mainland of Honshū to Iwaya on Awaji Island by crossing the busy Akashi Strait. It carries part of the Honshū-Shikoku Highway.

The bridge is one of the key links of the Honshū-Shikoku Bridge Project, which created three routes across the Inland Sea.

• Reserve domestic plane tickets in advance: one of our mistakes was hoping to purchase a domestic flight ticket the day of departure. Unfortunately, the price was double, and this went against our budget rules (that is, save money!). Buying a ticket for the day after was considerably cheaper.
• Bring our own GPS: our car’s GPS was completely in Japanese. Luckily for us, we managed to memorize the button combinations involved when putting in telephone numbers to read our destination. Next time, we are going to bring our own fully-functional GPS unit with maps of Japan. We were fortunate to have a HTC HD2 with Google Maps to aid us while we were lost.
• Purchase an ETC pass: we had to carry cash and coins for the tolls, resulting in a lot of loose change afterwards. Next time, we’ll simply buy an Electronic Toll Collector pass to make our lives easier.
• Bring an unlocked USB GSM modem: the modem we were given by NTT Docomo was incompatible with our Cradlepoint PHS300 broadband router. Fortunately, we hooked up Hinjew’s HTC Tytn II to the PHS300 as a broadband router so we can share the connection.
• Use the subway system more: we had no clue the subway system in Tokyo was so efficient, clean and fast. If we had known this, we would have used it a lot more often in the beginning of the trip.
• Bring more money: preferably US currency, all the hotels we stayed at did not accept the Canadian dollar. The exchange rate at the time (and even presently) is par, so the best time to travel is now! While our budget was 2,200.00$ for the trip (without flight) having more money meant a lot more could have been accomplished. We did stay in some rather expensive hotels when there were cheaper alternatives as we wanted a comfortable trip.
• Pool our money in advanced: our plan was to split hotels, the car, gas, tolls and the internet among ourselves. Since our budget was about 2,200.00$ each, we should have pooled the money beforehand as opposed to accounting for everything afterwards.
• Organization: there were times where we could have maximized our stay in a city by visiting more places, but the team did not know how long it would take in terms of transportation (we didn’t want to stay out too late or miss an event).
• Stay longer: for some (ok, just I, Fallout) eleven days was way too short. My original plan was to stay in Japan for an entire month, but getting time off work was a challenge in itself, let alone budgetary concerns.

All in all, we were all very satisfied with our trip. There is this idea in the air to revisit the country again next year when funds are available and do a “Japanigans Part II”. Till then, this blog will be online indefinitely and hopefully updated with some fresh content/news when something relevant comes up.

On our first day, this person lost 3500 CAD in cash at the airport. We were at the SoftBank counter on the fourth floor and our friend left a stack of cash inside a plastic bag on the counter. We simply went downstairs to the NTT Docomo counter without a clue. Within five minutes, the SoftBank lady that we spoke to upstairs approached us. She asked us if we had forgotten anything. A quick check on our pockets revealed that indeed, we were missing a lot of cash. She returned our cash and didn’t even take a small reward we were offering her.

On the second last day of our trip, this same person lost about three thousand dollars worth of camera equipment. We were on the subway, going back to our hotel, with our hands full of items we had bought. Halfway to the train station, our friend remembered that he left his backpack on the subway. We all thought that we would never see the bag and its contents again.

We spoke to a local subway attendant, and he told us to fill out a form. Our friend then described his bag and the contents inside it. The timing couldn’t have been worse, as we were leaving to the airport the next day.

The morning on the day of our departure, we got a phone call at our hotel room, exactly at 9 AM. It was the subway workers, notifying us that the bag had been found. The timing couldn’t have been better.

Immediately, we rushed to the station where our bag was held. We had 90 minutes to pick up the bag and return to our hotel, since the airport shuttle bus was leaving at 12:55 PM. There was no way we could take the next shuttle, because we would be missing our flight for sure. To make matters worse, we didn’t have our bags packed, and we also had the matter of checking out.

Luckily for us, we made it back barely on time. We literally had five minutes to pack our bags in our room. The hotel staff was kind enough to let a few minutes slide. While Fallout was checking out, the staff took our bags and placed it on the shuttle. We are quite possibly the luckiest fools on the planet.

To finish off this post, we would like to say that the Japanese have some seriously strong ethics that we have never witnessed anywhere else in the world. If this were Montreal, we would be kissing our money goodbye. The locals here seem to frown upon stealing, and they always look out for one another. We only wish we had this kind of ethics back home.

