So I took the 20 mins round trip subway ride to Ikebukuro to drop some gifts, and wow, I didn't get lost at all.
I took the Aoyama-itchome near Tokyo Midtown towards Yoyogi on Oedo Line, swapped to JR Yamanote Line all the way to Ikebukuro, passing though Shinjuku. Granted, I had my trusty pocket "Tokyo Subway Guidebook" on hand, but I didn't make an ass of myself like last time by wandering around aimless like a zombie in the ever chaotic maze that is the Tokyo subway stations.
I even remembered that the exit at the Ikebukuro was the Seibu exit. ;p
One thing that really helped me, was when yesterday, me and my friend were about to get into the subway station to go to Shibuya, she recommended that I get a PASMO card. What a difference and convenience it is to have a PASMO card. Last time I bought those single tickets, which was horrible, because I don't know whats the fare, I would always put more than it was necessary, also if you overpaid, there is no refund. And these tickets are not interchangeable between certain subway lines. With PASMO you just refill, and wave the RFID card and it will deduct only the amount you traveled, also its interchangeable between all subways line in Tokyo. So maybe the only time when you might have some issues is refilling, but even then the refill machine has option to have the menu in English.
I guess I had a tiny issue today with the card, because as I waved the card, it gave me the red beep. I thought, well it must not work with this particular subway line, but the helpful attendant that was nearby took my card and swiped on his card machine thing and said in broken English, "Onry 47 yen!" Well it was time to refill the card, he actually left his post and escorted me to a nearby refill machine, although the menu was in English, ironically, the numerous slots on the machine were labeled in Japanese only and I didn't knew where to insert the card. I told the attendant, "Arigatou goizaimas", to which he made a quick short bow and said "Thank you" with a smile.
Politness and quality of service in Tokyo is just amazing. My brother says that in Korea it is the same, but I haven't been in Korea for so long that I don't have any parallels.
I guess the only thing outside this aura of politness in Japan are the obachan with their quick pushy elbows and their counterpart oyaji with their bad breath.
Yeah one thing; Japanese restaurants should stick to Japanese food, although they are really good at Japanese food, they suck at replicating food from the west.
1 comment:
Okay number one- Totally agree with you about the pass thing. I didn't even know they had a book called Tokyo Subway Guide, but no crap, you really need it!
Two- People are so damn nice! Luis and I didn't know that you had to put your stub for your ticket and your separate stub for seat reservation in the machine that you pass through at the train station, but you do! Anyway, although the guy didn't speak a lick of English, sign language prevailed. Once, I didn't know where a restaurant was in Kyoto, and the security guard walked with us two blocks to show us where it was. So nice, it is almost like being on an alien planet!
Post a Comment