R e f l e c t i on s on To kyo I nt ervie w by M ich ae l Kan e r t We asked these Tokyo visitors to tell us: what surprised you most about your trip to Japan's capital?
Toby Lau
Robert Wakulat
I left my backpack containing all my money and my passport at the subway station. I noticed straight away, and went back to the station about 10 minutes later. The station manager had my bag and had already listed down all the contents. I managed to get it back with all the money (around CAD$2,000)!
Located west of the main ring line in Tokyo, Shimokitazawa is awesome: funky, great food and a very non-touristy vibe. People even bought us drinks! Also, Tokyo’s mixed expat/ local Ultimate frisbee club, Iku, provides a great way to keep fit and make new friends while travelling or living abroad in the city. It’s even open to drop-ins and beginners!
Fernando Gonzales With 20 hours’ layover in Japan on a flight back to Canada, we decided to spend some time in Tokyo, and part of the itinerary was to go to Mandarake (a popular anime figurine store) as requested by our daughter, who is a big anime fan. After several minutes looking for the store to no avail, we asked a Japanese gentleman we bumped into for assistance. Instead of just giving directions, he accompanied us up to the front of the store, which we realized was actually a few blocks away from where we started. Not only did we get to where we wanted to go, but we also had a nice chat with the kind man on the way. What a wonderful guy indeed!
Anne Marie Kanert I discovered that the ubiquitous tea shops have surprisingly good, inexpensive food, and I didn't need a single word of Japanese to order: there were pictures I could point to! On top of which, the breakfast bar at our hotel had the best ginger tea I had ever tasted!
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