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Published: April 23rd 2008
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what an incredible city!
so i arrived on tuesday after taking the bullet train from kyoto and was able to admire the stunning views of fuji-san (mount fuji!) on the way. matt arrived at the hotel literally 10 minutes after me and we couldn't believe what an amazing hotel it was... with views over tokyo's skyline.
we chilled out and had a peaceful walk around the hama-rikyu gardens not too far from the hotel. we wandered around the many restaurants in ginza to find somewhere to eat but were both feeling very indecisive about what we fancied so eventually settled on 'za watami' - a chain restaurant that i know and love from saga! matt was very impressed with my japanese as i engaged in conversation with the waitress!
on wednesday, we visited the imperial palace... only open to the public on the emperor's birthday and new years but we were still able to admire the famous nishubashi bridges and the exterior of the building. we also walked around the gardens as it was a beautiful day and had a drink whilst sitting out under the cherry blossom trees. we also visited yasakuni shrine before heading to akihabara (the
electronic district with all the latest gadgets!) we attempted to play pachinko, which is a very popular form of gambling here... we had absolutely no idea what we were doing though but i had to say i had tried it as it was on my to-do list!
on thursday, we had a picnic in the gyoen garden in shinjuku... the cherry blossoms were just beautiful and it was lovely to see families, kids and even business men taking off their shoes and enjoying their lunch in such peaceful surroundings. we visited the meiji shrine and laughed at some of the prayer tablets which people write their wish on and which the monks then bless - one person asked if they could build a japanese bullet train between london and scotland! a cute little boy had written that he wanted 100,000 yen! in the afternoon we visited harajuku - famed for its outrageous fashion-conscious teenagers... we didn't see anything too crazy when we went but the clothes in the shops were certainly not your average 'top shop' or 'miss selfridge' clothes! in the evening, i was desperate to track down 'tony roma's' - my favourite restaurant ever! i've been to
tony roma's in singapore, canada and england and planned on seeing it in japan too! we spent ages turning our map in every possible direction before a very kind man asked where we wanted to go and offered to walk us there! our delicious meal didn't disappoint... mmmmm! after food, we took the subway to shibuya where we witnessed the pedestrian scramble (the largest and busiest pedestrian crossing in the world i think... it's a very famous scene!)
on friday, we set off to have a shop around ginza but soon realised that the expensive designer shops were slightly out of our price league! instead, we went to watch a performance of kabuki (an old japanese style of play) at the kabukiza theatre. the play itself was rather dull - even with the english translation via a headset - but again, it was on my to-do list so it had to be done! we chilled out in dean and deluca cafe before heading out for a meal at a shabu shabu restaurant... cooking thin strips of meat and vegetables in a pot of boiling water on your table! we then took the lift up to the top of the
tokyo tower to admire the wonderful views of tokyo at night.
on saturday, we had the most relaxing day ever! we took the monorail to an onsen theme park where we had to wear a cotton robe all day long and each had a foot bath, sand bath and doctor fish treatment (where you put your feet in a pool full of fish who eat off the dead skin... seriously! such a strange feeling!) before heading to separate onsens... it was funny seeing lots of tourists there trying to get away with wearing swimsuits - the looks on their faces when they realised they were supposed to be naked was priceless! then we had a bit of a shop around one of the shopping malls before riding on the tallest ferris wheel in the world!
the sun was shining beautifully on sunday so we joined a tour group to visit mount fuji and hakone... although i hate tour groups with a passion (who wants to be told where they can go and what time to do something?!??!) it really was the only option for getting to mount fuji easily... and it actually wasn't as painful as i thought
it would be! the tour also included a boat journey on lake ashi and a gondola ride so there were plenty of opportunities to take in the stunning scenery!
monday was one of the days we were looking forward to the most as we went to DISNEYLAND! i made sure that we were there at least half an hour before the opening time and when we arrived it felt like the entire population of tokyo had come up with the same idea! still, we didn't have to wait long at all for any of the rides and eventually ended up going on about 14 rides by the end of the day! brilliant fun!
on tuesday we set out for asakusa as it was the buddha's birthday and i wanted to see the celebrations at a local shrine but unfortunately it threw it down with rain... buddha obviously wasn't happy about getting even older! so we went back to the hotel and relaxed with a starbucks whilst packing our bags ready for vietnam!
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helen
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I was wandering about the flowers as you don't seem a flowery person. It's so beautiful over there. I don't really like the look of the food that much. You have been so many places and seen so much i'm so jealous. Keep safe and have fun love helen.