Afterwards, we took a train that left Chiba directly to Akihabara. Thundergod and I (Fallout) wanted to purchase some Radio/Remote Controlled model cars since the beginning of the trip. Tamiya, one of the world’s largest model and RC manufacturers, is based in Japan. We found a reseller that sold virtually every type of kit and part available. Thundergod and I were kids in a candy store, each picking up a kit to bring back home and race.

Finally, our last day in Tokyo has come to an end. Tomorrow, we’ll be going to the airport at 1-2 PM to board our flight at 5 PM. We should be arriving in Montreal at 7:11 PM.

After Super Autobacs, we took the subway back to Shibuya and stopped by a MOS Burger. We’ve never heard of this restaurant outside of Japan before, so we’d like to think it’s a rare joint that serves burgers. The food was pretty good to say the least.

Afterwards, we went to Tokyu Hands in the Shibuya district, the flagship store that has seven floors of unique products that one cannot find outside of Japan. Items such as toys, games, arts & crafts, models, costumes, paint, luggage, novelty, furniture, pet supplies, drawing, lighting, do-it-yourself kits and other goods can be found at Tokyu Hands. There was something for everyone. I think we spent another hour or two in the store, going up every floor to see what kind of products one could buy. We wish there was a store like this back home!

Finally, to end our day on a good note, we went to a bar in Shibuya district called Kirin-City. We had a few drinks after a long day of walking and (window) shopping.

Feeling a bit crappy because of the surprise parking ticket fine, we decided to go see the girls at Harajuku Station even though it was a bit too late for them to be out. We read online that the Harajuku girls usually hang out during the afternoon on Sundays. We decided to take a chance and go see them anyway. Worst, we could just walk around the area to kill some time.

Instead of taking the subway or train, we simply took a cab to get to Harajuku Station. This is where we passed by the Champs D’Elysees of Tokyo: all the major brand name stores such as Louis Vuitton, Nike, Gap, etc. had set up shop. Shibuya is known as Tokyo’s fashion district, and this was not far from the truth.

At Harajuku Station, we were indeed a bit late to the party, but still managed to witness a few girls dressed up in alternate/different fashions and styles: cosplay, gothic and punk. There were a ton of people using Harajuku Station, so we had to pay close attention to all the people passing by to spot the Harajuku Girls.

After killing some time at the station, we decided to walk to the famous Shibuya “square”, where thousands of people cross the intersection at any given moment. This place is constantly featured in movies and films, such as in Tokyo Drift. It wasn’t too hard to find the intersection, as the lights in the sky guided us to it (okay, Thundergod’s GPS also helped us out).

We finally arrived at the intersection and took some great shots. Thundergod and Hinjew created some killer panoramic views; we’ll try to put them up in the next day or two if we’re not lazy. It was pretty damn nuts to say the least: you’ve got thousands of people just crossing the street every single time the lights change. It’s something that should be experienced first-hand… the pictures cannot express the volume attributed with this famous spot.

Nearby the intersection, we stopped by a cheesecake cafe to grab a bite to eat and have some dessert, while watching people cross the intersection.

Our night came to an end on a good note: we finally decided to try out Tokyo’s public transportation system. First, we took the subway from Shibuya Station to Shimbashi. It was a 11 minute ride in quite possibly the cleanest metro system ever. The seats actually had cushions, the people were civilized and there was no smell, graffiti or trash to be found anywhere. From Shimbashi Station, we took the Yurikamome Line to our hotel’s train station called Daiba, which took another fifteen minutes or so.

Compared to the hassle of driving, paying for tolls & parking and “surprise” parking fine in the recent post, I’d say the public transportation system in Tokyo is quite possibly the best we’ve experienced in all our travels across the globe. For the remaining days in Tokyo, we’re sticking to the subway and train system.

It all started with us waking up too late for the breakfast buffet. See, our hotel has two types of breakfast: the buffet and the American breakfast. The buffet is only open until 10, while the American one goes till 11. The American is basically eggs, bacon/sausage and a drink of your choice, nothing more. Thundergod, Hinjew and myself (Fallout) thought the buffet was open until 11 AM. We were obviously wrong. Regardless, the meal was good anyway so no complaints there.

After going back to our room, each of us took a shower and basically taking our time getting ready to go out. At about 1 PM, we decided to finally hit the road and check out Akihabara, known as Tokyo’s electronics and anime district. We regretfully decided to drive to the district instead of taking public transportation, as we figured it would be faster to get there. We also assumed that the parking cost wouldn’t be that much. Also, it was our last day with the car, and we had to drop it off at the Toyota Rent-A-Car in Central Tokyo. Kill two birds with one stone, right?

