Two crazy days in Tokyo

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SC writes: After the relative disappointments of Mito, yesterday we headed for Tokyo, and the very popular area of Shinjuku. We dropped our bags at the hotel, eventually, and headed off to Kappibashi Dori, a street famous for catering to the restaurant trade. Here you can buy crockery in any style you like, chefs’ knives, and plastic food, which the restaurants use to display their wares - very helpful when you don’t understand a word! See the photos for a couple of spectacular examples. Cathy was shopping for dinner plates but, despite looking at hundreds, came away with nothing more than a side plate. I on the other hand went looking for a plastic fried egg but came away with plates and pasta bowls. (We are taking advantage of the fact that our baggage allowance is 2 * 23kgs bags! ). Then back to the hotel to our cupboard sized room....normal for Tokyo! Oh well... over dinner of Pork Tonkatsu, we decided to head out of town on Thursday to get some more train miles in on the JR pass.

So after an early start we made our way to Nikko, a delightful spot full of temples, moss covered lanterns and giant pine trees. We had been once before and, with the day being very fine, it turned into a spectacular visit. The town itself is charming with a number of antique stores where Cathy was on better shopping form.

Back in Tokyo I headEd for Disc Union... a great music store chain, that has two branches in Tokyo that specialise in used CDs... my sort of store...Fantastic, and only rivalled by Amoeba music in California. After some creative packing we had a quick ramen supper near the hotel..tasty. I’m writing this waiting for the plane home but will do one more blog, on the weirdness that is Japan.

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Photos

Giant burger in plastic - Kappibashi-dori
Restaurants uses such things as promotional devices

Pork Tonkatsu
Cathy’s favourite

Temple gate - Nikko
Shame about the parked car!

Impressive gate guardian - there are many.
10 feet tall.

More lanterns and lots of them
Gifts to the temple by patrons. Stone = cheap...located down the hill. Metal = expensive...right up close to the temple.