Embarrassed to say, my first passport has never been used in the past ten years, and it's expired... I have to let the second passport solve it.

Five years ago, I had considered going abroad for a trip, but later with procrastination and the epidemic, I didn't start planning at all; until this year's National Day, when I saw a friend went to Japan for a trip, and another friend happened to work in Japan, my enthusiasm was ignited again - I also went on a trip.

Passport and Visa

After the epidemic "ended" at the year beginning, I immediately applied for a new passport, which can be used until 2033. There were no obstacles throughout the process. After all, the epidemic has "ended".

After a simple research on Japanese visas, I found that I could actually meet the requirements of a five-year visa! So I applied for it directly, which has several advantages:

• I can decide the flight, hotel and travel plan by myself without relying on travel agencies;
• Long stay - 90 days per entry, 180 days per year;
• I can buy a ticket and go within five years without applying for a visa again;
• I can do something other than tourism in Japan.

So I submitted the application as required. The review was very fast, and I got the visa in less than a week. It's a bit out of my expectation that I can get a five-year visa for the first time.

Research Before Departure

Although I have never been abroad before, I know a little about Japan, so I didn't want to travel like a special force, just a city walk in Tokyo is enough. So I took a day off before and after the 11-11 weekend; despite the round-trip time, three days should be enough.

Research on Japan

First of all, I need to solve the problem of food, clothing, hotel and transportation:

• Clothing: The weather forecast said that it was just cooling down when I went there, from 20+ degrees Celsius to a maximum of 10+, so I took out two autumn clothes, which should be enough according to my experience in the north of China.
• Food: This is what I worry about the least, because I can eat anything except spicy food.
• Hotel: I can book a hotel directly from my local platform, and since the hotel can cooperate with these platforms, there should be lots of tourists, so credit card payment and English communication should be relatively smooth.
• Transportation: Tokyo's rail transit is very developed, among which Shinjuku Station is the world's busiest subway station certified by Guinness; plus, I can walk a lot, so this is not a problem.

Then the destination. Although it's a city walk, I still planned some places to go. I want to see the crossing near Shibuya Station (the world's busiest crossing, and the opening place of the game "Ghost Line Tokyo"), Meiji Shrine (the most obvious shrine on the map near Shibuya), the huge 3D cat in Shinjuku Station (I've been eager to go there since I saw it for the first time), Skytree (I saw Youtuber Ryu and Yuma posted videos, and I'm very interested), and the rest is at will.

Research on Hong Kong

I bought a low-cost airline from Hong Kong because it's cheap. I'm not familiar with Hong Kong Airport, but after searching, I found that it has more than 500 boarding gates, and even a subway in the airport. In addition, the platform says that I need to arrive at the airport 3 hours in advance (usually 2 hours in China), so I went there a weekend in advance to see how the traffic is and whether the time is accurate.

Departing from the Futian Checkpoint, I took two buses to go to the Airport. I started timing from my home, and it took 2.5 hours to get to the destination, which is a bit slow. But I'm glad that the weather was very good that day, and I took a lot of beautiful photos; the only pit is that I didn't know how expensive the Airport Express was when I came back, and I spent 100 HKD for three stops, which made my Octopus card out of money immediately.

When I found the check-in counter for the corresponding flight, I found that there was a self-service machine available; when I was playing with the machine, a staff member came to ask me: "Do you have a passport?" I had to say that the flight was next week, and I just came to get familiar with the airport in advance. The staff didn't ask much, smiled and left.

But the subway in the airport might be after the security check, so I didn't see it this time, but as long as I come to the airport 3 hours in advance according to the plan, there should be no problem.

Research is over; waiting for departure!

Boring Writing of the Travel

Day 1: First Experience in Japan

It was easy at Hong Kong International Airport. When I checked in, there were still seats near the window (maybe everyone was busy buying things at 11-11 promotion, no one was fighting for seats with me), and even the security check just put my bag through the machine without searching me, maybe it's because the security door didn't ring when I passed. I have to say that the subway built in the airport is much more convenient than the shuttle bus - no need to wait for everyone to get on the bus, and no smell of motion sickness.

Because it was the first time I flew over the sea, I took out my phone to take pictures all the time, and I took pictures of Hong Kong from a bird's-eye view, the small islands on the sea, the clouds that I don't know how high they are, and the twilight line.

