Things I Learnt as a Solo Female Traveller

It’s not such a big deal to some of you, but it was, to me.  The fact that I survived 8 days alone in Tokyo.  Looking back, I am still full of pride for achieving that, considering how reliant I have become on the people around me to get things done for me.  This trip, if anything, proved to me (and everyone else) that I am still the self-reliant NPCC girl I was in my teens in that I can read maps, dine alone and generally be comfortable with my own self.

Being a ‘list person’, I’ve made a list of things to take note for future reference.  It’s very much geared towards Tokyo, a place I’ve been to too many times – ya, I did let my guard down at some places.  Furthermore, the Japanese are very polite people who leave you alone if you mind your own business but are very helpful if you approach them for help whatsoever.  Of course it also helped that I spoke their language.  Well… some.  The problem was I couldn’t understand them much when they replied in Japanese.

If you are a female traveller looking to conquer Japan alone, this list could be your starting point:

1. Survival 101 Rule #1 – I tried not to look like I was travelling alone.  I’m small in stature and I could become an easy target if I ran into bad guys.  I do realise that could be tough to act if one is riding on the train, quite alone.  Just be on the alert in situations like that and look around to see if anyone – male & female – is stealing glances at you frequently.  This is Tokyo we are talking about, the people are too polite to even glance at the stranger sitting next to them so someone who does the contrary is someone to be wary of.
2. I always walked confidently, with a purpose in secluded areas, only allowing myself to slow down and look around when I’m back in crowded areas.  I also never, ever stopped to look at the map in secluded or dark corners even when I was hopelessly lost.  And I have to tell you, I got terribly lost at Kawagoe.  My solution?  Side-stepping into Starbucks to regain my orientation.
3. Exploring new areas was an activity to be achieved in the day.  Come night time, I stuck to places I was familiar with or explored places near to my hotel.  My rationale?  I didn’t want to get lost taking trains at night and end up missing the last train.  Cab fares are rather expensive in Tokyo (actually, Japan in general).
4. The hubby and friends always knew where I was because I regularly checked into places on my Twitter account, and my over-anxious mum wanted me to text whenever I left or returned to my hotel room.  You know, just in case I went missing… they knew where to start looking.
5. I dressed like the locals, to blend in.  Or at least I tried; it wasn’t very hard dressing conservatively for me, but it was, trying to be fashionable.  I reckon as a general rule, dressing conservatively is the way to go for solo female travellers.
6. I was kind of travelling budget, but the hubby decided that I should not to stinge on the hotel accommodation.  So we chose a hotel based on its location, proximity to the train station, security features etc. rather than cost.
7. I carried a personal security alarm with me all the time.  And it would be in my hand whenever I walked in deserted areas.

I was hoping to make it a list of 10, but I guess a perfect 7 should suffice.  Most of the items on the list are common sense but it’s always good (for me) to have a list to tick off.

Prior to the trip, I thought it was going to be difficult for me to dine alone.  To my surprise, it wasn’t half as bad as I expected it to be.  Granted, I avoided the dining peak hours and either dined earlier or later since I knew I would be self-conscious.  Like I’ve mentioned several times, I was lucky because the Japanese really kept to themselves and minded their own business, although it is very rare to see women in Tokyo dining alone.  The men, yes, but not the women.

There is one definite perk about being a solo female traveller – the staff at eateries and restaurants paid more attention to me.  They taught me how to consume their food with the special sauces, gave me bigger portions, and looked out for me generally.  I had a funny episode with a Japanese man who behaved like he was a little drunk, at 8 pm.  I was at a ramen joint in Ikebukuro and the shop was empty, save for myself and 3 other men.  We were all seated far apart and minding our own business, as expected.  Then in came this man who plonked himself next to me.  Yup, of all available seats, he sat next to me.  And he kept leaning over to check out my ramen.  In fact he was so close and so interested in my food I thought he almost wanted to reach out and taste it.  I felt like my personal space was invaded.  The good thing was, apart from checking out my food, he didn’t do anything else.  But all the time, I knew the staff had their eyes on him because they were watching out for me.

