Our last Japanese city... Tokyo

Apparently Tokyo is the biggest city in the world (in terms of population anyway).  We (err Rob) always thought it was Dublin because its size keeps Dublin and Dublin and Dublin…  Oh dear!.

Rapidly moving on, we decided to save the biggest to last in Japan - Tokyo.  The home to millions of people, full of neon light madness and electronic gadget overload.

After speeding along the tracks on another very fast and enjoyable bullet train we arrived at Tokyo station and hit the streets to see what its all about.  First impressions - there were a lot of people, but apart from the odd place it didn't feel as overcrowded as we thought it might.  It was also far more westernised than the other cities in terms of what the people wore, the types of shops and the sort of food available (we still found Japanese noodle bars, our favourite Lawsons or FamilyMart convenience stores and other things, but there were plenty more McDonalds, Starbucks and those types of places that we'd quite enjoyed not seeing).  Another thing we noticed which to our surprise we hadn't seen much of elsewhere was the use of mobile phones.  They loved them here and pretty much anywhere you looked (especially when on the metro) there were loads of Japanese faces firmly planted in their smartphones - reminded us of home!

Bullet train

Anyway, we ended up being here quite a while and did quite a bit:

• paid a visit or two to Akihabara, the self-proclaimed Electric Town of the world.  There are shops that do literally sell every sort of gizmo or gadget you could probably think of.  There are also plenty of shops that sell things you would never want as I think there are laws against some of the stuff in the UK.  The Japanese (and Lisa) also seem to like their gambling and there were loads of Pachinko slot machine places dotted around - we didn't fancy those as they reeked of smoke, but Lisa did get her fix when she "won" a small cat toy in one of those hand grabber machine thingies (you know what I mean!).  She was very pleased with her efforts!!

Rob checking out some of the gadgets.

Rob looking like a giant in the electronics
market place

So proud!

• checked out the Imperial Palace gardens as it was cherry blossom season.  It was a pretty time of the year to visit, but unfortunately the weather gods had been a bit rude and decided to give us the earliest cherry blossom season ever so we'd missed some of the best stuff.  

• speaking of cherry blossom we checked out a few spots.  The Chidorigafuchi boating lake area was nice for a relaxing stroll.  Shinjuku Gyoen gardens had some later blooming cherry trees.  We also took a trip to the Ueno Park which was busy, but it was great watching the families have lunches on blankets in the gardens and all ages really celebrating the cherry blossom season.  Whilst there we also tried one of the local delicacies - Monja.  It was a strange concoction of batter, meat, vegetables, egg, dried fish, special sauce and mayonnaise, a bit stodgy and a bit weird - not something we'd have again, but you have to try these things.

Chidorigafuchi boating lake

Lisa with Elvis at the boating lake :-)

Shinjuku Gyoen gardens

Shinjuku Gyoen gardens

A local artist at Shinjuku Gyoen gardens

Ueno park food stalls

Rob with his Monja!

Us at Ueno park where the locals are celebrating the cherry blossom season

• took a trip or two to Asakusa (one of the older parts of Tokyo) to see the quaint little shops and visit the Sensoji Temple which is probably the best in Tokyo.

Sensoji Temple

Sensoji Pagoda

Rob with a giant moccasin at Sensoji Temple

• had a chat with the locals at one of the popular Tokyo Skytree photography spots.  The mainly older gentlemen here were so friendly - they gave us tips on how to take some of the photos and get reflections in things like stone pillars!  There was a lot of miming and pointing going on as their English was limited and our Japanese very limited ("hello", "goodbye" and "thank you very much" is about all we know!).  One of the locals even bought us each a can of warm coffee from the vending machine as it was a chilly night - a genuinely kind act that you wouldn't expect in most countries.  We didn't realise the vending machines had hot drinks - couldn't stop Lisa after that!

The 'locals' that chatted to us at the Skytree

Moody sky at the Skytree

The Skytree reflection shots we were shown
how to do by the locals

The lovely vending machine that had the best
cans of coffee!

• visited the Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills for views over Tokyo.  Pretty cool, especially at night.

Rob on his helipad!

