Heat Waves

 

Tokyo and Southeast Asia in July isn’t necessarily a great idea, but it is if it’s really the only time you can make a trip work. We spent two weeks last summer in the Southern Hemisphere and strongly believe it’s much easier to get warm than it is to cool down. After all, “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” – or so they say. But it’s the rainy season so how hot and humid can Tokyo really be in July?

 We jammed a lot into three days. There were a lot of temples. There were many visits to the ubiquitous Japanese convenience stores, where 7-Eleven has the best ATMs but we liked the snacks at Family Mart. There were weird burgers cut in half. And there was a breakfast at Denny’s that was familiar yet strange. And familiar yet strange is a good way to describe Tokyo.

The Japanese are incredibly quiet. The near-silence while walking around busy streets was disconcerting at times, with no crowd noise and so many EVs that even the cars were muted. There really wasn’t any talking on the subway, and this became hard when we couldn’t hold back the laughter at the various approaches to gripping the handles on the train. The primary approach seems to be two fingers, but there is the four finger and for the adventurous, the one finger variation. There’s also a fist through the loop and a strange palm through the loop approach that also seems to serve as a good stretch. My favorite was the full hand death grip.

The Japanese are also incredibly polite, especially in the service sector. I tried and failed to buy a pair of Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 shoes in Australia, so my quest continued at the point of origin. However, it was not as easy as I hoped when the first store we went to had a line down the street just to get in to see if they were in stock. We skipped that one and tried a store near our apartment. And while they didn’t have the right size, the clerk went above and beyond to write down the stores that did have it with the addresses and all the information they would need. After I successfully secured the right shoes in the right size, the next clerk came running out of the store when she saw we were confused on how to get to the tax-free desk. But there is no polite on the subway at rush hour. They cram in as tight as possible, jam elbows into sweaty backs and body check everyone out of the way when the doors open. The contrast is confounding. Turns out the famous crosswalks at Shibuya felt more chaotic and rude than polite and orderly.

Some of the highlights included an incredible experience with the immersive art at TeamLab Borderless. Endless conveyor belt sushi where everyone had their own tablet and could order to their heart’s content (stomachs were happy too). And the kids have never, ever been to Disneyland or Disney World in the US because it’s ridiculously overpriced and overrated, but they have now been to Tokyo Disney. We chose DisneySea for the day and it was really consistently great. Tokyo and Southeast Asia in July isn’t necessarily a great idea, but it is if it’s really the only time you can make a trip work. We spent two weeks last summer in the Southern Hemisphere and strongly believe it’s much easier to get warm than it is to cool down. After all, “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” – or so they say. But it’s the rainy season so how hot and humid can Tokyo really be in July?

 We jammed a lot into three days. There were a lot of temples. There were many visits to the ubiquitous Japanese convenience stores, where 7-Eleven has the best ATMs but we liked the snacks at Family Mart. There were weird burgers cut in half. And there was a breakfast at Denny’s that was familiar yet strange. And familiar yet strange is a good way to describe Tokyo.

The Japanese are incredibly quiet. The near-silence while walking around busy streets was disconcerting at times, with no crowd noise and so many EVs that even the cars were muted. There really wasn’t any talking on the subway, and this became hard when we couldn’t hold back the laughter at the various approaches to gripping the handles on the train. The primary approach seems to be two fingers, but there is the four finger and for the adventurous, the one finger variation. There’s also a fist through the loop and a strange palm through the loop approach that also seems to serve as a good stretch. My favorite was the full hand death grip.

The Japanese are also incredibly polite, especially in the service sector. I tried and failed to buy a pair of Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 shoes in Australia, so my quest continued at the point of origin. However, it was not as easy as I hoped when the first store we went to had a line down the street just to get in to see if they were in stock. We skipped that one and tried a store near our apartment. And while they didn’t have the right size, the clerk went above and beyond to write down the stores that did have it with the addresses and all the information they would need. After I successfully secured the right shoes in the right size, the next clerk came running out of the store when she saw we were confused on how to get to the tax-free desk. But there is no polite on the subway at rush hour. They cram in as tight as possible, jam elbows into sweaty backs and body check everyone out of the way when the doors open. The contrast is confounding. Turns out the famous crosswalks at Shibuya felt more chaotic and rude than polite and orderly.

Some of the highlights included an incredible experience with the immersive art at TeamLab Borderless. Endless conveyor belt sushi where everyone had their own tablet and could order to their heart’s content (stomachs were happy too). And the kids have never, ever been to Disneyland or Disney World in the US because it’s ridiculously overpriced and overrated, but they have now been to Tokyo Disney. We chose DisneySea for the day and it was really consistently great.

Impolite street art

Disney train riders were well behaved, but still quiet.
A full hand death grip on these handles is also hard to do.

Uma wearing Mexico 66 Tigers. She probably had to go to fewer stores to get hers.

Burgers rudely cut

Immersive art, I think this may have been titled The Sound of Silence