Ten seconds of obnoxious glory & a pod hotel (06/02/17)
After we finished at Gotokuji we went back to the apartment and hung out there till we had to leave at 10. We said bye to Sam and headed out the door and I tried to ignore my screaming lower back. As we took our last tram to Shibuya I realised I'd miss it's comforting little bongs and the quiet suburbs that had served as our first base in Japan.
Once we got to Shibuya we began a debate.
Me: We should just get the express back to the airport. We know the route and while it's more expensive it means I don't have to change trains and run around a station with a painful back.
Ollie: I don't mind carrying your bag around the station (have I mentioned I love him?) and we'll save a bunch of money by taking slow trains. Plus we've got all day so it doesn't matter if it takes longer.
As tempting as that express train looked I couldn't argue with saving money. Especially seeing how it was only the first week and we still had so far to go! So slow trains it was.
We got on a train and had to stand with our bags resting on our legs because it was so busy we couldn't get to the luggage rack. I was not a happy camper. I was the exact opposite of a happy camper. I was an angry camper burning accusatory holes in the back of my boyfriends head, even if it wasn't his fault. If there was room to lay my bag down and flop onto it I would have, but alas I was nestled (read: contorted and crushed) somewhere between a lady with a pull along shopping trolley and a businessman's armpit. It didn't help that I couldn't reach the hand holders so every time the train moved I had to hold onto Ollie's backpack and hope I didn't pull him over and cause an inconvenient game of human dominoes. As far as we knew once we were on this train it was a straight ride to the airport. Some time later (it could have been an hour, it could have been an eternity, time stood still under the armpit) we arrived at a stop and the train emptied. Literally everyone except for five or six people got off and we marvelled at the ability to breathe full breaths again. We sat down with the gravity of an asteroid hitting earth and I was rewarded by extra shoots of pain up my back. The first shop we would visit at the airport would have to be a pharmacy.
You know those moments where you slowly realise you've screwed up? Not the instant 'crap!' moments but the kind of realisation that creeps over you like the prickle of a good sunburn. As we pulled into the second stop after the train emptied we listened out for the station we thought it was supposed to be. It didn't match. Then we got to thinking; it looked like we were leaving the city and not on the same route on which we had arrived. For a train that we thought was going to the airport why would all those people get off? The train pulled away again. With the sunburn advancing we checked and rechecked the station list against the route on my phone but in all honesty in the confusion of the crush we had trouble finding the route on the giant map on the wall. Knowing what the answer would be, Ollie asked the old man sitting by the door and asked whether this train was going to Narita. His laugh was all the answer we needed.
It wasn't panic that overcame me at that moment it was complete and utter annoyance. Being overtired and in pain I just couldn't be bothered to deal with the fact that we'd messed up. But after the initial annoyance went away I was just left with indifference and I chose to engage my autopilot mode. We got off at the next stop and made a fine pair traipsing through the station; Ollie with a giant bag on his back and another on his shoulder and me hobbling along with two little day packs looking like some kind of saddle sore penguin who was half drunk. The blessing was that Japan's train stations only need to check your ticket when you're entering and leaving the station so if you mess up in between there's no issue. You just get on another train and if you've got the price wrong you can just pay the difference at a specialised machine next to the gates. (Southern Rail, please take note) We finally arrived at the airport and Ollie's mood was lifted by the fact that we'd saved more than half the price by using slow trains. It was so lifted that it was all he was talking about, and with the mood I was in I was just about done with the topic. It was in this moment that I devised a tactic that has saved us multiple times since that day.
"Ollie?"
"Yeah?"
"You get 10 seconds. 10 seconds to gloat allll you want about how much money we saved. Then you shut up. The topic is no more. GO"
Tensecondsofgarbledspeechabouthowsavingsomuchmoneywillbenefitusinthelongrun
"And stop."
