Big in Japan

Before moving to Japan, I did not accurately describe how "big" Tokyo was. I said that it was so full of sky scrapers that you could not see the sun unless it was directly overhead. I was wrong. That statement is only true depending on where you are. Now I have a more accurate way to explain how BIG Tokyo is... ready??

You cannot give a taxi driver an address and expect him to get you there. You have to either a) tell the driver how to get there (in Japanese of course), b) give the driver a phone number to plug into his GPS which may or may not work, or c) give the driver a really big landmark that will at least get you within walking distance of your destination.

I am serious. It still blows my mind that the city is so big taxi drivers do not know where everything is. In NYC you just give your driver an address and you get there, no problem. That does not work in Tokyo. In fact I had to take Jonas to the doctor for an ear infection last week. I printed up a map showing how to get to the office. I gave the map to the taxi driver. He could not find it. He plugged the phone number into his GPS and came up with nothing. So I called the doctor office and asked them to give directions in Japanese to my taxi driver and then handed him my cell phone (thank heavens for cell phones). They did. It worked.

Our closest and biggest landmark? The Chinese Embassy... I have learned to say that in Japanese (chugoku tai shi kan)... I can walk home from there.

So here we are at the top of a 54 story building that gives us a circular view of where we live. Our apartment is next to the green roofed building... can you find it? No? Why not?