One thing to look for in Tokyo are, of course, all the geeky subcultures. Cosplay, for example. And maid cafes. My guidebook listed a couple of places and made it sound like you could be sure to encounter these subcultures there. Well, not the case. I found neither the cosplay crowd in Harajuku, nor the maid cafe advertisers in Akihabara, nor the girl geeks in Ikebukuro. Or maybe I'm blind?
Later in the day, I was unable to find several of the bars listed in the nightlife section for Shinjuku. Granted, that may very well be due to my inability to cope with the Japanese system of naming streets and numbering buildings. In Germany, streets have names and houses are numbered along the streets. But in Japan, names are given to blocks rather than streets, and houses are numbered within a block. But I never really grasped how the blocks are defined (is there some kind of natural border to a block or is it more or less arbitrary?), or how the numbering works exactly. Combined with the inability to read, this makes for a great source of confusion ;-)
Another thing where the guide book was wrong were museum opening hours. One museum was a big construction site. Reopening in 2013. Another was partially closed and had odd opening hours for the rest. Earthquake after-effects. Two others were closed without any apparent reason - or maybe the reasons were posted on one of the Japanese-only signs.
Luckily there is enough to see in Tokyo and I could easily find replacements for the closed museums. But it is a little frustrating to spend all this time in public transportation only to find out that the target attraction is closed or non-existent.
So, what can I learn from this experience? Two things, actually.
- First, learn the local language. This is too bloody difficult for me in Japan and China, especially when it comes to reading. But it seems doable in the rest of the world.
- Second, rely more on word-of-mouth and confirm written information with locals or other travelers.
