Lines of Attack

Dearest Rachel –

You might remember this from the very first days of our marriage; on our honeymoon I had brought along a guide of things to do and see while at Walt Disney World. Back in those days, if you wanted to do certain things there, you needed to make reservations ahead of time, which obviously required a bit of pre planning. So every morning you and I would huddle over the guide, and work out what we referred to as our ‘battle plans’; which rides to hit before the lines got interminably long, what reservations to make at which restaurant at the kiosk near the entrance, that sort of thing. We really did have it planned out like we were going to war, because you kind of had to. To go in there completely unprepared would mean that you would miss out on so much, in terms of opportunities. Everything would book solid, the lines would back up (and this was in September, when vacation traffic should have been slower!)

So with that, having been said, I guess you can figure out what I’m dealing with at the moment. I’m having to draw up battle plans for the next day or so, since we’re staying here overnight. And since I’ve already written to you once or twice about Tokyo, I thought I’d fill you in a little bit about those plans of mine, such as they are.

The thing is, however, given that the ports are starting to come thick and fast – at least, a lot more so than when we were steaming through the Pacific – combined with the less-than-stellar effects of this cold (which I’m starting to shake, thanks to these medications, I won’t lie, but they’re still lingering), I haven’t put in quite the amount of effort into pre-planning that I’d originally intended to. Sure, I do have an excursion tomorrow, but it’s fairly open ended; it’s literally called “Tokyo On Your Own.” They’ll take us there, and bring us back, but beyond that, we’re pretty much at liberty. In fact, I intended to take the subway to a few places in particular – Shibuya, Kabuki-cho and Akihabara. The funny part is, the excursion essentially drops us off in Shibuya, so that destination is sorted right there. Meanwhile, Kabuki-cho (which is by the Shinjuku station) is probably something that I’d be better off waiting until evening to go to, as it’s the restaurant and entertainment district (same as with Roppongi, if I was still interested in that area – and I’ve not exactly ruled it out). So the real destination I plan to hit during the day is probably Akihabara, which is off the Yamanote line, completely opposite from Shibuya:

As you can see, it’s pretty darned complicated to make your way around, unless you know which station you need to go to (at which point, you still have to figure out how to get there from where you are). At least the good news is that a 24-hour pass runs a mere ¥600; basically the same cost as an all-day pass on the Kagoshima tram – only quite possibly considerably more crowded (or not – that last one at the end of the day yesterday was pretty jam-packed with us ship passengers – the locals may have been wondering what was up, I shouldn’t wonder), but definitely with a lot more options in terms of destinations.

Except… the ship will not be docked in Tokyo at all, but rather in Yokohama. And if you look at that map, you’ll notice (or, let’s face it, you probably won’t; I didn’t, and I already knew the station I was looking for that was near the cruise terminal), none of these destinations are in Yokohama. That’s a separate city, with its own separate transit system. Oh, it connects… eventually…but you have to work it out in advance:

Of course, the whole point of me telling you this is that, while I haven’t got too many of these lines of attack drawn up, I have a few places in mind, and know how to get there – but there’s no shortage of additional possibilities to check out and see. Again, one day is not enough for this; but I’ll have to do my best – and maybe ask our guide for a few additional pointers while I’m out and about as to how best to get back to this place or that by evening.

In any event, I hardly need to tell you to keep an eye on me, honey, and wish me luck. I’m sure you can tell that I’m going to need it.