Big in Japan: Road to Tokyo (Part 1)

Mike Jansen March 31, 2012

I have been covering the HSBC Sevens World Series on BlitzBokke.com for about three years now. Other than the Hong Kong tournament, the coverage has always been ‘remotely’ done: mostly on my iMac and other Apple gadgets using the full might of our social media offerings.

Said coverage has always been well supported and elucidated by the images and anecdotes shared by the many Blitzbokke fans from around the world wherever the Boys were playing.

Having said that, it’s almost hard to believe that this weekend’s Tokyo Sevens will only be the second-ever LIVE coverage here on BlitzBokke.com

As a long-time sponsor of my (other) home Sevens tournament, it felt just right that I should fly to Tokyo on Cathay Pacific!

I am firmly and happily settled into my Shibuya diggs preparing (at 1:30am as usual) for tomorrow’s tournament.

And what diggs it is! Typical western-style hotel but with distinct Japanese features. For example, my Shibuya hotel has a typical Japanese-style public ‘wash-room’ and this typically-Japanese toilet in my room:

I’m not sure about this, but I don’t think I’m comfortable putting my butt on a seat that is electrified! What say you?! To worsen things, the instructions are all in Japanese so imagine I sit down AND press the wrong button! Red card right there.

I arrived in Shibuya late on Friday and made haste to catch a glimpse of the famous Shibuya crossing. What a sight it proved to be as Springbok skipper Kyle Brown mentioned earlier this week on Twitter.

Reminiscent of a typical trendy Taipei suburb, only here the pedestrians cross the intersection from all angles.

Have a squizz:

Then there’s the money.  One thing regular travelers always pay attention to is the exchange rate as well as the currency issued in a particular country. I exchanged some Hong Kong Dollars for Japanese Yen and true to expectations, the notes and coins I received were rather strange:

I think I can make a rather cute bracelet from the hole-in-the-middle 50 Yen coins!

Walking around the Shibuya district, besides the wonderful smells emanating from the hundreds of eateries, there were the all-pervasive vending machines. Some eateries even allow patrons to order and pay for their meals at a vending-type machine while the meal is delivered directly to their table.

It’s rather blustery and chilly out in Shibuya today and some rain has been forcast for tomorrow. It’s after 01:00 on this side of the soba-noodle curtain and I will be wise to turn in soon. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day as all teams will be playing their 3 Pool-matches on day 1 (instead of over two days like last week in Hong Kong).

Be sure to catch all the latest results and other tidbits right here on BlitzBokke.com You can of course also follow us on Twitter by adding @BlitzBokke

Catch the next update of The Road to Tokyo tomorrow evening…
For all the latest from the HSBC Sevens World Series and the Springbok Sevens Team, add @BlitzBokke on Twitter. You can also LIKE our FaceBook Page.