5 quick thoughts on Tokyo from a 12-hour visit

Our first destination is, technically speaking, Bangkok.

But United is generous with their layover policy so they gave me the chance to spend one sleepless night in Tokyo. 12 hours is not what most would consider a deep immersion experience, but now that I've made it back to Narita Airport, wanted to share a few thoughts:

1. Tokyo is somehow less expensive than San Francisco. This is based solely off train, food and beer prices, but if those aren't good PPP indicators then what are? Even the 'obvious tourist' prices aren't too bad.*
2. Everyone plays by the rules. Trains arrive on time. Nobody jaywalks, even at 4am, even when the light has been red for what feels like 10 minutes and the street is empty. Everything is almost oddly clean and trashless, which brings me to my next point:
3. People are nice. Exceedingly nice. I've heard from a few people who've lived in Japan that there is a layer of formality under which, for an outsider, it is eventually impossible to break through no matter how assimilated one is. Maybe the formality descends from Japan's centuries of 'splendid isolation' that ended in 1853, but for a 12-hour tourist, everyone seemed overeager to be good hosts.
4. Everything is vertical. Looking for a good restaurant? Don't look around; look up.
5. Everything talks to you. Actually everything. Inanimate objects from elevators to vending machines to trains to toilets all talk to you, whether or not you use them, and most have small animated 'mascots' to personify themselves. I wonder if this is a holdover from Shinto - which reveres an infinite number of spirits in all objects - the same way that Game of Thrones and Christian rock are modern manifestations of our own western cultural artifacts.

Recommendations? I spent the night in Shinjuku, which, along with Shibuya, is supposed to be the most 'happening' tourist neighborhood. If your internal picture of Tokyo is skyscrapers, flashing neon signs, and crowded sidewalks, look no further. Sadly, I didn't get to see much else but for what it's worth, everyone and their mother recommended visiting the Tsukiji fish market for the morning auction, which lets only 120 visitors in each morning around 4 or 5am and has some of the best sushi you'll ever eat.

Pro Tip: The skyliner train from Narita into Tokyo is wonderful, clean, and fast. But it has assigned seating. So don't be that tourist who has to carry your backpack in front of you through 7 train cars while trying not to fall on locals just because you didn't know your seat was assigned.

*And there is no way to scream "obvious tourist" more than walking around with no idea where your hostel is, looking straight up transfixed by all the neon lights in Shinjuku.

Nik / 11.6.16

This is what Yen look like. I don't really know what I expected, but it does feel pretty great to hold 1,000 of something even when it's really just $10.

Flying from Tokyo to Bangkok when, all of the sudden, a giant volcano pops up out of the mountains next to my airplane window. Well-played.