Here’s where our adventure slightly turns to the worse.

First, the directions our GPS gave us didn’t take us to Akihabara directly. We were perhaps a twenty minute walk away from the actual district (or electronic shops). In any case, we found a parking spot on the side of the road, next to a parking meter that seemed to function differently than what we’re used to in Montreal. This parking meter accepted money like any other, but the timer started counting at zero instead of the displaying the available time and descending from there. Since we didn’t understand any of the instructions on the meter, we left it up to chance that we wouldn’t get a parking ticket, or worse, have the car towed. Big mistake on our part we’d later find out.

Lost Finding Akihabara

The plan at this point was to find Akihabara Station, so we went ahead and found it on Google Maps through Thundergod’s phone and GPS. As mentioned above, we were a good twenty minute away, so a walk was in order as we had already fed the meter.

We finally arrived at the Akihabara district and simply shopped away. There weren’t any crazy deals to be found mind you, as the prices were identical to back home. Still, we managed to check out some cool gadgets and get a feel of how the Japanese shop. One thing the team at Japanigans loved was the fact that shops actually sold computer components (motherboards, CPUs, RAM, hard drives, etc.) all separately. They carried virtually every brand and model imaginable. We don’t have this type of selection in Montreal!

Naturally, after shopping, we started to get hungry. We found this little Indian restaurant called “Little Curry Box” while walking down countless anime shops. Thundergod, being a huge fan of the cuisine, and Hinjew being half Indian, it was no brainer to try the place out. Outside, the owner saw us glazing over the restaurant’s menu, so he invited us to dine in what eventually became a great meal. Who knew you had to go to Tokyo to enjoy great Indian food?

After the late lunch, it was time to go back to the car and return it to Toyota. At this point, we were hoping the car didn’t get towed, as we were sure we ran out of time on the meter. Since we forgot to write down where we had parked the car, it took us thirty minutes to find it. Fortunately, the car was still there, but as we got closer, a yellow sticker appeared on the windshield. Yup, we got a parking ticket.

Now, a parking ticket in Japan does not seem to show how much you owe. In fact it doesn’t say much, except a small paragraph in English that mentions that you have parked illegally. Thinking it’s nothing big, we just shove it in with the rental papers and get ready to hit the road to return the car. Since we were in the same district as the rent-a-car’s, we figured a ten minute drive would suffice. Oh, we had to return the car by 6 PM. The current time was 5: 45 PM.

We must have spent an hour trying to find the Toyota Rent-A-Car garage/office. We went around in circles, looking for the damn place. Finally, by sheer luck, we saw a little sign in Japanese that mentioned “Toyota” and had the same logo as the one on the rental papers. Only the place, from what we could tell, was closed.

We call the rental agency, and somehow manage to communicate with the other person over the phone who didn’t speak a word of English. We finally figure out that there is an underground parking garage that also handles Toyota’s cars.

Long drive short, we’re in the rental office, and hand over our papers along with the parking ticket. The attendant looks at the ticket and a “whoa” ensues. It seems that the parking ticket is 15,000 ¥, or 174.00$ CAD. Yes, you read that right: parking illegally, or not filling the meter, is 174.00$ Canadian Dollars.

Ouch.

Here’s where things get a little worse. If you return a car to Toyota with an unpaid ticket, you must pay 25,000 ¥ (290.00$ CAD) to the rental agency. Two hundred and ninety Canadian Dollars.

Double ouch.

Fortunately, we found out we could go to the police station or bank ourselves, pay the 15,000 ¥ fine and get our 25,000 ¥ back from the rental agency, essentially saving 10,000 ¥.

Regardless, at the time of writing this post, we have yet to pay the fine at a police station. We went to a “Police Box” near the Shimbashi Station, but they couldn’t process the ticket.

The story continues, check the next post!

It’s 10 PM Japan Standard Time and there are no restaurants that close late, or do not close at all. Hinjew, Thundergod and myself (Fallout) are starving to death, and there is nothing open or close enough to our hotel. We don’t want to take the subway right now because, a) it would take us longer to get food, and b) we’re too lazy to go anywhere far. There may be places out there that serve food late, but we couldn’t find one online, and our hotel concierge is asleep.

Fortunately, at desperate times like these, hotel room service can (and might) save the day. A few seconds ago, we just placed an order for some food via a telephone call. The prices on the room service menu were actually decent. We’re just hoping the food is edible.