The plane is flying against the sun when flying from Hong Kong to Japan, and it's already late autumn, so it gets dark very fast and very early - it's completely dark outside the window in less than 20 minutes, but at this time my phone (offline and still in UTC+8) shows that it's not even 4:30 p.m. As a person who was used to Shenzhen's biological clock, I was shocked.

The sky was already dark when I got off the plane. As I walked into the terminal, I saw a wall covered in Pokémon and the word "Welcome." It was interesting that I only heard Japanese from the escalators and airport announcements until I reached the immigration desk. Everyone else was speaking Cantonese, probably because the plane was full of Hong Kongers.

I was facing the first big challenge when I got out of the terminal: the railway... I'll talk about my understanding of the Tokyo railway system later. Anyway, it's amazing that I arrived at my destination, Asakusa Station, very smoothly without taking the wrong train. During this period, I saw a huge, pure Japanese prompt on the escalator of a station: エスカレーターでは、歩かず立ち止まろう！With my little knowledge of Japanese, I knew that this is "stop on the escalator, don't walk", and I had seen this policy in some places in Japan before on X, so I just stood on the left. But is the pure Japanese prompt meant to educate the locals?

It was a nice hotel in a residential area, a whole building. There are USB ports in the hotel's power supply, so I don't need to use the adapter.

I cleaned up a bit, went to a ramen restaurant outside to eat, then went to Asakusa Temple and Skytree to walk around, and then walked back to the hotel, played with my phone for a while and ended the first day.

Day 2: City, Shrine, Friend

I went out early in the morning to one of the places I had planned before, Shibuya Scramble Crossing (渋谷スクランブル交差点), the busiest crossing in the world, and the shooting place of the game "Ghost Line Tokyo". As soon as I got out of Shibuya Station, I saw three tall buildings, which were very similar to the game, and even Hikarie (ヒカリエ) was exactly the same as the building I passed in the game.

I also saw several speeches of political parties (to make a pitch) on the way, waving to the people below while speaking. Although I couldn't understand it very well, I couldn't help but marvel at how fluent and passionate they could be even when they were off the script.

I walked around the Shibuya Crossing for a while and successfully got myself on ANNnews's CCTV live broadcast. I also walked around here for a few laps, watched some advertisements on the big screen, wandered around in the shopping mall, and listened to the songs on the radio on the road... I was hungry before I knew it.

When I was wondering what to eat, I saw the EA headquarters IKEA on the opposite side, so I decided to go to IKEA to see what to eat there. But after the whole trip, I felt that there was not much difference from Shenzhen, and because Shibuya didn't have such a large area, IKEA didn't make a maze inside, but displayed something on each floor of the seven-story building, which was less fun.

As for the food, compared with Shenzhen IKEA, Tokyo IKEA has a few more dishes (salad, milk mousse, roast beef, mini pumpkin pie, etc.), as well as low-alcohol wine. I was so hungry that I quickly ate a big meal. Achievement unlocked: "Eat IKEA in three places" (China, Hong Kong, Japan).

I didn't realise that I was progressing too fast until I finished my meal. I looked at the map and found that there was a Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shrine, so I decided to walk there.

Yoyogi Park is a large park with wide roads, as well as lots of crows... I saw a street artist in it, playing DJ, jumping and cutting paper on a drawing board, which is amazing. The environment here is particularly quiet. I can sit here all day listening to the voices of tourists, the wind and the crows.

Then there is the Meiji Shrine in the north. The road from the torii to the shrine is paved with gravel, and the dense trees and the edge of the sidewalk on both sides gave me a retro feeling as soon as I entered. But after the shrine, there are mostly tourists speaking various languages. I took a few pictures and came out.

Then according to the plan, I met a local friend, a technology guru I had known before, and was sent to Yokohama decided to go to the seaside of Yokohama to have a look and have dinner. We took the JR to Minato Mirai (みなとみらい), chatting while walking, took a ton of beautiful photos, and unlocked the achievement: "The first photo with a netizen I met for the first time".

(To whom that is expecting, I won't post this photo.)

(When I was writing this travelogue, I suddenly found that Minato Mirai also appeared in Yakuza 7, but I didn't have such a deep impression.)

We were going to take a ride on the Ferris wheel, but when we got there, we found that we had to queue for 1 hour, so we gave up. But then we found a fun place nearby, and we had a few rounds in it (playing Taiko no Tatsujin in the game hall). I was a little hungry, so we found a pub to eat. Roast meat rice, pepper chicken wings, fried fish, fried cheese... I felt that they were all suitable for my taste, and I gradually ate a lot.

