Japan - Tokyo

We flew into Tokyo at around 16h30 local time, which was around 23h30 LA time. We’d set our clocks forward and tried getting some sleep on the plane, but that was difficult, so by the time we landed we were pretty tired. We’d read that taxis in Tokyo are ridiculously expensive, so we headed down to the train station to get some train tickets and thankfully the man behind the ticket desk spoke some English. It took around 75 minutes to get to Ueno, where we had to change for Asukusa. Then we had a supposedly 5 min walk up the hotel, where we were presented with our first problem. All the street signs were in Japanese and there were no numbers on the buildings, so we wandered down the street for a couple of blocks, looking for the sign of our hotel, and couldn’t see it. We had to stop and ask a shop assistant if they knew where our hotel was, and it turned out we had walked right past it as the sign was in Japanese characters. We checked in to our tiny hotel room (just big enough to fit a double bed with a cupboard sized bathroom) and managed to stay awake for a couple more hours, before passing out around 9pm. Not bad considering the time in LA.

Day 1:
The following morning we woke up around 5am (jet lag will do that to you), tried to force a bit more sleep and then went looking for breakfast. Fortunately we found a Starbucks down the road where we could have a sandwich. Then we went to see the temple nearby and we each got our fortunes. You have to shake a metal box that has a bunch of wooden sticks in it and a small hole, until one wooden stick comes out. The wooden stick has a couple of characters on it, that you match with a key to find your fortune. I got Best Fortune and Steve got Worst Fortune, so he tried again and got Good Fortune which was only slightly better. However he got to tie his Worst Fortune to a little stand for the wind to blow it away. We also got to wave the incense smoke on ourselves which is meant to be good luck and sure to have swept away any residual worst fortunes! The temple itself and the attached garden were beautiful with the autumn colours on the trees. What I did find odd was that the temple itself seemed to revolve around money. Before anyone makes a prayer they throw a coin into a massive metal coin catching thing. I mean I know there are collection boxes in Christian churches, but they feel a lot more optional than the coin box at the Chinese temple.

After that we took the subway to Sibuya to see the famous crossing in Lost in Translation. However it wasn’t as busy as we’d anticipated, at least initially. What does make it feel busier is that all four crossings take place at the same time, unlike most Western crossings where one side crosses at a time. We also went to see a shopping outlet (Tokyu) while we were there but it sold just the same things as any UK department store. Well with a bit more Hello Kitty thrown in. Then we went to the Sony building to see if they had any cool new toys. There we got to put on some 3D glasses and watch 3D telly which was cool. Extra note: Buying a subway ticket in Tokyo was very interesting, as it had an English button on screen, but all the destinations were written in Japanese. You have to read off a key that tells you how much it costs to your destination (e.g. 190 Yen), push the Y190 button, and then push another button with a picture of 2 people on it. Actually I should mention that the people in Tokyo were very helpful. At one point we were standing in Ueno station trying to decide where to go next, and an elderly Japanese man actually came over to us and asked us where we were trying to get to, so that he could help with directions. Unsolicited help - eh?!

Day 2:
We walked to the park at Ueno, which is where the Tokyo National Museum is. There were some street performers juggling and such, and we stumbled across a temple in the park which had a great entrance down some steps. Then we went to see the Tokyo Museum which I was really impressed with, so I kept stopping to take photos of everything, which meant we were there for ages and only did one of the buildings. The lacquer ware was amazing and the big Buddha sculptures are awesome too. Steve was more impressed with the samurai swords and the scroll paintings. By the time we came out it was getting dark, and we walked back to the train station looking for some dinner. We ended up having seafood pasta near the station which was very good. The Japanese Love their seafood and it really is everywhere. The restaurant had all these bowls of fake food in their window to show you the dishes they offer, which is actually pretty helpful for foreigners and very lifelike. Afterwards we got the train to Roppongi as it is meant to be the night life area. We had a walk around trying to find a specific bar, but with the numbers and names of buildings being none existent (in English) it proved impossible to find anything in our guide book. So we ended up in Starbucks again having some tea (tired legs after the museum). What is cool is that one high rise building in Roppongi will have a number of different clubs / bars in it, each on a different floor, and there is a key at the bottom of the building telling you whats on each floor. We did consider going up the tower to see the views of Tokyo by night, but they wanted 1500 yen each, so we gave that a miss. I should also mention here that Tokyo is ridiculously expensive. We headed back to our little hotel room, in search of an English tv channel, but alas every single one was in Japanese - humph! On another note I am finding the food a bit difficult in Tokyo. As we don’t speak any Japanese we have to rely on the menus containing pictures of the food, so that we can literally point out our choice. However there seems to be a lot of tasteless broth and very fatty pork on offer, which was just not my thing. I havent seen anyone offering any chicken on their menu as yet. It seems to be all fatty pork and fish. Although I suppose that probably provides a good dietary balance, well sans the veg.