And then his food arrived.  My eyeballs almost popped out because he ordered a huge plate of ramen.  And he finished in within like… 5 minutes?  Then he asked the ramen staff for water.  You see, this ramen joint is quite unique (as of many ramen joints actually) – you take your own water at the water dispenser, and they request that you put your bowls on the ledge after your meal so that the staff didn’t have to leave their cooking area to clean the tables.  The hilarious thing was, the water dispenser was right behind me but he was probably too drunk to notice it.  One of the chef very good-naturedly walked out and took a drink for the man.

And finally, after a satisfying meal, he left.  The 3 chefs started talking amongst themselves, and I could understand a little.  The conclusion was, he was definitely drunk.  And a little too earlier.

End of my little episode.  I know there’s nothing exciting about it, but I was really grateful to the 3 chefs who were taking extra care not to antagonise the slightly drunken man.

My Japanese teacher always commented that the Tokyoites are less friendly than the Japanese from other parts of Japan.  He hails from Okinawa, by the way.  I beg to differ, actually.  I think that Tokyoites just lead very busy lives and they seems to be always rushing from one place to another.  But my experience with them is, whenever I approached one of them for directions, they would always answer with a smile, even if they couldn’t communicate with me or couldn’t answer my question.

I love Tokyo, but I’ve decided that in spite of how much I love the city, we are moving out to explore other parts of Japan the next time we visit.

Kit Kats II

Just so you guys have an idea of the flavours available in Japan.  This is just one shelf, and there are easily 20 flavours here.  There is another half shelf at the back with kit kats too.  Some of these flavours are limited editions, i.e. they are discontinued after a period of time.  I guess from the sales, the company gauges the popularity of the flavour and decides if they want to add it to the permanent line.

Some of these flavours are available at Narita Airport (not so sure about Haneda Airport because I never flew into or out from Haneda), but I much prefer not to leave my shopping till I am about to fly out of Japan.

Kit Kats

I’m not a huge chocolate fan; I much prefer ice-cream and cakes.  But everytime I visit Japan, I just have to visit this one shop at Tokyo Train Station because they carry Kit Kats of every flavour imaginable, and at times, unimaginable.  The hubby and I usually spend a lot of money at that shop alone, just to lug back the boxes of Kit Kats home to share with our friends.

This time, I decided that I cannot be spending so much money buying 20 different flavours of Kit Kats back to Singapore.  Firstly, it makes no sense to spend S$200 on Kit Kats alone.  Secondly, I had no strength to carry so many chocolates back from Tokyo Train Station to my hotel.  And lastly, I really don’t fancy the fruit-flavoured (e.g. honey melon) Kit Kats.

And so, this is a sample my loot from the most recent trip.  Bought 9 different flavours that incuded Wasabi, Black Sesame, Cheesecake, Red Bean, Strawberry and Green Tea, amongst others.  My favourites have to be Red Bean, Black Sesame and Green Tea.

I’ve since distributed most of these chocolates to friends and classmates of my Japanese Language class, leaving just a few for ourselves.  And I realised that I really like feeding people, metaphorically.  I feel happy seeing people happy.

Observations of The Japanese

I spent a total of 8 days alone in Tokyo.  And I survived.  No, I more than survived… I totally conquered Tokyo on my own!

Because I was on my own, I was on my ‘alert mode’ instead of living in my head.  That’s right, I used to be really inattentive when travelling with the hubby because there is no necessity for me to be otherwise so.  A good consequence came out of it… I started noticing some new things about the places I’ve been to and about the Japanese in Tokyo, in general.

Here’s my little list of 10 to share:

