A Random Layover: One Night in Tokyo

At one point I found myself on a 20 hour layover in Tokyo. Super cool, right!? Of course I made arrangements to leave the airport. Three lessons learned from my brief experience:

1. Narita airport is almost an hour away from Tokyo

2. The temperatures are much colder than those in Southeast Asia

3. English is a rarity

I exited the airport toward the metro with only an address for my hostel in my hand. As someone who does lots of research beforehand, I had clearly dropped the ball here. For starters, the Tokyo train system is incredibly complex. There are many different lines and it’s practically all in Japanese. Apparently English maps are available but I didn’t see any. I had a sense of helplessness come over me and as someone who prides herself on travel planning, I really felt lost for a few minutes. But then I had an “ah-ha” moment as I spotted a Caucasian ginger. Most likely he was not a Japanese native.

This fellow, Pierre, became my friend, and he helped me purchase a ticket which would take me to the stop closest to my hostel. He also had some time to spare so he accompanied me for dinner once we reached Tokyo. A Quebec native, with French as his first language, he had moved to Tokyo to teach English to children. Pierre took me to a sushi conveyor belt. This was fascinating to me, and to this day, I’m on a quest to find one locally. You sit at your bar stool while a colorful assortment of sushi travels past you. You grab what you want, stack your plates once done, and the price is later determined by the cashier based on the color category of your dishes. I had six plates total, and paid about 6 USD. Total success. Pierre went along his way, we exchanged Facebook information, and I headed toward my hostel, belly full.

 Like I mentioned before, while it was great to get a glimpse of Tokyo, it probably would’ve been more practical to stay closer to the airport and maybe rent a capsule hotel room. Anyhow, I specifically chose my hostel because of the fun advertisement as posted on Hostelworld.com (my favorite resource for hostel bookings). I wanted as close to the capsule style as possible, as you can sort of see by the bed I slept in, pictured below. Once there, I was in desperate need of a shower, so I jumped in before redressing to head out into the night.

This is where my second lesson above comes into play. I had just come from Ho Chi Minh City, which rendered at a swampy 85 degrees the night before. Tokyo that evening was at a high of 45. My hostel had no hair dryer and I never carry one. It was either head out with wet hair or be damned.

I went out into the chilly night, thankfully dressed in my warmer coat which I’d stashed into the depths of my backpack. My exploration included a walk through the Asakusa district, famous for the Senso-ji Buddhist temple. I circled a few streets before accepting the fact that I was officially lost… when in actuality I knew I was only a few blocks from my hostel. I even approached two or three people on the street to ask for help, touristy map in hand, and I was awkwardly avoided each time. This was interesting to me.

Because I was lost, I decided to make my way to the blue tower in the distance. I wasn’t sure what this was and later learned it’s the Tokyo Skytree, a broadcasting/restaurant/observation tower in the Sumida area of Tokyo. After the several block trek, I decided I was exhausted and ready for a night of sleep before my 18 hour journey home the next day.

Yes, I eventually found my way home, and yes, I caught my flight the next day despite, you guessed it, getting on a train going the wrong direction out of Tokyo. My layover became very expensive as I ended up catching a taxi amounting to $160 to the airport out of fear of missing my flight. Was it worth it? Questionable. Was the stop a cool experience? Yes. Will I return to Tokyo someday? Perhaps.

Have you ever experienced a major language barrier abroad and/or do you have any noteworthy long layover experiences? If so, leave me a comment below!