It was beautiful. And he got his chance to use it on me not even half an hour later. I felt bad that he was carrying my bag. I hated that I was being crippled by my back and despite his assurances that it was fine I could see him struggling. Well it didn't mater now because we were at the airport and surrounded by luggage trolleys. I went to grab one but he said we didn't need one. All we needed to do was get the escalators up to the departures bit and find a locker. Was he sure? He was sure. I kept asking as we travelled up. I kept asking as we walked from the escalator to where the lockers were. I asked again as we saw that all of the over sized lockers in sight were taken and we walked up and down looking for a free one. This time he relented.
"Get me a trolley."
"A what?"
"A trolley. I'm done."
"Oh you want a trolley now? Not the ones that we saw on the bottom level?"
"Ten seconds Iz. You get ten seconds. And then you get me a bloody trolley"
I relished my ten seconds of obnoxious glory and then that was that. Like I said, it's a great system and it's saved a fair few falling outs.
We finally crammed the bags into a free locker and went in search of food because dammit we were starving. Not wanting to walk very far we stopped at the first cafe we came across. Looking around I saw people drinking acid green soda. After all of the blogs we'd looked at I knew what it was; melon soda. Just the idea of it, this bright green carbonated delicacy, was enough to excite me. We ordered some food and we both got some melon soda. As it sat on our table I couldn't help but compare it to the radioactive stick dropped by Homer Simpson in the opening credits. I took a sip and oh my stars it was glorious. It was the soda flavour I never knew I wanted but in that moment I knew that no other flavour would ever compare. Before we knew it we'd downed the entire cup and had to get another so that we'd actually have a drink with dinner. Wanting to show off this green nectar we got peaches involved and sent a picture to the family.
I barely remembered what I'd ordered, so enamoured was I with the melon soda, but it turned out to be an odd mix of a BBQ burger patty, some tempura, rice, and chips. I was so hungry that I genuinely shed a tear when I took the first bite. It was all kinds of odd but lovely and I practically inhaled it. Ollie fancied pudding so he ordered a cheesecake, but I'm not sure we were prepared for the brick of cream cheese that turned up at the table.
After a merry hour drinking more melon soda and finishing off the cheesecake which was incredibly fluffy, we decided to do some shopping. The first stop was the pharmacy and I picked up an overpriced box of painkillers after researching the brand. It's a good thing pictures and numbers are a universal language because otherwise I wouldn't have understood any of the packaging and how to take the pills. I also picked up a gel stick with a cartoon woman with an inflamed back on it and which stank of menthol as Ollie lovingly applied it for me. Soon after it all kicked in and the relief was incredible. It wasn't totally gone but I could walk without looking liked I'd pooed myself! Happy days. We got out fill of the airport shopping and then headed back to the lockers to pick up our bags, dump them on a trolley (there was no argument this time) and make our way back to 9hrs to book in for the night. Ollie was initially put off by the £40 each just for a pod, but with a bad back, a full day ahead of us and considering the alternative of sleeping in the departure lounge it was absolutely a price I was willing to pay. Plus it would be our first proper stay in a pod hotel!
Given that I glossed over it a little when I wrote about our first trip to 9hrs I thought I'd give a more detailed account of our experience this time!
Once you check in you're provided with a mesh bag, towels, slippers, toiletry kit and a nightgown. I turned into the women's changing room and the best way I can describe it is it looks like Apple combined with the visual imagery of Orwell's 1984 combined to create a stylish yet grey pod hotel.
Before you leave the changing room you have to put on your slippers and honestly they were a nightmare to walk in and keep them on your feet. In the end I opted for the 'ice skating' approach barely lifting my foot off of the floor and skidding across the room.
Then when you've grabbed everything you're going to need for the night you head through another door and enter into the pod area. Instantly I think of passengers in cryostasis on a spaceship.
