The Land of the Rising Sun

People like to talk about "crossing items off the bucket list." I also had such a list and have pretty much completed everything on it (it wasn't too long and I've been lucky).

The one item which I never thought I'd be able to cross off was to travel to Tokyo, Japan for my birthday. I've admired Japanese culture for a long time. Part of that is due to Japanese pro wrestling (or puroresu). During times in the US scene where things would be more theatrical or comedic during the 1990s, the thought was always that Japan featured pro wrestling closer to a sport or was more "real" (turns out, they can offer even sillier action than anything produced in the US, but so goes the myth).

My favorite group in Japan has been New Japan Pro Wrestling. This is mostly due to their annual Tokyo Dome show falling on my birthday every year. Growing up, you don't fully realize the value of a dollar until you become an adult. Getting a job, getting married, starting a family and all the usual adult lifestyle items can, obviously, cost you a lot in time, energy, and money.

Therefore, I never thought I'd make it to Japan.

That was until my divorce.

My ex and I, in addition to splitting our items between us, also sold our house and split the profits. My share allowed me enough for my dream trip to come true.

In the winter of 2019, I decided to go to Tokyo. I had to go solo as nobody else was in my position to tag along. This did provide a personal freedom though for the trip, so I didn't mind.

In order to save on costs, I didn't mind having several connecting flights going to or returning from Japan. Three connections led me to my 14 hour flight direct to Tokyo.

Did I also mention that I had never flown before?

Well, three flights in one day can take the edge off of any preconceived fears, especially when one keeps you on a plane for over half a day.

The long flight to Tokyo had me wedged into a middle seat between two small Japanese women. Since I'm super polite, I squeezed my larger frame well within my seat and allowed them both to use the armrests.

I managed to nod off at times but didn't get any real sleep on that trip. In fact, from the time I woke up at approximately 3:30 AM for my first connecting flight until I landed in Tokyo, I got to witness almost 24 hours of sunlight due to the time difference. It was amazingly beautiful and annoying at the same time.

Learning the subway schedules became an important part of my travels in Tokyo. Not only do they use trains for a lot of their travel but I felt that taxis weren't an option since I didn't speak very much Japanese (only the few phrases I'd learned watching a video called "Easy Travel Japanese").

I will say that traveling via subway became old hat for me in no time as I stuck to a certain section of Tokyo and their schedules are pretty easy to learn. This is especially true when you're there for approximately 8 days, give or take, due to the time difference (Tokyo is about 13 hours ahead of EST).

My hotel room was small and modest. This wasn't surprising since I'd heard about their hotel accomodations and I had only paid for a single. The staff was very friendly and very knowledgeable in English. In fact, most people with whom I conversed were able to communicate fairly well in English. The ones that didn't, we made work due to the little bit of Japanese I knew.

While they had been preparing for the 2020 Summer Olympics, I was immediately surprised by how clean the entire city seemed to be. It really makes you feel inadequate when you think of all the litter and garbage we see almost everywhere back home.

Most of my desired destinations were all close together; literally, within walking distance of the Tokyo Dome. Yet another way to streamline my time on the subway.

The exception was the Meiji Jingu shrine. This was the living location of their Emperor who united the country during the 1800s (and helped lead to the decline of the Samurai). The sights and sounds were extraordinary. The Japanese take immaculate care of their heritage sights.

I also checked out their baseball Hall of Fame (literally, built inside the Tokyo Dome complex). It was amazing to look through their history of baseball and it's greatest players (this included an exhibit detailing Babe Ruth spending time in Japan to show them the game).

I took in two shows at Korakuen Hall: one for Pro Wrestling Zero1 and another for All Japan Pro Wrestling. Both excellent shows in their own right (when Kento Miyahara, the then champion for All Japan, made his entrance, the crowd made you believe that God himself had arrived).

The day of the show, I also stopped by a very famous pro wrestling gift shop in Japan to listen to wrestling and MMA reporter Dave Meltzer host a Q&A. Lots of people online nowadays don't appreciate Meltzer (mostly because they listen to secondhand information from conmen on podcasts than actually read his work) but he's always been an idol of mine. So much so that I was super nervous when I got to meet him and could barely talk at first. He was super cool though and I'd love the chance to meet him again.

The Tokyo Dome event was, easily, the most extravagant show to which I've ever been (and that includes a WrestleMania). Plus, it featured the greatest match which I've seen in person: Kazuchika Okada versus Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Okada won the epic encounter for the honor of defending the title at the second night's show.

Oh yeah, it was a two night affair at the Tokyo Dome. And I went to both.

Okada fell on the second night to Tetsuya Naito (finishing his story years before Cody Rhodes made it popular) but the event was no less amazing.

The next day, it was time to go home. My return flight to the US was more comfortable as I had a front row aisle seat with no one in the middle seat. Plenty of leg and arm room for my 14 hour trip home.

Three connecting flights later and my second full 24 hours of constant flights and airports came to an end. As did my amazing trip.

Arigato Gozaimashita.


Even if I never get to do so again, I can always say that I lived out my dream of traveling to Tokyo for my birthday.














Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half the Person I Used to Be

People can have lots of different vices to help when they're stressed. Some drink, some smoke, some even do drugs (I don't judge anyone enjoying a little bit of Mother Earth's great green herb. I mean the harder stuff). My vice was always food. Whenever I was stressed or sad or even just bored, I'd immediately go straight for the kitchen or pantry to find something to eat. Any good feelings from doing so would quickly evaporate whenever I would next step onto the scale. Stress eating became a big habit at one point in my life due to working in a hospital at the time and my continuing issues in my marriage. Even after I left that job and the divorce was finalized, I still used food as a coping mechanism. By the time 2023 rolled around and I was actually ready to do something about it (or so I thought), the scales read 336.5 pounds. I was up to wearing size 5XL shirts that had to be specially ordered because no local stores carried them. I talked to my doctor and they sug...
Read more

Voting Day

While it's not one of the "big ones," such as the midterms or the Presidential elections, today is still voting day. You could say that elections like this are even more important since they cover local offices that can affect you everyday. I was born and raised as a Republican because of my parents and their background. However, I became more and more liberal in my thinking once I got to college and beyond. In fact, it became clear to me that my thought process growing up had usually been socially liberal anyway. I officially changed parties to Democrat in 2016. I refused to be associated with Drumpf and the way in which he'd bastardized my idea of the Grand Old Party. I don't have to tell you how upset I was over the results from last year. That orange faced goon won lots of support by actively campaigning against LGBTQ causes, especially the trans community. Not only did his base just lap it up but it felt like Democratic leadership wasn't doing nearly enou...
Read more

Thanks Dad

 My dad was born to a hardworking father and stay-at-home mother in a tough neighborhood. Not only my father but all of his siblings served as living PSAs on what NOT to do in life. I had a family member for each issue raised: drinking, smoking, drugs, infidelity, raising children, racism. Everything they did seemed wrong to me. In fact, I could've made this blog entirely about them and would never run out of material. However, for brevity, I'll focus on my father.  He married his highschool sweetheart and had my sister. It wasn't long before that marriage ended on divorce and my father moved away. While my sister will never admit it, I've always believed that she secretly resented him for leaving her. My father eventually met my mother but it would be ten years before they married. One reason was because her family didn't really like him. They were all very straight laced while he was an alcoholic biker (I guess my mom was into bad boys). Another reason was, at one...
Read more