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Published: September 19th 2011
Our first full day in Tokyo was spent lazing around and doing laundry, getting over the last week of early mornings, train rides and sightseeing.
As we didn’t hear from Debbie’s Japanese friend on where to meet up 😞 we headed over toThe National Museum of Emerging Science with Chris and Ross from our hostel where we (mainly Angelo) marvelled at the technology of the future.
We took a stroll around the area and somehow ended up eating free cookies from a glue company live on the internet!
In the evening the four of us went out for drinks in the Asakusabashi area - where there’s not much going on – and found an outside stand up bar and got chatting to some locals and sharing some Japanese sake. We went in search of a bar that was open later and found one, we met another couple who we arranged to meet again in the morning.
So the 6 of us set of at 9am on Sunday to Harajuku to spot all the cosplay kids. We didn’t spot too many but the ones we did find were pretty good. We took a walk around the park where
we watched people meditating, doing yoga, acting out rap battles and skipping on a giant skipping rope which the boys of course had to join in with.
We also visited the Meiji Jingu Shrine next door which was interesting – we had 2 free guides one of which thought Angelo was very handsome!
After a spot of shopping, lunch and a visit to a big toy store we left the other couple and the four of us took the subway to the Government building where there is a free observation deck. We made it up for sunset and the view as the sun went down was spectacular, mount fuji visible on the horizon. We waited until it was dark but were surprisingly less impressed by the night time view so made a move to Shibuya to see the famous crossing. We had a wonder round and stopped for a few beers in an Italian restaurant before finishing the evening in the arcades of Akihabara.
It was an early start for the two of us and Chris, we were up at 3.30am and took a taxi to the Fish market to watch the Tuna auction, which was fun
to watch even if (or maybe because) we had no idea what the auctioneer was saying, or rather singing! It was almost worth getting up so early just to see the size of the fish they were selling!
We stopped for sushi (Debbie tried it and confirms she definitely still does not like fish – especially eel) then took the subway to Ryogoku to queue for sumo tickets, which we got quickly and without any fuss. Following our early morning adventure we slept until early afternoon.
The four of us made it to the sumo tournament by around 4.30pm and it was definitely worth it! We had the cheapest seats, right at the very back, but we thought our view was pretty good from up there, there’s certainly no missing these guys! By 6pm it was all over and we went to yet another sushi bar – this one with the revolving belt – via McDonalds for deb.
We said goodbye to Ross as he made his way back ready for his flight and the three of us took a stroll around Akihabara again. Akihabara is a weird place full of arcades and adult shops where the
only women you see are working.
On the Tuesday we discovered (rather luckily but at the same time displeasingly) that our flight had been changed to Wednesday rather than Thursday and that we therefore ha one less day than we had thought! Turns out we were notified by email whilst we were away but hadn’t taken much notice due to the email subject “minor change to flight time”. We’re quite sure changing the date counts as a major change but hey at least we noticed in time!
So we took ourselves a few subway stops up to Asakusa to visit Sensoji temple and browse the area then took a look around Ueno. In the evening we returned to Shibuya for a last look at the famous crossing illuminated by all the massive video screens.
We went back to the same Italian restaurant to blow some money on a nice meal. Debbie finally tried her ‘beer fruit’ she had gotten on the train in china but it seemed to have no affect – she was already rather tipsy though so who knows?
On our final day in Tokyo and of our whole trip we visited the Sony
Building to check out all their latest products then returned to Asakusa for some last minute souvenir shopping.
And that was it!.... we made our way to the airport on the subway and upon boarding found out our flight stops in Osaka to pick up more passengers before the stopover in Doha – we had wondered why it was taking 24 hours to fly home!
And that brings us to right now, sitting on the Doha – London flight finishing off the last blog of the trip, feeling a little sad that it’s all over but excited to see all of you very soon!
I’m sure you’ll all be relieved that the blogs have come to an end!
Deb & Ang
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