Day 3:
Back to our local Starbucks for breakfast (seriously rice that early in the morning, I think not!) before catching the subway to Haranjuku to see the kids in their weird outfits. The place reminded me a lot of Camden in London and is basically small cheap independant shop after small cheap independent shop with a Lot of people walking about. There weren’t that many people dressed weird, but we did see one girl in a bonnet and hoop skirt a bit like Bo Beep. We sat and had lunch at a place that made roast chicken (a relief after yesterdays beef noodle without any beef) and then tried to get in to the nearby temple, however there was an alarm going off and they were filing everyone out. Instead we decided to try and walk to the Metropolitan Tower to see the view from the 45th floor. We walked for about 2 hours and got lost (easy to do when there are hardly any road signs or numbers), until eventually we found another Metro station and then got the train there. Turns out we had walked way too far and in the wrong way. But we found it easily from the Metro station and went up to the 45th floor (for free) where the views were great. I was looking for a Tokyo souvenir in the gift shop, but it was full of a lot of tat instead. The Japanese seem to like their small plastic toys, which Everyone attaches to the end of their mobile phone. Even the men. They also have a lot of small soft toys that the women tie to the handbags (how mature is that?). It was well, rather odd. But unfortunately no real souvenirs saying Tokyo on them.

Day 4:
We managed to find a local bakery across the road from our hotel, where we went to buy a couple of dohnuts which involved picking them up with some plastic tongs and putting them on a tray before heading for the checkout. Then we got the trains through to the famous Fish Market. Unfortunately it was around 2pm by the time we arrived so the market was all but closed, but we had a walk around, saw someone cutting up a fish and then found a sushi bar for lunch. We had to queue up outside for a while until it was our turn to go inside. It was my first taste of sushi and it was really very tasty indeed. We each had a long dish that was filled with various different kinds of sushi. Although we cant tell you exactly what we were eating. We did have a couple of California rolls and there was definitely a piece of tuna in there and some slightly sweet tofu. I also tried some fish roe (salmon I reckon) and we each got a free tasty Miso soup. Yum. Japanese food was definitely looking up that day and I have to say this was probably the highlight of our time in Tokyo. We also got talking to a local couple who bought Steve some sake and were shocked to hear that we had taken 8 months off to go on holiday. They clearly thought we were loco.

Afterwards we went to Tokyo station to have a look around the CBD, which had some very tall buildings and we found a shopping centre, so I had a look around there. After which we walked to Ginza to find the Kabuki -za theatre, but unfortunately it had been knocked down. We asked for directions in a shop and they gave us a bag of free rice crackers each lol. Then we walked up and down Ginza looking at the lights and shops which included the likes of Gucci, Louise Vuitton and Tiffanys (Tokyos answer to Fifth Avn in NY). Then we took the subway home and stopped at the local market to have noodle soup for dinner, but the pork they put on top was pretty much all fat - yuck.

Random notes about Tokyo (positive):
The streets are very clean
Everyone is very helpful. 2 People have now offered us unsolicited directions. Then again I guess they have to help tourists, as they haven’t bothered to put up any road names or numbers.
Japanese art is amazingly detailed which appeals to me on a deep level.
All the woman in Tokyo are perfectly made up and beautifully / stylishly dressed. Also they are all stick thin which is enough to make anyone feel like a heffalump by comparison. It must be all the fish. Although you’d think the fatty pork would put some meat on their bones.
As it was autumn when we were there the colours on the trees were a gorgeous burnt orange colour.
Their sushi is to die for.

Random notes (weird):
Electrically warmed toilet seats - its very unsettling as it just makes me think that someone else has just pre-warmed the seat - yuck. Their electric toilets also have other odd functions like playing music, or the flush sound. Now why would you need to make a flush sound without actually flushing the toilet I ask you? We were loving the all in one sinks though - you can get soap automatically, get water to wash your hands automatically and then dry your hands on the air dryer all inside the same hand basin - very efficient! Wonder why these super sinks haven’t caught on in the rest of the world! You can wash your hands and get out of there without having to touch a single soap dispenser, tap or paper towel dispenser. This really appeals to the OCD in me.
Women going out in schoolgirl knee high socks, with mini soft toys tied to their handbags
As mentioned before no real street names or numbers ie proper addresses! This turned out to be the bain of our existence in Tokyo. We are used to choosing a restaurant / place in our guidebook and then going to find that place on a map. But that’s very unrealistic in Tokyo. How does any mail get delivered here?

Day 5:
We got up early and got the overland train out to Kamakura. Then another local train to Hase and a short walk up the road to the 37m outdoor bronze Buddha which was pretty impressive. We got to go inside the Buddha and see that its made of loads of different pieces all welded together. Steve got another fortune, and it was better than the last time so he was pleased. Then we walked back towards the station to find the temple, which had a beautiful garden featuring trees in their autumn reds, and a koi pond. We also saw all the little statues for the departed children which was a bit sad as there are so many of them, and people have left sweets and toys as offerings at the temple. We did stumble across a small cave there which had statues carved into the rock walls inside. Very cool. Then we got the train back in to Tokyo and had pasta for dinner (getting tired of tasteless noodle soup) which was very tasty. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to try to book our hostel in Beijing. Unfortunately we figured out that we wouldn’t be able to see the tuna auction at the Fish Market the following day, as you have to be there at 4h30 and the first subway train starts at 5h01. Oh well I wasn’t that keen on getting up at 3am anyway.

Last day
We just packed and headed for the airport to catch our flight out to Beijing. I was a little apprehensive about how easy it would be to get around given the language barrier, so we shall see.

Think thats about it for now. Hope everyone had a very Merry Xmas and all the best for the New Year.

Kirst x