After the meal, my friend suggested going to Shinjuku, where there are two famous places - a huge 3D cat and Kabukicho. I've only seen the former on X, and the latter is the place that runs through the whole series of Gintama (also a famous large red-light district), so I'm very interested then.

After a short walk out of Shinjuku Station, I saw that big screen. But it doesn't always show cat videos, but also some other advertisements, which are about 20 seconds long. I have to say that those advertisements make a very good use of the 3D screen.

Then it's the exciting part Kabukicho. In fact, it's not as red-light district as I imagined. Most of the shops are quite normal, and the billboards on the outside walls meet my expectations of Japan - not messy at all.

But in some areas, there are some explicit photos on the outside walls of the first floor, with a few big words: 無料案内所, which seems to be "free information", but actually emmm... And some people who were soliciting customers, we didn't dare to stay for long, and quickly walked out.

When I came out, I found that there was a sign that said: 歌舞伎町さくら通り (Kabukicho Sakura Road), while the sign at the entry said: 歌舞伎町一番街 (Kabukicho Yichiban Street), and then I realized that "一番" (pronounced as Ichiban, means top) does not mean "Kabukicho is the first", but just a road inside named "Ichiban".

On the way back, I saw two signs; one is "皮肤科" (dermatology, pronounced as "hifuka") is directly written as "皮フ科" (pronounced as hifuka as well), which made me laugh for a long time, and the other is written as "２Ｆへ" (pronounced as two ef ei) which I thought was a strange way of writing 2FA at first glance. (Friend: You are too geek.)

We walked around for a while nearby, and then I went back to the hotel and played games to end the second day.

Day 3: Tokyo Tower and Daily Life

I booked the hotel for the third night next to the Tokyo Tower. I took the subway to Shiba Park Station near the Tokyo Tower early in the morning. As soon as I got out of the station, I saw the Tokyo Tower next to it, so I walked around the tower (I didn't buy a ticket and didn't plan to go up) and took a few photos, and took a few photos for the tourists as well. It feels good.

An interesting thing is the traffic lights at the intersection. I knew that there was no word for "green" in the old Japanese, the green light is actually the bluest green within the international standard. But in the first two days in Japan, I didn't find such a "blue" green light until I was near the Tokyo Tower.

In the afternoon, I went to Akihabara and Ebisu to take a look, and took a series of photos of JR trains.

Back at the hotel, I opened Uber Eats and ordered a braised pork rice and a McDonald's. Uber Eats offers a one-month membership trial, I didn't want to join, but there are coupons for new users, but when I placed the order, I was told that the coupon cannot be applied... So I had to try the membership, which is not necessary to use the coupons anymore (I can get more discount, just place an order and get 350 JPY off).

The delivery time is not much different from Shenzhen, and Uber Eats provides an option to contact me when editing the address - put it at the door, meet outside the door, etc., and even the chat page with the rider will show real-time translation, which is very intimate and international.

I took the subway many times on this day, and finally figured out how Tokyo's railways work. Tokyo's railways are mainly composed of several companies' lines: Tokyo Metro, Toei Subway, JR, Keisei Electric Railway, etc. For some reason, these companies do not build their own lines completely, but they share some lines in some areas. In China, it is very convenient to transfer between two lines, because we have intersection stations here; but in Tokyo, if you want to transfer from Toei Subway to JR, or even transfer between two Toei lines, you may need to go out of the station and then enter another station again.

But I found that the cost is not high. Most of the lines I took these days are around 200 JPY, so I don't need to consider whether it will be more expensive to go out of the station and then enter another station again; maybe because the denomination of the Japanese yen is very small, there will be no situation in which the subway fee is "rounded up" to cause overcharge in China.

I took a few photos of the Tokyo Tower at the hotel window, and then played games and went to sleep.

Day 4: Rare Sunny Day

The styles of the Tokyo Tower between the night before and the morning are different, and they are all beautiful.

On the fourth day, I was going to take a plane back, but I got up early and was not in a rush, so I decided to visit two places on the way - the Imperial Palace (didn't go in) and Ueno.

The Imperial Palace is not open on Monday, and most of the people around are tourists speaking various languages. There was a group of foreigners who were quite interesting. each one ran to occupy a stone pier, and then took a group photo. But I saw a notice near the Imperial Palace that said "No running", which seemed to be a violation of the regulations, but the nearby guards didn't care.

After a short walk around, I continued to take the subway to Ueno Station. The shops near Ueno seem to have not yet opened. I was wondering, but then I saw a few signs on the outside wall that also said "無料案内所" (free information), so this is also a red-light district!