1. The Japanese don’t like very much to don sunshades.  I don’t think I have seen any of them wearing sunshades, even on a blazing hot weekend afternoon.
2. Similarly, they don’t fancy sticking earphones into their ears.  Sure, occasionally you spot a couple or so of the younger generation listening to music on their iPods, but that is a rare sight.
3. They don’t look friendly and seem to be always in a rush, but I have always had very helpful encounters whenever I approached any of them for directions.  Sometimes they were so nice they walked me to the place I wanted to go to!
4. iPhones are not at all that common in Tokyo.  I took trains everywhere, and observed that 9 out of them would be using cell phones other than iPhone.
5. Wasabi at sushi bars are not served separately, like how it’s done in Singapore.  It would have already been applied on the sushi and one only needs to dip the sushi into soy sauce.
6. They mind their own business.  Most of them are too polite to people-watch in trains so they either busy themselves with their cell phones, read novellas or newspapers, or sleep.  More often than not, those who people-watch are either tourists or non-Japanese working in Tokyo.
7. I have not heard cell phones ring in Japan, and that’s strange considering the number of times I’ve visited.  They are so polite their cell phones are forever on silent (or ‘courtesy’) mode.  I’ve always wondered what kind of ringtones the Japanese use.
8. One could get by in Tokyo speaking little or no Japanese.  For the rest of the regions in Japan, less so.
9. I love the bidet toilets found almost everywhere in Tokyo’s toilets.  And I find the concept of the ‘Sound Princess’ extremely baffling and interesting.  Why the Japanese women would find the sounds of their bodily functions so embarrassing it warranted the invention of the ‘Sound Princess’ is totally beyond me.
10. Eating alone in ramen joints etc. seems to be an activity reserved only for the men and elderly women.  For the week when I was alone, I was a rare sight as a woman eating alone.

I’m officially sick and tired of Tokyo.  Our next trip to Japan should be to Nagoya, Takayama and Shirakawago.  And then wrapping it up with just a couple of days in Tokyo.  Please remind me should I plan to spend more than a week in Tokyo.  Nowadays, my memory is like a sieve.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Possibility

To many, doors, windows, roads and pathways represent ‘possibility‘.  I view it a little differently; to me, a new day in itself opens up new possibilities.  The fact that I am alive and living each new day brings on more ‘possibility’, so to speak.

And nothing better represents a new day than sunrise.  Staying true to my habitual quirk, I took a picture of the aircraft’s wing span enroute to Tokyo on this latest trip.  The sun was just barely rising, and with it brought hope for a new day.

Off on My Mini Adventure!

I’m all set for my own style of adventure!  Thanks to the iPad, I am travelling a lot lighter this time, with all my relevant travel documents and information stored in it.  What a gem of an incredible product from Apple.  RIP Steve Jobs.  You have changed my life, just as you have changed millions’ out there.

So, I would still be logging on periodically, and if everything goes well, I should be wired throughout the whole duration of my vacation.  Yup, to allay their various anxieties and concerns, my family has laid down certain ground rules concerning this trip.  And I can’t quite ‘deliver’ unless I’m connected 24/7.  Funny thing is, I never had a curfew throughout my growing up years (parents never needed to impose one on me because I was a responsible kid).  Yet now, almost 2 decades later, my parents and my own husband feel the necessity to impose one on me.  I know I know… they are just concerned more than anything else.

Hey, I’m not a kid anymore.  Don’t treat me like one.

Packing for this trip was really easy, in part because it is a short one and in part because I don’t have to pack bulky winter clothing.  I thought I wouldn’t be able to survive the packing without the hubby around nagging me, but I proved myself wrong!

Keep safe, everyone.  Till then…

Random Cute Stuff

I was going through and packing the last bit of stuff from our December Tokyo trip (yes, I know it was 9 months ago) and found some cute stuff.  Took some pictures of them so that I won’t forget.

I have a habit of sending postcards home when travelling.  A little old-fashioned, but I think postcards are some great momentoes of the places we’ve visited.  At Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea last year, I sent postcards home to my 3 furkids.  See, they even have these cute ink stamps of the theme parks!

Do you have any idea what these are for?  Hazard a guess before reading on!

These are little sauce containers where the Japanese put their custard or tartar sauce etc. to go with their home-prepared bento meals.  Cuteness overload, isn’t it!  And we chanced upon this at the most unexpected place – Kichijoji.  We were there solely to visit the legendary Satou Steak House and came by this while window shopping.

You’ve got to admit that the Japanese are geniuses where improving their daily lives is concerned.  Who else would have thought of inventing such cute little containers for their sauces?

All Ready!

Well… almost.  This is my luggage for my first solo trip overseas, except that I’m not done with packing yet.  I’m one of those who like to take my time to pack slowly, if I could have things my way.  Yup, my friends were all pretty amazed when I told them I could take up to a month to pack for a 3-week trip.  Packing is probably a dreaded chore to most people, so they want to get it over and done with in the shortest amount of time possible.  I’m different; last minute packing rattles me.

