Tuesday, July 2nd 2013 - Relaxing in Tokyo

This morning we had absolutely no schedule, a beautiful hotel room, and some lovely sunshine. After we finally decided to get up, we went downstairs to the lobby where the hotel prepared breakfast. You could have either Japanese-style (fish, rice, soup, natto) or western-style (weird sandwich, murdock salad, french fries, broccoli soup, and plain yogurt, just like you have everyday back home). We felt that since we had the Japanese-style breakfast in Nikko, we could get the western-style without guilt. In addition to this, they had a buffet that was open to all with waffles and granola and vinegar fruit juice and a coffee machine. There was enough good mixed in with the weird to make for a satisfying, culinarily adventurous breakfast.

*SuperNova Travel Tip - We love the Dormy Inn! 

After breakfast and a shower, we set out towards Shibuya (thank you IB for showing us the way, otherwise we totally would have walked back to Harajuku station and taken the train to Shibuya) to do some shopping. Now, those of you that know me know that I'm not much of a shopper. However, this is Japan and it can be a lot of fun wandering through shops and finding all the crazy, fun, extremely useful items they have. We started out in Loft which is like . . . um, well, it's set up like a department store, but it has more home supplies sort of like Target, so I guess picture Target if each department was a different floor and there was no clothing. We got a few things and I asked the cashier if there was a 100¥ shop nearby. She consulted another lady for a moment, then pulled out a street map that was just handily stored next to the cash register and pointed out a store called Can Do, which was exceptionally helpful and on the way to Tokyu Hands, where we were going next anyway.

*SuperNova Travel Tip - 100¥ shops (basically dollar stores) in Japan are awesome and you can find some amazing things there. I highly recommend checking them out for souvenirs and mementos. 3 coin stores (which basically means 300¥ stores) can also be interesting, but often have less of a selection.

The 100¥ shop had some great stuff, but no AC in the basement level store, so we tried to get out as quickly as possible. A note about AC - I kept worrying about needing a jacket for things like the Robot Restaurant or the department stores, but the AC was set quite comfortably low (for me, I think Mc was dying on a regular basis). IB said that they used to blast the AC, but since the big earthquake they have reduced AC use as part of energy conservation. Anyway, next was Tokyu Hands. Tokyu Hands is a huge store with a crazy amount of crazy things. You can find tools and bath stools and crafts and heated toilet seats and party equipment and horse masks and summer wind chimes and pet goods and it is just a generally cool store to visit. And if you exhaust yourself looking, there is a reasonably-priced cafe on the top floor (2 sandwich sets with fries and tea/coffee came to about 1,500¥, plus because he ordered the ginger pork sandwich, Mc got a free gift -  a tiny plastic pig). On our way back to the hotel from Tokyu Hands, Mc saw Manadrake and if you are a retro super-nerd, you should go to this shop! It was way, way down a very dark stairwell with flashing overhead lights that was vaguely reminiscent of the opening scene of a zombie apocalypse game, but when we finally went through the door, instead of a murder trap, we found a huge basement room jam-packed with collectibles - manga, comics, character goods, blind box figures, stuff dating all the way back to the original Godzilla days. And while you might not speak Japanese, Nerd is a common tongue. Just make an effort to pronounce your favorite series in a Japanese fashion and the helpful staff will direct you to the correct aisle of treasures! (Don't try to say the name in Japanese, I asked the staff about Final Fantasy VII, but I used the Japanese word for 7, which was silly because they call it FF7.)

Because we wanted to make the most of our lovely hotel, we decided to head back around 4pm. We picked up some snacks from Family Mart (brie flavored jagarico, good, but strange . . . ) to tide us over until the free late night soba bar opened up in the lobby and headed back to the room to chill. We also did something I have never done before - scheduled a hotel massage! After walking around Japan on unforgiving concrete for hours and hours each day for 17 days, we were starting to get very achy feet and the hotel had an offer for a 20 min. foot massage for 2,000¥ that sounded very reasonable and very tempting. So the plan was for a late night of relaxation - soba bar at 9:30pm, massages at 10:30pm and 11:30pm, and then a soak in the hotel onsen before passing out completely.

Nyanko-sensei coveting our snacks

*SuperNova Travel Tip - It really does help to know a little of the language to wherever you are traveling. Even though the front desk people at our hotel speak great English, the masseuse had a little more trouble when I called to make the reservation. For example, I told him I wanted the foot massage and he asked "total body massage?" and I said "ie, ashi" which simply means "no, foot" but got the message across perfectly. Also, I gave the times I wanted in Japanese so that there would be no confusion (although he's probably not as busy on a Tuesday night). So, you have 3 options:
   1. Learn a little Japanese. You don't have to go blow a month's salary on Rosetta Stone, there are lots of language CDs at the library as well as language books, there's even a great series for kids called Let's Learn . . . for Spanish, Japanese, French, etc. that teaches through children's songs, which is great for learning basic vocabulary in an earworm type of way.
   2. Find someone who speaks Japanese. It's easier than you think; for example, in this situation I could have asked the front desk to make the reservation for me.
   3. Make the reservation in person. When you are communicating in person, you can use gestures and facial expressions and I cannot express enough how effective these two things are! For example, with the mix-up I had, I could have just pointed to my foot if I had been there in person.

Anyway, the foot massage was excellent. It was different than any I'd had before - it was much more pressure point focused, but it felt very good. Afterwards, I went into the hotel onsen. I'm not sure if you can officially call it an onsen if it's not actually natural hot springs, but it was a fancy area where you publicly bathe, so onsen is the word I will use. The Dormy Inn onsen's claim to fame is that they use super soft water. I know this because the sign in the onsen was in English. Apparently they remove the metallic ions and take the hardness as close to zero as possible, whatever that means. The effect is that the water makes your skin and hair super soft, it almost feels as if you didn't get all the soap off. My hair the next day was super shiny. I give soft water a thumbs up. The soaking pool also had around 50 oranges in it, for decoration perhaps, or maybe the oils in the peel. There was only one other person in the soaking pool since it was so late, which was nice, and we quietly sat not looking at each other. After the soak, I tried all the products in the dressing area (although even after trying it, I still have no idea what face water is), and then went back to the room and watched Japanese commercials and I fell asleep until Mc returned from his side of the onsen.

*SuperNova Travel Tip - If you are traveling for a long time, don't forget to relax. You will enjoy your trip so much more if you are not in pain and take the time to do an activity that allows you to de-stress.