Tantalising Tokyo

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Arrived in Tokyo and it is a huge difference from the little town of Fujisan every building looks a million foot high. I got off the bus and i think i stood in one spot for about 30 minutes trying to figure out which route to take out of the bus station alone god help me eh. Finally i gave up and went to the tourist information centre and got some directions to my hostel and off i went. Checked in and tried some takoyaki balls in the restaurant must admit not my favourite thing that ive tried here but they were ok. I then decided to go for a walk on to find that it was pouring down with rain i walked and walked only to find that i had gotten myself completely lost and then had to walk around for another 40 minutes or so to find my way back by which point i was soaked so great start.



Next day i went out to find the Shibuya crossing and it is insane how many people there are in this city the Shibuya crossing seems like every person in town is trying to cross the road at once it was crazy i got myself a nice cup of coffee and a cake and watched the people go by in the hundreds. After that i went to visit my friend that i met in Kyoto at the most expensive bakery i have ever seen so i ordered the cheapest thing on the menu of course. We spent the afternoon pottering around the shopping streets an even visited the area where all the cool kids hang out expecting to see some people dressed in cosplay but unfortunaly no just lots of teenagers and shops. We find somewhere nice to eat after walking for a while and i had some pork quite nice.

My second day in Tokyo could not have been lazier if i tried i spent the entire not going further than the corner shop but at least i made a plan and did some reading to figure what i wanted to see over the next few days tomorrow will be much more productive.

Had a bit of lie in and headed out about lunch time, first stop Tokyo national museum in ueno the museum itself was nice but there were many sites around the park and each was another museum if you are a lover of museums then this is paradise i walked around for a while and looked at some old historical kimonos, ancient war armour and beautiful sliding door and wall art after a while it was time to move on to the next stop so i left the museum and headed for the train station. Next stop Asakusa lovely town where they have a huge temple now i had previously said no more temples because ive seen a million already however this one was worth it the little street that lead up to the temple was filled with stalls selling sweet little treats and souvenirs i didnt buy souvenirs but i did indulge in some deep fried rice ball cake things and they were absolutely amazing so in total i may have accidentally eaten four but they were not too big in my defence.

Heading back to the train station i found my way to the river where the views over the opposite side included the Tokyo sky tree and a huge golden building with what looked like a massive golden poo on the top of it that is apparently the property of a brewery interesting choice of art for your ceiling there. So i took lots of pictures with the skyline before heading off.

Last stop of the day was Akihabara now this was what you would expect Tokyo to look like buildings covered from top to bottom in lights and advertisements girls in the street dressed as maids and schools girls (creepy) trying to get you to go in to their themed cafes. There were huge Sega buildings filled with arcade games covering about 7 floors each little disappointed I couldn't find a sonic the hedgehog game though. After exploring a variety of sex shops arcades and computer gadget stores i decided to call it a night and head back to the hostel.

Last full day and boy did i try and make it as full as possible. First i went to Tokyo train station a lovely old building right in the centre of so many new skyscrapers i walked around this are for a while until i found the international building of commerce which was supposed to look pretty cool but from outside it didnt really look like much so i carried on down to the imperial palace which had a beautiful bridge and then behind was the palace very scenic based in the centre of a huge open park with lots of trees very well looked after so great for a photo opportunity. From here i walked along to the next town of Ginza where there were more shops than i could could with the most wonderful theatre based right in the middle above that was a roof top garden that you could visit and lots of little stores inside where you could buy lots of souvenirs. Next was the fish market now if i had been inclined you can come to this market at about 2am and watch the huge blue fish tunas being auctioned off to the highest bidder but i was not inclined to look at fish at that time in the morning unfortunately. I did however try some steamed oysters and met a lovely couple there were here visiting their son but had no real plans. They joined me to the next place on my list which was the Tokyo tower. It looks almost like an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower however its bright orange it was pretty high but also pretty expensive to go to the top so i didnt bother on this occasion instead as i was walking further down the street to the next place of the day i came across the world trade centre building and guess what they had an observatory deck that was a quarter the price that will do nicely up i went to the 40th floor and top pictures of the city views including the Tokyo tower and Sky tree i could see it all and didnt have to pay any big money happy little me eh. From here i walked to the train station to take the river train over the bay to Odiaba so that i could see the rainbow bridge and the replica of the Statue of Liberty which were both pretty cool i then had some lovely ramen whole i was over there before trying to head back unfortunately the train i was suppose to get was cancelled due to somebody messing on the tracks so i stood there for nearly an hour before i gave up and went down to the ticket guy who was by then handing out tickets for an alternative rail company but i had to walk about 10 minutes to get there and by this point it was super freezing cold. Finally got back to the hostel and crashed out.

Last full day and i wanted to take it pretty easy today but ended up visiting ikebukuro walking around the shops and even seen a few people in cosplay costumes who looked pretty cool i was looking around for a souvenir that i wanted buy but so far had only seen a doll in Shibuya. I then went to the gardens in Rikugien expecting to see some blossoms of cherry or plum but they were very small although the garden itself was very beautiful to see. I headed back to the hostel showered and changed as i wanted to go out to some bars for my last night. Luckily when sitting in the bar ready to go one of the girls who worked in the hostel was sitting drinking with her boyfriend and his friends and invited me to join them in the biggest sushi tray ive ever seen. After we finished that and i had taught them how to pour and drink jäger bombs we headed to the area of bars called Golden Gai the bars are so tiny most can only fit about 5 people inside they are quite cute and personal really so you get chatting to people really easily after a few drinks in there we went of to the karaoke. Now karaoke in Asia is a little different to back home you dont have to worry about embarrassing yourself in front of loads of strangers you are separated in to little rooms just with your group so you have no hesitation in belting out Celine Dion or Whitney Huston like your on the last episode of Xfactor. I made my way back to the hostel somewhere around 6am and sat chatting with the people waking up for the Tokyo marathon which was that day and then i went to bed for my huge 3 hours sleep before i had to check out, tired much... that day i had to make my way off to Narita airport where i was checked in to a hotel for the night for an early start the next day was a bit of an effort getting there especially with a bit of a hangover and little sleep. I was happy when my head hit the pillow.

Early start and off to Hong Kong we go see you on the flip side.

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