Touch of Tokyo


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Asia » Japan » Tokyo
September 3rd 2007
Published: October 21st 2007
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Scott ready to travelScott ready to travelScott ready to travel

Pack weight is close to 45 pounds.
We arrived in Tokyo via Chicago from Seattle. It was a long flight but I was lucky to have two seats to myself which I curled up and slept most of the flight except for when food was being served. Scott was not as lucky he had to sleep upright. Even with all the sleep jet lag hit me like a ton of bricks. I was lethargic for two days.
The first night we stayed in a hotel right by the airport and then moved into Tokyo for the next few nights.
We stayed in the Ginza district which is famous for its shopping, think 5th Ave in NY. We walked around one evening in the Shibuyu district which is like Times Square, with lots of lights and interesting people. Many women dress very sexy, kind of across between a street walker and high fashion. This may be why in this area there are hotels that specialize in love: renting rooms by the hour or night.
One morning we headed to the Tsukiji Fish Market. It was quite the experience. Think of the Seattle Fish Market then add a thousand vendors and hundreds of motorized carts zooming between the tourists. The smell is also very strong. I intended to try the sushi there but Scott was not on board. With it being 9 am I agreed to just have sushi later.
We spent the afternoon heading out to the Ushiko Amida Buddha. To get there take the JR Joban line from Ueno to Ushiko and then take the bus to the park. We found the bus by writing the name in Japanese and then a nice man showed us the right bus. We felt like duh! Since the bus listed the Amida Buddha on the sign. It is kind of an expensive bus ride $6 one way which added to the $10 one way train ride and the $8 admission and you have a pricey field trip. BUT it was worth it the Amida Buddha, standing 120 m including base, is 3 times taller than the Statue of Liberty. We took the elevator to the observation floor 85 m up. The Amida Buddha sits in the middle of a large beautiful park.
We head to Kyoto from here.



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