Luckily it was only about half 7 and the hotel was totally empty so I wasn't worried about taking pictures! The pods had an upper level and a lower level, and you found yours by finding your number. If you were on the lower level your number pointed towards a pod, and if you were on the upper level it pointed towards a few footholds indicating it was time to climb. I looked for my number and once I found it I was faced with my little pod.
I kicked off my slippers and clambered in and was struck at how comfy it was. There wasn't a door, rather it was a paper blind that I pulled down. The first thing I noticed was the lack of sound. The domed structure of the pod seemed to take every sound and muffle it and the closest thing I can use to describe it is when you've got a pair of headphones on but no music. Untucking the duvet I relished the chance to lay down and stretch out. I threw my head backwards with the intention of burying myself in the pillow but gave a start when my head hit something hard. The pillow was full of rice. Huh? I can't say I was a fan of the rice pillow, not least because you could hear all the grains moving about when you shuffled. But it was comfy enough, and I settled in. There was a USB charger and a few buttons so I plugged in and pressed a few to see what they would do. Turns out they were white noise buttons and I had fun going through the options which included waves, birds, and plain old static. I opted for the waves.
Aching but not yet ready for sleep I decided to annoy Ollie by sending him some selfies.
I couldn't resist showing off my new get up. Plus it was weird not being with him, even if it was refreshing to have a break from each other! Getting sleepy I bid him goodnight, set an alarm for 3am and turned off the light.
I stopped to take one more picture of Peaches for Alfie and then left the pod bay, ready to leave this weird but overall pleasant alternate reality and fly to Sapporo.
Once we got to Shibuya we began a debate.
Me: We should just get the express back to the airport. We know the route and while it's more expensive it means I don't have to change trains and run around a station with a painful back.
Ollie: I don't mind carrying your bag around the station (have I mentioned I love him?) and we'll save a bunch of money by taking slow trains. Plus we've got all day so it doesn't matter if it takes longer.
As tempting as that express train looked I couldn't argue with saving money. Especially seeing how it was only the first week and we still had so far to go! So slow trains it was.
We got on a train and had to stand with our bags resting on our legs because it was so busy we couldn't get to the luggage rack. I was not a happy camper. I was the exact opposite of a happy camper. I was an angry camper burning accusatory holes in the back of my boyfriends head, even if it wasn't his fault. If there was room to lay my bag down and flop onto it I would have, but alas I was nestled (read: contorted and crushed) somewhere between a lady with a pull along shopping trolley and a businessman's armpit. It didn't help that I couldn't reach the hand holders so every time the train moved I had to hold onto Ollie's backpack and hope I didn't pull him over and cause an inconvenient game of human dominoes. As far as we knew once we were on this train it was a straight ride to the airport. Some time later (it could have been an hour, it could have been an eternity, time stood still under the armpit) we arrived at a stop and the train emptied. Literally everyone except for five or six people got off and we marvelled at the ability to breathe full breaths again. We sat down with the gravity of an asteroid hitting earth and I was rewarded by extra shoots of pain up my back. The first shop we would visit at the airport would have to be a pharmacy.
You know those moments where you slowly realise you've screwed up? Not the instant 'crap!' moments but the kind of realisation that creeps over you like the prickle of a good sunburn. As we pulled into the second stop after the train emptied we listened out for the station we thought it was supposed to be. It didn't match. Then we got to thinking; it looked like we were leaving the city and not on the same route on which we had arrived. For a train that we thought was going to the airport why would all those people get off? The train pulled away again. With the sunburn advancing we checked and rechecked the station list against the route on my phone but in all honesty in the confusion of the crush we had trouble finding the route on the giant map on the wall. Knowing what the answer would be, Ollie asked the old man sitting by the door and asked whether this train was going to Narita. His laugh was all the answer we needed.
