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I started writing a journal of my trip to Tokyo while I was on the plane home. Before I knew it, I had written five full pages, and I had only described the first six waking hours I spent in the city.
Although my trip was brief in length, I had a lot to say about the time that I spent in Tokyo. I may or may not post my thoughts for you to read some day; I guess it depends on whether or not people are interested.
Tokyo was unlike any other experience of my life. It gave me a great perspective that made me think deeply about just about every aspect of life. In a short period of time, I was able to reevaluate my thoughts on myself, my relationships, my country, and the world that I live in. If anyone ever has the opportunity to take a trip to Tokyo, I highly recommend that you take advantage; it is well worth the long flight.
For those of you who don’t know why I went to Tokyo, here is the story of how I ended up in such an obscure location for such a short amount of time:
My brother Brian was offered a free ticket to anywhere in Europe or Asia as a gift from Northwest Airlines. I thought that he was lying to me when he said that the ticket was given to him as a reward for his “overall awesomeness and handsome good looks,” but sure enough, that was the exact reason that NWA gave him for his free ticket. In fact, the above phrase was repeated on all of his travel documents, and engraved on the front of his passport. If you’ve ever wondered why you no longer receive meals on your flights, and your airplane peanuts have been replaced by pretzels and a half can of Pepsi, I have your answer; it’s because you are lacking the overall awesomeness and handsome good looks necessary to warrant receiving such extravagant gifts. Better luck next time.
(I just made that entire paragraph up… just seeing if you were paying attention)
The real story goes that my brother was awarded a free ticket to Europe or Asia because he is such a frequent traveler on Northwest Airlines. The real story is pretty boring.
Well, Brian was awarded the trip, and had trouble finding anyone who would be able to travel with him. As a result, he was considering not even cashing in on this free ticket opportunity. Being the excellent brother that I am, I couldn’t allow him to not take advantage of this opportunity. I volunteered to go with him on a trip!
From that point, we had to decide on our destination. Brian could only take a few days off of work, so we decided that only a direct flight would work for us. We soon learned that Northwest does not offer and abundance of direct flight options from the MSP airport, so we were left with 4 European destinations and Tokyo. With Brian being the worldly man that he is, he had already visited all of the European possibilities, and wasn’t in a hurry to go back. That left us with one option; Tokyo. And that was all that went into making our decision.
Combined, we knew two terms from the Japanese language. The first being “Konichiwa,” which means “hello” in Japanese, the second being “domo arigato,” which means thank you very much. If you guessed that we learned the second term from a Styx song, you are absolutely correct. If it wasn’t for Mr. Roboto, I don’t think we could have made it through Tokyo alive!
We knew even less about Tokyo itself, and what the city had to offer. We spent very little time planning our trip. We booked our hotels less than a week before leaving. We picked up a Tokyo guide book less than 24 hours before our flight. We arrived in Tokyo as two brothers with 3 pieces of carry-on luggage, credit cards, cash, and little else.
What follows is a visual representation of the Tokyo experience, complete with my sometimes witty commentary.
Enjoy!
From outside of our hotel window, we were treated to a view of some of the finest European architecture to ever grace Asia.
This is a very interesting mosaic made out of different kinds of granite and marble. Keep in mind, this is an outdoor
mall in Tokyo. It's interesting how they have an outdoor mall with such intricacies, and it's no big deal to the people
who are shopping. Contrast that with Minnesota, where people travel all the way from exotic locations like North Dakota
to see the buzz behind a new restaurant opening in the mall food court.
The hazy view from outside of our hotel, our first morning in Tokyo.
A closer view of the buildings visible from our hotel window.
We wake up our second morning in Tokyo, and we can see for miles. We see something that we were unable
to see the previous day, a little landmark they like to call MT. FUJI! My only regret with the Tokyo
trip was that we didn't have one more night to travel to see Mt. Fuji. Well, at least I got to see
it from the comfort of my hotel room.
We were within a 3 minute walk of the Sapporo Beer Station, and we did not go in. I know this sounds odd,
given the Sauer affinity for all that is beer, but we had a slight issue with going into this place: We didn't
speak Japanese! As much as we had originally hoped, we were disappointed to find out that the employees of
this place were not fluent in the International Language of Beer.
The bathroom at the Westin Tokyo. Pretty lavish if you ask me. The bathroom came complete with a
bidet. I could write a 500 word essay on Bidet's, but I'll leave you with this; they are pretty cool.
An example of the lavishness of the hotel lobby. Once I become as rich as a pro-athlete/Puffy, I
think I will only stay in places like the Westin.