• took a look at the Shibuya crossing, allegedly the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world and yep it was busy.  Every time the green man flashed it seemed thousands of people appeared from nowhere (and of course they would as the vast majority of the population are ninjas) and crossed in all directions - amazing just to stand and watch.

• tried sushi for the first time in our lives.  We started with the shrimp and the mackerel - quite enjoyed those (beginners luck).  Then it was time for the scallop and it was just vile - the texture was awful (presumably what a slightly fishy slug would be like) and that finished Rob off!  I continued for a couple more but the really soft, squishy prawn got the better of me.  I think we entertained the chef though as he was having to tell us what to do with the plates, tea and wasabi.... So uneducated in sushi eating, I think that'll be the first and last time though.

• went to the Harajuku area where some people dress in some rather funky and interesting attire.  We spotted a few walking around, but the main reason for us going was souvenir hunting at the Oriental Bazaar - a cool shop that had a load of authentic Japanese bits and bobs.  Rob was also happy as he had the chance to pretend to be a samurai!!

• took the rubber wheeled train (imagine Superoute 66 bus lanes in Kesgrave that actually work) over Tokyo Bay to the man-made island of Odaiba.  Now we weren't sure we would like this place much as it sounded a bit cheesy, but turned out to be quite a nice way to spend a few hours.  The best thing about the place (from Rob's perspective anyway) was the massive (to scale) Gundam that stood outside one of the shopping centres.  Had never heard of Gundams before visiting a toy shop in Japan, but imagine something similar to Transformers and you wouldn't be far wrong.  Suffice it to say that Rob was so impressed with the gigantic robot that he just had to buy a souvenir toy to take home - big kid!

Statue of Liberty replica at Odaiba  and the bridge we walked
across from Tokyo city centre

The funky Fuji TV building at Odaiba

Rob and the gigantic Gundam

Rob with his toy Gundam - big kid!

• Visited a few of the other tourist attractions such as Tokyo tower (which we could see from our hotel window) and spent some time in Ginza - the upmarket shopping area.

Tokyo Tower and me!

Rob falling asleep at the Tokyo Tower!

Ginza

So thats it, our time in Japan is up, but are we keen to move on?  Not really, I think we'll quite miss it to be honest.  Sounds a little cliched but the people really make the place.  Sure there are some amazing things to see and do, but the people are great - very genuine, welcoming, respectful and helpful.  When Rob asked someone on a bicycle for directions he dismounted and walked about 15 minutes out of his way with Rob to guide him to the place - and it wasn't a scam or anything, he was just genuinely helpful!  Would that happen in London or Ipswich?  Think not.

On top of this, everywhere we went we felt really safe, everywhere was so clean (even the public transport) and it's such a well ordered society where they all seem to take pride in their country and themselves, which really shines through.

The customer service everywhere in Japan was also second to none - they say the USA is the land of great customer service, but believe us they could learn sooooo much from the Japanese.  For instance, at the train station ticket desk the assistant who served me stood behind her chair when we were done, bobbed her head and said goodbye - this was then followed by all the other assistants saying goodbye (even though they were looking after other customers).  She stood behind her chair until I had exited the store - couldn't believe it!

Japan has probably been the most fascinating country we have visited on this trip (maybe ever) and the language barrier didn't really have an impact.  It turns out that knowing a handful of Japanese words coupled with lots of pointing, smiling and nodding your head is an astonishingly effective way of communicating!  This experience has definitely got us thinking about new places to visit in the future that we may not have considered in the past.

When I think about how we both felt whilst sitting at the airport hotel room contemplating what we were going to do and how we would do any of it when we didn't even know the basics of the language, we've truly have had an amazing time and Japan is a place we'd happily go back to some time.

Onwards .... Flying to Los Angeles to complete the USA tour that we postponed in November when we flew home to say goodbye to my nan x

Catching up on our blog ..... Kyoto, Japan

We had plenty of things lined up for Kyoto and being one of the most ancient cities in Japan it was jam-packed full of temples, shrines and other traditional Japanese sights - quite different from the more modern feel of Osaka.  Fortunately we'd managed to get ourselves into one hotel near the train station for the entire time we were there, so that made things much easier and more relaxed - no unnecessary lugging of suitcases!