It wasn't panic that overcame me at that moment it was complete and utter annoyance. Being overtired and in pain I just couldn't be bothered to deal with the fact that we'd messed up. But after the initial annoyance went away I was just left with indifference and I chose to engage my autopilot mode. We got off at the next stop and made a fine pair traipsing through the station; Ollie with a giant bag on his back and another on his shoulder and me hobbling along with two little day packs looking like some kind of saddle sore penguin who was half drunk. The blessing was that Japan's train stations only need to check your ticket when you're entering and leaving the station so if you mess up in between there's no issue. You just get on another train and if you've got the price wrong you can just pay the difference at a specialised machine next to the gates. (Southern Rail, please take note) We finally arrived at the airport and Ollie's mood was lifted by the fact that we'd saved more than half the price by using slow trains. It was so lifted that it was all he was talking about, and with the mood I was in I was just about done with the topic. It was in this moment that I devised a tactic that has saved us multiple times since that day.
"Ollie?"
"Yeah?"
"You get 10 seconds. 10 seconds to gloat allll you want about how much money we saved. Then you shut up. The topic is no more. GO"
Tensecondsofgarbledspeechabouthowsavingsomuchmoneywillbenefitusinthelongrun
"And stop."
It was beautiful. And he got his chance to use it on me not even half an hour later. I felt bad that he was carrying my bag. I hated that I was being crippled by my back and despite his assurances that it was fine I could see him struggling. Well it didn't mater now because we were at the airport and surrounded by luggage trolleys. I went to grab one but he said we didn't need one. All we needed to do was get the escalators up to the departures bit and find a locker. Was he sure? He was sure. I kept asking as we travelled up. I kept asking as we walked from the escalator to where the lockers were. I asked again as we saw that all of the over sized lockers in sight were taken and we walked up and down looking for a free one. This time he relented.
"Get me a trolley."
"A what?"
"A trolley. I'm done."
"Oh you want a trolley now? Not the ones that we saw on the bottom level?"
"Ten seconds Iz. You get ten seconds. And then you get me a bloody trolley"
I relished my ten seconds of obnoxious glory and then that was that. Like I said, it's a great system and it's saved a fair few falling outs.
We finally crammed the bags into a free locker and went in search of food because dammit we were starving. Not wanting to walk very far we stopped at the first cafe we came across. Looking around I saw people drinking acid green soda. After all of the blogs we'd looked at I knew what it was; melon soda. Just the idea of it, this bright green carbonated delicacy, was enough to excite me. We ordered some food and we both got some melon soda. As it sat on our table I couldn't help but compare it to the radioactive stick dropped by Homer Simpson in the opening credits. I took a sip and oh my stars it was glorious. It was the soda flavour I never knew I wanted but in that moment I knew that no other flavour would ever compare. Before we knew it we'd downed the entire cup and had to get another so that we'd actually have a drink with dinner. Wanting to show off this green nectar we got peaches involved and sent a picture to the family.
I barely remembered what I'd ordered, so enamoured was I with the melon soda, but it turned out to be an odd mix of a BBQ burger patty, some tempura, rice, and chips. I was so hungry that I genuinely shed a tear when I took the first bite. It was all kinds of odd but lovely and I practically inhaled it. Ollie fancied pudding so he ordered a cheesecake, but I'm not sure we were prepared for the brick of cream cheese that turned up at the table.
 |
| We soon realised that the Japanese are bloody brilliant at cheesecake. |
After a merry hour drinking more melon soda and finishing off the cheesecake which was incredibly fluffy, we decided to do some shopping. The first stop was the pharmacy and I picked up an overpriced box of painkillers after researching the brand. It's a good thing pictures and numbers are a universal language because otherwise I wouldn't have understood any of the packaging and how to take the pills. I also picked up a gel stick with a cartoon woman with an inflamed back on it and which stank of menthol as Ollie lovingly applied it for me. Soon after it all kicked in and the relief was incredible. It wasn't totally gone but I could walk without looking liked I'd pooed myself! Happy days. We got out fill of the airport shopping and then headed back to the lockers to pick up our bags, dump them on a trolley (there was no argument this time) and make our way back to 9hrs to book in for the night. Ollie was initially put off by the £40 each just for a pod, but with a bad back, a full day ahead of us and considering the alternative of sleeping in the departure lounge it was absolutely a price I was willing to pay. Plus it would be our first proper stay in a pod hotel!