Stop #1 on my "really awesome staircases of the modern world" tour. Only 265 stops to go!
Brian conquering his fear of staircases; one step at a time.
An advertisment for green tea. I love how the only thing that I understand is 400mg.
400 mg of WHAT?
An advertisement for an American movie. I wonder how to say "Two Thumbs Up" in Japanese?
This advertisment showcases the Japanese version of me during my college days (aka a guy with a case
of beer on each shoulder).
New! Most Japanese advertisments featured a lot of Japanese, and an English
catch phrase. The word new caught my attention, but I have no idea what is actually new!
And now for the section of the pictures page where I show you
Japanese advertisements that look like phallic symbols. Sample 1) A beer advertisement.
Sample 2) A "sunkus" sign. What is this supposed to be? A walking K? Whatever it is supposed to be, this sign
is well hung!
Crazy advertisments for Japanese Anime (Japanimation) DVD's.
Some more Japanimation posters.
When English translations go bad. For some reason, Brian and I didn't get the urge to go out and
enjoy a "Freshness Burger". I'd rather eat McDonalds instead!
The tray liner from McDonalds. Micky D's was the best deal in town, and a sight for
sore eyes!
Brian waiting for the Subway train <insert little brother pushing big brother
in front of moving train joke here>
For some reason I thought it would be awesome to give the "thumbs up" sign to a moving train.
A view from the middle of a busy intersection in Ginza. Ginza is supposedly the Japanese
equivalent of Times Square in New York.
Brian and I only stayed in the Ginza for a few minutes, and we were somewhat disappointed. I think it was
because we went so early (10 AM). Apparently it picks up at night.
We walked off the train in Akihibara and this ceremony was blocking off
and entire street. We had NO IDEA what was going on here. Even the locals
seemed to be amazed by this crazy ritual!
Random street musicians. I flipped em a 100 Yen piece and they played some Justin Timberlake for me.
A really cool statue on the Imperial Palace grounds. I remember reading some kind of "back story" to this statue, but I don't remember what it was all about. I think it was some kind of World War II memorial.
Brian posing in front of the statue.
Jeff posing in front of the same statue.
One of the main buildings of the Imperial Palace. This is probably my favorite picture of the entire trip.
Brian taking his picture against a very picturesque background.
Move over Imperial Palace, Jeff Sauer is on the prowl. I have to do a little more research, but I'm
pretty sure that I may be the sexiest person to ever visit the Imperial Palace. I'm single too ladies!
Old meets new. I found it interesting that there was a giant sky scraper right next to such an important landmark.
Just beyond the trees of the Imperial Palace there are giant buildings towering over anything imaginable at the time they build the imperial palace.
Japanese people taking pictures of monuments. I took this picture because I thought it was funny that you can't avoid Japanese tourists taking pictures.. even in JAPAN.
A cool little water pond complete with pelicans spraying water out of their mouths.
One of the samplings of the Hibiya park International Rose Garden. You may also call this my obligatory flower shot.
I thought that the from this fountain was spray was misting onto us, but it turns out that it was about to start raining. Luckily, we made it to the subway before it started pouring too hard.
A clump of turtles in Japan. It would be crazy if these turtles were to be covered
in some mutagen ooze, and then they mutated into big turtles and learned Karate. Then they
would fight crime, and save the world from the evil Shredder. What a great idea for a movie!
After reading about a restaurant called "Ninja" in my guidebook, I had to go! It's a theme restaurant where your server is a Ninja, and you have to go through dark cooridors in order to be seated at your table. Here is one of the Ninjas with a big ball of fire.
Sake... it's not that good! Quite possibly the most overrated beverage I have ever had.
My dinner.. A spicy Tuna roll and some Ninja rolls. The presentation was an A+! I love Sushi!
Our Magician for the night. This guy came to our table and performed some very good magic tricks. I was very impressed!
Brian, Ninja, and Myself all doing a "Ninja" pose. I must not have been paying attention to their poses, because it looks very unorthodox. It almost looks like my Ninja move was the 'Shocker'.
While waiting to go to dinner at the Ninja, we walked down a random street. I turned a corner, and right in front of me was this guy. Pretty creepy.
Here is the same frog man, but this time he is looking inside the window of an area business. This looks like a scene straight from the MTV movie "Jackass".
A poster in the subway. After seeing a frog the night before, I had to take a picture of this odd poster. Luckily, these were the only frogs we saw for the remainder of the trip.
Cats. Cats. Cats EVERYWHERE! There were cats outside of 80% of all businesses.
Even more cats. Most people would find these annoying. I bought 3 different figurines!