So to give a flavour of some of the things we got up to, check out the list below:

• visited Sanjusangendo Hall which is the home of 1000 Buddha and warrior statues (couldn't take photos inside though - it's sacred apparently.  Rob was not impressed.)

• spent a while at the Golden Pavilion which is an absolutely gorgeous building, but I must confess I got a tad bored standing around for over 2 hours whilst Rob took photos - guess that's what buying a new camera does?!?

• visited a place called Fushimi Inari which is a shrine, but is most famous for the thousands of tori gates dotted around the place - and it had a cool kind of tunnel made from them.  This was quite an interesting place and something very very different.

• spent some time in Gion which was very good for shopping and the home of some Geisha girls.  We did happen to see a few whilst we were wondering around - we think they were authentic and very fascinating.  We also spotted a handful of western tourists dressed up in traditional Japanese wear - frankly they just looked like tools!

• went to the Gion Corner which is a theatre where they play out some of the traditions in the Japanese way of life, like tea parties, flower arranging and dancing.  It was quite entertaining but not something you would want to see every week.

• took a long bus ride to the Sanzen-Inn Temple and Japanese gardens.  This was a really relaxing place and it was so peaceful wandering around the gardens (which had some really cool moss covered buddhas).  As it was completely out of the city it was a nice way to spend a few hours and take a look in some lovely little Japanese shops that paved the way to the temple - mmm, souvenirs!

Moss covered Buddha

• got the train to Arashiyama just outside Kyoto and is apparently well known for a its bridge across the river.  Well we saw the bridge and we didn't think it was up to much really - that said it probably looks great in the Autumn with a backdrop of autumnal colours.  We just had a general wander around which was nice enough and spent a while walking around the giant bamboo grove seeing them sway in the breeze.

• there were loads of temples to look at (too many really) and after you've seen a couple they can become a bit samey.  However a couple that were really good were the Toji Temple which has an amazing weeping cherry blossom tree in the grounds and looked especially nice when lit up at night and the Kiyomizudera Temple which is only lit up a couple of times a years, so we had to check it out.

Toji Temple by night

Toji Temple by day

Rob at one of the shrines at Toji Temple

Kiyomizudera Temple

• wandered along the Philosophers Path - a stretch of canal lined by a variety of cherry trees.  Very nice, but sadly we were a bit early for most of the cherry blossom.  We also watched a women feeding the local cats - they seem to have lots of strays in Japan but they all seem pretty well looked after - no wonder Hello Kitty is so popular!

• As well as seeing the various sights we also chatted to lots of friendly Japanese people, with some of them just wanting to practise their English (which was unsurprisingly much better than our Japanese!).  We took the opportunity to experience lots of new foods such as curry dumplings, pork filled things (yep, vague, but tasted good), curry doughnuts (sounds weird, but really nice) and other stuff that we have no idea what it was - looked ok so we tried it, some was disgusting (sushi rolls mainly)!  Japan also did a nice line in ice creams and Rob bought lots of Giants (the cookie one was the best) - I think he was actually hooked as he had to have his daily fix.

Curry dumplings

A man cooking octopus balls

We actually spent longer in Kyoto than we first anticipated.  As with anywhere you go there is always still more to see and Kyoto was no exception.  But everyone was right, it is a beautiful city and has a very traditional Japanese feel to it - not just the buildings but also the people with lots of men and woman dressed in their Kimono's just going about their business.  It was just a great experience and a place we'd happily go back to.

Next is our 2nd time on the bullet train to the biggest and brightest city .... Tokyo....

P.S.  We have to thank the general population of Kyoto for their honesty.  Whilst we took a break in the Gion Corner area of the city, Lisa managed to "temporarily misplace" our camcorder.  Basically she left it on a wall in a very public place for anyone to take (no, this wasn't some form of social experiment, just incompetence!).  After realising the camcorder was missing nearly an hour later, we re-traced our steps expecting to find nothing.  To our shock/amazement/joy, some kind sort had actually picked it up and placed it out of the way on a window sill - nothing was missing, so thank you whoever you are!!