Local traditions and culture in Tokyo

One day, we had to visit the Minato Ward office to deal with the business of name changes. Japanese bureaucracy is truly mind-boggling. My daughter-in-law had literally dozens of sheets of paper, applications, proofs of this or that, all bearing a variety of colorful seals on them...and it wasn't enough. She had to fill out several more sheets while we were at the Ward office, which is rather like an adjunct City Hall, except it had a beautiful, Zen-like courtyard. A uniformed guide greeted us as we arrived and directed us to the appropriate window.

As an American citizen, Mishuku was free to retain her own name when she married. As a Japanese national, this is impossible; she was supposed to have registered her marriage and assumed her husband's name within six months, even though at that point she was still living in the United States. It turned out to be not so simple to remedy things after the fact. When Emi was born, therefore, she legally had to take her mother's maiden name. Mishu spent four hours at the Ward office trying to straighten things out, but had been sent off to accumulate more documents, etc. On our return visit, we hoped everything would be in order -- which it was, eventually. Mishuku and Emi are now officially Southgates, and even have national health cards to prove it. Once the formal name change documents have been prepared by the Ward, they will be sent to the apartment and at that point everyone can go to the United States Embassy to apply for Emi's official American documents.

It is not done to tip wait staff, taxi drivers, or service workers in hotels. Consider it a mild compensation for the traveler who is shell-shocked over the high cost of food, transportation, and housing!

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Keychains are one of the most common souvenir items. They are very inexpensive and small to store both while traveling home and don't take up much room in a home. Keychains can act as a reminder of the trip since they can be carried around during everyday life. They also are gender and age neutral and can appeal to many types of vacation shoppers like me. Well Keychains in Japan are expensive and these bronze ones cost 350 yen each while plastic ones costs 300 yen each and the keychains are available in souvenir shops and airport shops. in other areas of the world, bronze keychains only costs 150 yen each!

Dolls are very popular in japan that they have a doll festival every march 3, called the hinamatsuri. As intrigue as I am, I though of buying a jpanese doll to add to my intriguing collection. There are various types of Japanese dolls, some representing children and babies, some the imperial court, warriors and heroes, fairy-tale characters, gods and (rarely) demons, and also people of the daily life of Japanese cities. Some are manufactured as a local craft, to be purchased by pilgrims as a souvenir of a temple visit or some other trip and for intrigue tourist like me hehehe! This is a very expensive souvenir at 4000 yen ($ 44) bought at Nakamise shopping street since they don't allow haggling.

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very expensive to buy in japan the souvenir t-shirts as there don't allow haggling even in tourist stores. Don't buy souvenir japanese shirts at Nakamise Shopping street as regular white t-shirt there costs 1,600 yen! ($ 17.50!) and the colored ones costs 2000 yen ($ 22). If you have time to go to Akihabara, it is better to buy souvenir T-shirts at stores there as a white T-shirt only costs 998 yen there! ( $ 10), expensive? yes but way cheaper than the tourist trap of nakamise shopping street right. You can also buy at the airport and believe me that the duty free shops at narita airports sell slightly cheaper t-shirts (1,200 yen for a white t-shirt at narita airport) than in nakamise!

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another cool collection from tokyo as I'm also a ref magnet collector too. Refrigerator Magnets are nice stuffs for a souvenir, I have been an avid collector of refrigerator magnets since i've started travelling and has tons of the stuff at my refrigerator that some are just stored to my cabinet due to lack of space hehehe. here in Tokyo, i must buy one and the choices are endless and the prices start from 400 yen for a simple plastic ref magnet and 700 yen for the porcelain heavy ref magnet that I bought (see the picture) and again haggling is difficult here! the ref magnets are available in souvenir shops, at the airport and at nakamise shopping street. so for the ref magnets enthusiasts, buy one now!

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a nice souvenir of Tokyo as I'm a collector of shot glasses. I bought one since i'm an avid shot glass collector besides being an equal avid refrigerator magnet collector. I have lots of shot glass collection in my study table and buying a tokyo shot glass is a must to bolster my collection. shot glasses here in japan comes in different designs and kinds of glasses like the frosted glass, tempered glass, regular glass, etc. and the prices starts at 400 yen for a simple frosted shot glass and goes up to 1,000 yen for a larger tempered glass shot glass, you can try to haggle but haggling is difficult in japan as it is not in the culture.

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Blendy Cafe AU lait Iced Coffee is a popular iced coffee brand in japan. Cafe Au Lait Simply Means Iced Coffee Latte (cafe au lait being french and cafe latte being italian style). a café au lait is simply made with strong drip brewed or French pressed coffee substituted for espresso, though a French roast or similarly dark coffee may be the base of the beverage. This particular kind of Coffee is very popular here in japan and this Blendy Brand is way cheaper than the starbucks coffee botlles (starbucks 500 ml coffee bottles costs 200 yen here but this blendy coffee bottles costs only 140 yen for a 500 ml bottle ok!). These Coffee Drinks is available in konbinis, vending machines and practically everywhere.