Some pretty gross things stuffed into a jar. Also, our dinner for the night.
Taxidermy isn't just popular in the Red states... this Japanese witch doctor had
a such an extensive collection of dead animals that the entire state of West Virginia
is now jealous.
A very cool looking figurine that I would have bought... problem was, it cost
16,000 Yen. That's about $160 American.
Random Japanese figurines. They had everything from traditional Japanese to Santa Claus.
Some stores were so packed that they had as much inventory on the ground as they did
on the shelves!
Tons of new phones on display in a shop in Akihibara. All of the colors, Japanese
writing, background music, and other forms of sensory overload almost gave me an
aneurysm.
Some hand-carved buddhas. Try looking at this picture and not smiling.
Here we are at one of the more famous intersections in the world. Pedestrians can travel across the street in a
side to side manner, or simply cross the intersection diagonally. There were TONS of people at this intersection!
This picture didn't turn out how it was intended, but it ended up being much more depictive of the lights and
speed that surrounded Shibuya. As you can see, the cars in this picture are moving so fast that everything is blurred out.
This picture just looks fast.
My friend Nicole told me that of all places I should visit in Tokyo, Shibuya is the
best. She justified her statement by saying that even if I didn't have fun in that
part of town, I would have fun just saying the name: Shi-BOOYA!! She was absolutely right!
I have no idea what this is. I just thought it looked cool. The picture turned out
great!
Believe it or not, the stereotype is true. The Japanese love Karaoke!
We had no idea what was in Roppongi, but it turned out to be a really cool place. We would
turn the corner and suddenly see random things. Around one corner was the Hard Rock Cafe!
Around another corner was this Eiffel Tower looking thing. Apparently it's the biggest tower
in Tokyo. Very random for street walking. What's even more random is that my Dad has actually been
to the tower, and rode the elevator to the upper levels!
The English on this sign seems to make sense... all the way up until we see the words
"Don Quijote". What does a Spanish novel has to do with a Duty Free shop?
Honestly, I still scared of the answer.
Across the street from the Don Quijote duty free shop was this gigantic metal creation
sticking out of a building. You better not steal from Don Quijote's duty free shop, or
else you will have to answer to this guy!
An awesome fish tank outside of a Roppongi shop. Notice my reflection in the background.
Brian told me to stand near this bus and have my picture taken. It wasn't until I
downloaded the picture to my computer that I realized I was standing in front of a bar
that had a bus for an entrance.
This was a Tokyo parking garage. I don't have enough room to explain here, but
it was basically like a big ferris wheel where you drove your car in and it
was deposited onto another level of the parking garage. The circle thingy was
used to turn the car around when it was brought down.
This temple had some amazing colors, but the shadows didn't pick them up well. Look at the picture on the right for more detail on this temple.
A "close-up" view of the temple in the left picture. The colors and carvings were amazing!
A stairway leading up to a huge looking ball-thingy.
A "close-up" view of the big ball thingy. The old proverb was true: "Buddhist temples have big balls".
A very intricately carved temple building. There was a sign in Japanese next to this building that said this was the "Temple guest house". It took all of my willpower not to stay there overnight.
A view of the main temple poking out from the tree tops. We were told that this is the 3rd biggest temple in all of Japan!
Brian getting ready to drink some of this "holy water". We had no idea what this water symbolized, and no idea what we were supposed to do with it.
It's my turn to go to the water source. This is the most confused I have been about water since the time that Prince asked me to "purify myself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka". Ok, Prince never asked me that directly, but that is a quote from the movie Purple Rain.
Some of the grounds at Narita temple. Notice how clean and well-kept they seem to be. That's how most things were in Tokyo. No litter, nothing out of place. It is a very clean society.
I don't know what these things were, but there were about 3000 of them lining one perimeter of the temple complex.
The only building in the temple complex that would fit into a single picture. These buildings were HUGE!
A memorial wall with inscriptions all over. It would have been interesting to read what the inscriptions were saying.
The way this picture is taken, it appears as if I'm wearing the temple as a hat. Yeah, that's right, I'M WEARING THE TEMPLE AS A HAT!
A close up shot of my temple hat.
There were vending machines EVERYWHERE in Tokyo.
Here is a typical indication of what you see in the Tokyo vending machines.
We passed by these fields on the train to Narita airport. They seemed really cool at the time.
Upon further review, these are probably the most boring pictures from the entire trip.
See section heading then follow this arrow ----------------> 
I'm pretty sure that "Draft One" beer sales will triple within 24 hours of this
photo being posted on the Internet!
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