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Published: March 2nd 2008
the tower
this was also next to our hostel, we took a picture every time we walked pastSam Teacher and I were off to Tokyo for our Christmas Adventure nice and early! We hauled our big back packs, only half full of course for the anticipated shopping spree we would have, through the subway station to
Gimpo Airport. This is an international airport, but
mainly has domestic flights. We loved this airport because we saw no lines, no hassle, AND it has a subway station that is on the line (Line 5) that we live near (meaning no transfers!).
Checked into the
Sakura Hostel in Asakusa only to find that it was fantastic, and had super comfortable beds! (especially compared to our rock hard beds in Seoul!) It began to rain, but we trekked across the city, trying to figure out the subway system, to meet up with Sam's friends Lloyd and Veronica that she used to work with at the Westin in Vancouver.
We were so excited to find this beautiful temple right next to our hostel. There were gardens beside the temple and a tower. Just a little further was a massive souvenir market. It was always bustling with tourists and people on their way to the temple.
Happy Birthday Emperor!
Dec. 23, is the Emperor's Birthday so he makes a public appearance. One of two days in the year they do this and we caught it! Definitely an interesting perk about the location of our hostel! Every time we walked past, we had to take a picture or... several.
DECEMBER 23, 2007 After our extremely restful sleep, we had tonnes of energy to explore the uber sheik city of Tokyo!
It was the Emperor's birthday! So we made our way to the
Imperial Palace, to wish him a happy birthday! There are two days of the year that the Royal Family makes a public appearance and this was one of them!
We had to snake our way through the tight security up the winding roads to the Palace. There were thousands of people there to hear his address (which I would love to know what it was he said). I think it kinda hit me at that point that I was away from home for Christmas and just how cool this experience is, and I got a bit choked up!
Sashimi was calling our names after we had explored the Palace gardens. We found this very cool sushi restaurant under the train tracks and filled our cravings!
The
Harajuku District was a must on
our list of things to see. A Saturday afternoon proved to be an ideal time to hit it up! The rain had cleared away and it was a beautiful blue sky day. Coming out of the station we weren't sure which way to head, but to follow the black clad girls was our best bet. It is really quite a sight, they are wearing the most eccentric outfits, there are artists selling their work and even a man rocking out to his little stereo.
Where they gather is at the entrance of a huge park, so we began to wander through. We regret not on carrying on because we found out afterwards that there is a temple inside the park. I couldn't believe that there were still leaves on all the trees! And it was fairly warm too.
Kept on walking through the
Aoyama District and found a few shops, I was happy to see the Gap! It is hard to find some decent clothes in Korea, so this was exciting! On the walk we saw many interesting buildings all over the city, old and new.
We were on the hunt for LuLu Lemon,
Sam has a bit of an addiction. It was a hunt that took us a few hours, but boy oh boy, we found it- not without the help from about 7-10 Japanese. We ended up in
Shibuya to see the sight of the busiest intersection in the world. We walked through it a few times, and I'm gonna say that the prior sentence is true.
Did some more shopping and had dinner. We headed back to our hostel for a good night sleep before the hopeful plan of going to the Fish Market at 5:30am the next day.
DECEMBER 24, 2007 Well. . . we didn't quite get up at 4:45 like we had planned, but we made it to the
Fish Market at about 8:30 to still catch quite a bit of excitement. There were so many people! And Fish! We were quite overwhelmed at the sight of it! We were nearly run down by these "fork-lift-esqe" things several times. The auction that we had missed early in the morning is where the sushi chefs get their fresh catch for the day.
We went down to check out the harbour,
and saw a Denny's. What better place to look at the harbour from!? We couldn't believe our eyes though, when we saw Santas, Reindeer and Elves riding Sea-Doos!!!
Our walk down through the "Park Avenue of Tokyo",
Ginza, was very ritzy! The street was closed off, and some people were getting the last of their Christmas shopping finished up. We hung out in the Apple Store for a while and played with the touch ipod and some other cool gadgets!