Given that I glossed over it a little when I wrote about our first trip to 9hrs I thought I'd give a more detailed account of our experience this time!
Once you check in you're provided with a mesh bag, towels, slippers, toiletry kit and a nightgown. I turned into the women's changing room and the best way I can describe it is it looks like Apple combined with the visual imagery of Orwell's 1984 combined to create a stylish yet grey pod hotel.
 |
| It's a good thing it was empty. |
 |
| The sinks, toilets and showers. |
It was one great big black and grey corridor with stickers on the floor numbering the lockers. As with most things in Japan it was very 'efficient' in every detail but it was an odd experience and it was easy to entertain the thought that it was a prison or some other holding facility I was entering into. I have to say though that while it looks cold and clinical the atmosphere was warm and incredibly safe. Not wanting to have to rummage through my bag for pyjamas and wanting to fully embrace the experience I thought I'd give the nightgown ago. In my shapeless grey potato sack and black papery slippers I had never felt more stylish. It's a good thing we were in separate wings because there's no way Ollie was resisting me right now.
 |
| It's called fashion sweetie, look it up. |
Before you leave the changing room you have to put on your slippers and honestly they were a nightmare to walk in and keep them on your feet. In the end I opted for the 'ice skating' approach barely lifting my foot off of the floor and skidding across the room.
Then when you've grabbed everything you're going to need for the night you head through another door and enter into the pod area. Instantly I think of passengers in cryostasis on a spaceship.
 |
| There were hundreds! |
Luckily it was only about half 7 and the hotel was totally empty so I wasn't worried about taking pictures! The pods had an upper level and a lower level, and you found yours by finding your number. If you were on the lower level your number pointed towards a pod, and if you were on the upper level it pointed towards a few footholds indicating it was time to climb. I looked for my number and once I found it I was faced with my little pod.
 |
| Home for the night. |
I kicked off my slippers and clambered in and was struck at how comfy it was. There wasn't a door, rather it was a paper blind that I pulled down. The first thing I noticed was the lack of sound. The domed structure of the pod seemed to take every sound and muffle it and the closest thing I can use to describe it is when you've got a pair of headphones on but no music. Untucking the duvet I relished the chance to lay down and stretch out. I threw my head backwards with the intention of burying myself in the pillow but gave a start when my head hit something hard. The pillow was full of rice. Huh? I can't say I was a fan of the rice pillow, not least because you could hear all the grains moving about when you shuffled. But it was comfy enough, and I settled in. There was a USB charger and a few buttons so I plugged in and pressed a few to see what they would do. Turns out they were white noise buttons and I had fun going through the options which included waves, birds, and plain old static. I opted for the waves.
Aching but not yet ready for sleep I decided to annoy Ollie by sending him some selfies.
I couldn't resist showing off my new get up. Plus it was weird not being with him, even if it was refreshing to have a break from each other! Getting sleepy I bid him goodnight, set an alarm for 3am and turned off the light.
Getting up at 3am was grim but there was no way I was getting on a plane without a shower. I half expected to wake up 200 years into the future. I emerged from my pod and the whole place was full, with slippers outside every pod. It was a funny sight. Overall I slept pretty well, only briefly woken up by someone snoring like a hippo with a cold. However I was glad a got to sleep before all these people came in because at this point there was a whole orchestra of snoring and different white noise tracks and they were LOUD. Perhaps the pods are not a noise cancelling as I thought.
I stopped to take one more picture of Peaches for Alfie and then left the pod bay, ready to leave this weird but overall pleasant alternate reality and fly to Sapporo.
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