Tokyo’s war of attrition is awesome…!

It’s finally been five months since I moved from Shizuoka to Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku.
I’ve escaped my favorite shithole and entered the marginal war of attrition in Minato Ward, and it’s been surprisingly fun every day.

When I’m holed up in my eight-tatami mat room trench and look out at enemy territory, I see M1 Abrams hovering in front of a giant Tochka. Rolls-Royces are hovering in front of Motoazabu Hills, Roppongi, and Ark Hills.

Hmmm, hmmm… I can’t seem to win at all.

Now, I’d like to give you a bullet list of things you should know about wearing out (living) in Tokyo. There are a lot of things that will surprise local people.

Electronic money payment is common

In Tokyo, electronic money is the norm, and you can pay for anything with Suica, PASMO, etc.
Not only for trains, but also for buses, cabs, and parking lots. Convenience stores, supermarkets, restaurants, and even vending machines support electronic money, and you can live for a month without carrying cash. People who pay with coins are really in the minority.

In Shizuoka, on the other hand, many people still use cash, and credit cards are only just becoming popular. Even at convenience stores, many people pay in cash. There are a few people who use nanaco cards at 7-Eleven. That’s about it.

The convenience of car rental apps

In the Minato, Shibuya, and Shinagawa wards where I live, cabs are constantly coming and going 24 hours a day. So if you raise your hand, you can get into a taxi at any time.
However, if you don’t want to walk more than a meter after eating at a restaurant late at night or when it’s raining heavily, a taxi dispatch app can come in handy. An app called Zenkoku Taxi will show you a map of your current location, and you can easily call a cab just by tapping the detailed location.

Surprisingly, if you register your credit card, the payment is automatically completed, so you really only need to “get in”. You don’t even have to tell the driver where you are going if you enter the destination in advance. It’s probably used by everyone in Tokyo, but it’s really useful to know.

When I came to Tokyo, I also learned that it depends on the cab company. “Private cabs can be dangerous at times, and Nippon Kotsu is righteous.

Private cabs have a sign on the seat that says, “We will play music of your choice,” and when I tried to choose, all I could find was Richard Strauss, Franz Liszt, and enka. I’ve also faced situations where I didn’t know what I was talking about, such as when I got into a cab and was told, “Don’t get into a cab when you’re young! or “I can’t tell you where I’m going for a long time, and even if you have a navigation system, it won’t let me input it.

The only way to avoid this is to take the Japan Transport Company. ……

Reservations are required for restaurants

The only restaurant in Shizuoka that requires a reservation is the tempura restaurant Narusei.
Even on a Friday night, you can get into many restaurants without a reservation or with just a last minute phone call.

Most restaurants in Tokyo, however, absolutely require reservations, which can take anywhere from a week to a month at the worst. In the case of popular restaurants, you may not be able to get a reservation more than two or three months in advance.
For lunch, many restaurants allow you to come straight to the restaurant, but for dinner, it is rare that you can get in directly, so it is best to call and check.
However, if you show up in person at a sushi restaurant in Ginza, you may be able to sit down if there is a cancellation.

There are almost no Aeon or Jusco stores.

There are almost no Aeon or Jusco stores in our living area. There is an Aeon affiliate called “Maiba Suketto” everywhere, but it is about the size of a convenience store.
There is a trendy supermarket called “Ville Marché” (like Meijiya) in Aoyama and Akasaka, but for the kind of AEON that we country folk imagine, we have to drive to “AEON Style Himonya” or “AEON Style Shinagawa Seaside”.

On the other hand, when I take people who have lived in Tokyo for a long time to AEON Mall Fujinomiya or other malls with more than 100 stores and a sales area of 61,000 square meters, they are surprised and say, “It’s huge! They will be surprised. After all, there are 2,500 free parking spaces.
“It’s like a train station! I’ve been told that it’s like a train station, and I’ve thought, “I see.

There is no home center.

“What? There’s no Jumbo Enchou!
After looking around, I found a Keiyo Dayto in Mita and a Super Viva Home in Toyosu. The Keiyo Dayto in Sanda is small, but the Viva Home is quite huge, similar to Jusco.
People who came to Tokyo from Miyazaki Prefecture would say, “What? There’s no Handsman! should be….

No mysterious giant pharmacy.

In Shizuoka, there are many mysterious giant pharmacies with parking lots for 100 cars.
The drugstores, Huck Drug and Takada Pharmacy, have been absorbed by Welshia and Kyorindo, but now we finally have Matsumotokiyoshi.

It’s pretty easy to park your car in the huge parking lot (which is empty) and stock up on food, bath products, kitchenware, etc. Seems like people in Tokyo buy their stuff at Amazon or Soukai Drug?

Shibuya is smelly

I’ve heard the phrase “Shibuya smells like a ditch” for a long time, but it really does smell like a ditch!
Shizuoka is in the countryside, but surprisingly, no dubs exist. There is a canal in front of the police station and the prefectural office in Gofukumachi, the most prosperous area in the city, but it is so clear and colorless that fish can swim in it.
The smell of public toilets in the countryside is ten times worse in some parts of Shibuya, especially around Center Street. The smell also occurs in Ebisu, and is probably caused by the buried Shibuya River.

Shinjuku is dirty.

The area around Shinjuku Station is the heart of the city, with buildings and commercial facilities that are among the largest in the world, but it is surprisingly dirty! The area around Shinjuku Station is especially dirty.
I don’t know if it’s because there are so many people using the station, but it’s very dirty and decrepit. It doesn’t smell like a ditch like Shibuya, but it’s stressful just walking around with so many people.
On a different note, there is a Yodobashi Camera in front of the station, but the buildings are separated into different parts, and I felt that it is difficult to build a big building by connecting them.

There are many other things that are useful to know, but it’s getting too long, so I’ll stop here for now.

Tokyo is a war of attrition, but once you get used to it, you’ll be surprised how good it is!
I’ve only taken the train twice since I moved here. ……