Surprise! All this walking and shopping made us hungry! We found a little Italian Pasta restaurant with a great window table. It was located right across from a posh hotel, and I don't think that any X-Bellman was ready for what we sat and watched! There was every major car brand rolling out of this driveway, from Ferraris to Bentlys. Everything. We were so excited!
Went back to the hostel for a Christmas Eve nap, and thought it might be fun to go to a hotel, to their rooftop bar for a Christmas Cocktail. Well, the bar ended up being in the basement, so we scratched that idea. Instead we bought some groceries to
Temple
this was right next to our hostel enjoy later, and went to a Sushi bar for our Christmas Eve Dinner!
We bought a cheese fondue, that turned out to be disgusting, nothing like the kind at home! haha, we were a little disappointed!
DECEMBER 25, 2007 Merry Christmas! We brought in the holiday with Champagne and OJ in mugs and grapefruit to eat. A little bit of tradition from each of our families for the morning. Then we went to Denny's to have some bacon and eggs.
It was very strange being in a country that isn't predominately Christian at Christmas time. I think in my mind, the whole world stops for Christmas where everyone is with their family, enjoying good food and company and everything is closed. Well, this certainly wasn't the case in Tokyo. I think it was a good experience to see how other countries celebrate, it really opened my eyes.
We had the hardest time finding our way to the bus station where we could get a bus to Mt. Fuji. It seriously took a few hours, eventually we get on a bus and are on our way to see the great
volcano!
When we arrived at the train station near Mt. Fuji, we were quite perplexed as to how we would find a good place to see the mountain from. But Christmas Dinner was our first priority! and what better place than
Ali Baba's Indian Restaurant! We watched the little man cook our naan in their open kitchen and then make our spicy chicken naan wraps. He was so kind and happy to have us eat in his new restaurant!
In our attempt to get a great, clear view of the mountain, we wandered through a very suburban area which was very interesting. Saw some beautiful older homes, also some brand new ones that looked as though they were right out of a new subdivision in North America. Our pictures turned out to be not so fantastic, it was just such a gray day!
We stumbled upon the route to one of the lakes that surrounds Mt. Fuji. It was really beautiful and lined with hotels and even a small gondola! I think we were too late for the gondola, maybe Christmas Day wasn't the best time to see Mt. Fuji! Just by chance we
asked for directions to a hot spring at a hotel and they HAD a hot spring! The outside temperature was around 2*C, and the water temp was 40*C - It was fantastic! It was exactly what we wanted and needed after a long day traveling.
The taxi to the train station was less than 5 minutes and ran us an exorbitant 12$. We had been warned... take that travel advice seriously! The Taxi door opens automatically, there is a fancy lace covering the seats and the driver is wearing an interesting little outfit!
The bus ride back to Tokyo was considerably longer. Driving back into the city we could see people in their offices at 10:00pm on Christmas day. That really reiterated the differences of the holiday for me!
DECEMBER 26, 2007 Had a 4:30am wake up call in an 8 bed hostel dorm room, sorry roomies!!! We both jumped awake, but someone had taken Sam's ladder! and I wasn't wearing any pants! and the phone is ringing! and we're trying to be quiet- kinda! oops! We dragged ourselves to the subway station to catch the first train of the day,
which goes directly to
Narita Airport (Fantastic!). We watched the sun come up over the tar mac while we enjoyed a delicious latté!
JAL was a decent airline, we were a little frustrated that there weren't any announcements in English at the airport!
A Korean friend of mine, Wonki, works at Gimpo Airport so he met us when we arrived! It was nice to see a familiar face. Unfortunately we had to rush home to try and catch our families and have a chat while it was still Christmas Day in Canada.
We were exhausted to say the least, and then we had to put in a full day at work! It was a wonderful trip and we truly enjoyed Japan. Everything from the food to the people to the sights and the accommodation really impressed us. Japan is a destination that I definitely intend on returning to.
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