So I went to Ueno Park nearby. The sun shines on the lotus leaves in late autumn, which gives me a beautiful view. There are also many pigeons in the park. I saw two children chasing pigeons, but the pigeons didn't seem to be afraid of people, flapping their wings like chickens in my hometown, just enough to keep the children from catching them. The runners outside the park met the pigeons, they were about to hit, but the pigeons didn't fly away; instead, the runners stopped and walked around.

After walking around, eating, and buying a ticket for the Keisei Skyliner, I went to the airport. The speed of the Skyliner is very fast. Along the way, I saw a lot of scenery - towns, countryside, overlooking the viaduct, and level with the perspective of pedestrians and bicycles... The train I took on the first day was the Keisei SkyAccess, which is a similar route, but it was at night, so I couldn't see any scenery outside; I could only watch the Skyliner's "magical" advertisement on the subway screen. This time I made up for the regret of it.

Because the Skyliner was too fast, I arrived at the airport two hours in advance. So I took a voice call with my sweetheart for a long time, and then went in to check in (lucky again, I got a window seat again), and went upstairs to buy something to eat. At this time, I finally heard English with a Japanese accent - from the Starbucks clerk. Then I went through the security check (still not got searched) and boarded the plane.

The weather was very good. Shortly after takeoff, I saw a small protrusion in the distance. With my simple understanding of the terrain of Japan, it must be Mount Fuji! My eyes followed it closely, and found that the plane adjusted its route twice to finally arrive near it. The broadcast on the plane said, "Mount Fuji is on the right side." Many people ran to the right to see the scenery, and the Japanese couples next to me were also like: "Wow, it's amazing!" My phone's album was already full of Mount Fuji at that time, so I happily gave up the window to others.

Because the flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong was flying along the sun, I watched the sunset for more than an hour, and felt that I had an extra hour of time, which made me very happy.

After the plane landed, I took the subway to the terminal, and when I was ready to take out my passport to enter Hong Kong, I found a machine that could use the EEP (Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao), and I passed through it quickly. It turned out that I registered my EEP when I left to make it convenient. It is as convenient to enter Hong Kong from here as it is from the Mainland, but because it is Monday, I can not go to Hong Kong conveniently this week.

Summary

Although this trip took only four days, and I didn't plan to do special forces-style tourism, but I walked fast (right?), I still went to many places and found many interesting things.

I took the subway many times, but I never found anyone doing this on the subway: rushing in and out, talking loudly, making phone calls, watching TikTok, eating and drinking. Even once the car was full of people (including the elderly and children), after one stop, there was an empty seat, but no one went to sit after two stops. I don't know if this is caused by Japanese education or social atmosphere. My high school teacher once said that as long as there are people standing on the bus, he will not sit first. I remember this sentence and have been practising it until now, but everyone on the bus is like this, which still gave me some shock.

Japan's smoking ban is very strict - smoking is prohibited on the roads and in public places. A few public places such as bars and hotels will set up smoking areas, which are directly separated from the general area. Once I was walking on the road and found a smoking area next to it. It is built with partitions and has special marks. The smell of smoke could not float into the crowd, but only float to the sky. This is heaven for me - I hate the smell of smoke.

My spoken Japanese is actually very bad, and I also know that Japanese people pay great attention to etiquette when communicating, so I am afraid to speak Japanese with others for a long time, for fear of misunderstanding caused by using the wrong words. But with the encouragement of my friend, I started to try to speak, starting with "Thank you", "I'm starting to eat", and "Thank you for your hospitality". When I saw the happy response, I believed that "communicating in other's mother tongue will bring us closer". It seems that I have to pick up Japanese learning again.

Japan's cashless payment is very bad for foreigners. I know that Japanese people can use ICOCA, PASMO, PayPay, etc., but for foreigners, ICOCA can only be recharged with cash, and PayPay cannot be registered. Fortunately, Seven Bank's ATM at the subway station and 7-11 can insert international credit cards to directly withdraw Japanese yen (need to charge a fee). But before I complain, I thought carefully about the Mainland and Hong Kong. It is also inconvenient for foreigners to make cashless payments - Alipay and WeChat Pay in the Mainland need to be bound to the Mainland mobile number and bank card, and Hong Kong's Octopus cannot be recharged with foreign credit cards. It is better to bring some cash when travelling next time.

In short: 楽しかだです。じゃあ、またね。