You could say I really relish in the packing process haha.  Furthermore it prepares me mentally for the vacation – something like ‘foreplay’, if you know what I mean.

I’m weird, so I’m just going to stop justfiying my odd behaviour.

After some contemplation, it was decided that I would bring a pull-along luggage instead of a backpack to Tokyo.  And on top of my Segue luggage from Italy is my Lola camera bag from Epiphanie Bags.  This snapshot taken by my iphone does not do justice to the beauty – it’s actually a very pretty turquoise-coloured camera bag for women who are sick and tired of carrying ugly and bulky camera bags designed for men.  And oh, did I mention that Lola just arrived yesterday evening?

I’m really happy with my Lola and I’m currently eyeing the Lyric in mustard (see, they even give their bags such stylish names!).  I will probably decide after the Lola has been tried and tested on my Tokyo trip.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Faces

The moment I saw that this week’s challenge is ‘Faces‘ and I knew exactly what I wanted to post.  Back in Oct 2008, an art project called ‘Shibuya 1000‘ was held at Shibuya Station in Tokyo.  According to Japan Today, the project, which displays “1,000 faces of people in Shibuya,” was held to mark the redevelopment of the station and changing face of Shibuya.  The exhibit was held from 7-13 Oct 2008.  We were very fortunate to be in town then.

The project was split up into different themes.  Obviously the section where children were featured was the most popular with locals and tourists alike.  Children, as always, are a lot more natural and less contrite in front of the lenses.

This was the section where I found things to be a little spooky and uncomfortable.  They took half a face of two different persons and matched up to form a face.  Some of the faces looked quite scary, I thought.

And this was another secion of the project where they took pictures of people’s hands.  I wanted to post this because I feel that hands sometimes reveal more of a person than faces do.  Every line on a hand has its own story to tell, and it’s not so unlike a face, isn’t it?

What to Do During An Earthquake?

Never in my life have I imagined that I would have to research on this in preparation of an impending trip to Japan.  Yes, this is how conceited I, a Singaporean, am.  We don’t get natural disasters here, as yet.  Sure, we experienced some very strong aftershocks from earthquakes in the Sumatra region, but that was it.  So you could say that most of us wouldn’t know what to do when faced with one.

A 6.0 earthquake shook Tokyo on Thursaday afternoon.  This news came 5 weeks prior to my trip to Tokyo, and naturally the hubby was anxious, on my behalf.  You see, I’ll be alone for a full week before he would join me and many things could happen in that one week.

So during bedtime on Thursday, I asked the hubby if he knew what to do during an earthquake, and if he could advise me.  I’ve seen enough earthquake drills conducted by Japanese schools to know that the children would always duck below their desks at the very first instance and stayed there till the quake was over.  I reasoned that wouldn’t it be safer to be out in the open?  And then I laughed.  I cannot imagine somebody like me who took geography in school and understood perfectly how earthquakes came about etc. doesn’t know what to do when there is an earthquake.

The hubby told me as a matter-of-factly to please go research.  In other words, he was trying to tell me ‘Please go surf the internet and let me sleep!’.

From the various resources I read online, I summarise that:

• If I am indoors, I should stay indoors, drop to the ground and take cover under a sturdy table or piece of furniture.  And I should hold on to that piece of furniture till the shaking stops.  If there is no furniture available to take cover under, I should drop to the ground, cover my head, face and neck and make way to the nearest interior wall.
• It is common sense to stay away from objects that could fall or fly and hurt me for instance light fixtures, lamps, tvs, bookcases, glasses.
• Remain outdoors if I am outside.  Stay away from buildings, street lights and utility wires.

Things I should take note of for my trip:

• Go buy a whistle on top of the personal alarm (oh, where is it?!) in case I am stuck under debris and the personal alarm runs out of battery.
• Always bring along a scarf that I could protect my head and neck with.
• When in doubt, follow whatever the Japanese do!  They are well-trained!
• I should probably register myself with the Singapore Embassy in Tokyo the moment I arrive.

Oh, this is getting exciting!  I’m not saying that I wish to experience an earthquake (*touch wood*) but now I feel much more prepared.