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Published: November 30th -0001
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Tokyo
Rainbow Bridge Tokyo
Landed at Narita airport at 6pm. Collected the bags and we were out of immigration by 6:30pm. Went to validate our JR rail passes (can only be bought outside the country) for the two weeks we were travelling, including getting us back to the airport for our departure on Monday the 6th. Staff at the counter were very helpful. We also got a metro pass for Y2000 each. The railway station is two minutes walk from the ticket office. You have to stand exactly at the right carriage markings on the platform, which are on the ticket. We caught the 7:20pm (bang on time) train (journey time 1.5hr) to Ikebukuro where our hotel was booked. The train was very spacious, clean and had monitors with the current world news, adverts and next station information. The hotel (Toyoko Inn) was around 5mins walk from the station, a map was provided by "inside Japan tours". In fact all the information provided by the tour operator was useful, clear and concise. It was very warm and humid for 9pm. The streets were full of neon lights above the bars and shops. Checked in and decided the best thing to do was
Tokyo
Ikebukuro to go to sleep. NB the temperature around this time of year is 35deg during the day going down to 30degs at night.
22.08.2010 Tokyo - Ikebukuro
Went down for breakfast which we were informed was "light". Breakfast consisted of rice, miso soup, coffee and some egg and tuna sandwiches. Toyoko inn hotels are fairly cheap (by Japanese standards) at Y9240 for a double - around £72 per night. The rooms are compact, with the bathrooms slipped in as a removable single plastic moulded unit. The toilets flush on sitting/standing and there's a remote control on the wall for where to spray; front or back and the temperature of the water used. Everything you needed was there including slippers, a robe, hair dryer etc. Decided to get our bearings and went for a walk around the hotel. Came across a vintage Mercedes (see pic). The area seemed full of restaurants, bars shops etc. We decided to visit the rainbow bridge and go from there. After studying the metro map, we used our metro passes to get to the bridge. Although I was told it's hard to get around in Japan, the metro has stations in English as well as
Tokyo
Views from Rainbow Bridge Japanese and Chinese, so it was easy to get to our destination. You can walk along the bridge on a walkway which had stairs at various locations so you can walk back seeing the views from the other side. The views from the bridge were very good. From here we decided to go to Ginza and walk through the market to Yurakucho where we could catch the train back to Ikebkuro; this was recomended in the tour guide notes. The walk was about a mile with people selling everything from fish to musical instruments. Got back to the hotel around 5pm, had a shower and went for our 7pm meeting with Tom our tour leader (not guide, which I think means he may not be able to answer questions) and the other people we were touring with. After an introduction from Tom we all went to an Izakaya for dinner. The food was varied and good, can't say the same about the beer though. After dinner, Tom took us to a local bar. Ian (pic later) was wearing a Manchester United shirt which caused a commotion behind him as he walked obliviously to the back of the bar. Some lads
Tokyo
View from Rainbow bridge were smiling, shouting and stood up to shake our hands, that's Isaiah, Adriano and me. We told Ian once we'd sat down, he seemed mildly surprised. We all got to know each other a bit better over drinks, including some Shochu (potato extract) an acquired taste.
23.08.2010 Tokyo
After the same breakfast, we all met as arranged at 9am and made our way to the station. Caught the train to Harajuku (using are JR passes). The Meiji Shrine was behind the station. At the entrance are barrels of wine and champagne see photo. Straight ahead from the station is the Harajuku shopping district. We had a wonder around, noticed there we lots of expensive so called designer shops like Louis Vuitton. There was also a market behind the shopping area but we didn't have time to go there as we were meeting back at the station at 11:45 for the train to Asakusa where we were visiting the Sensoji temple. The temple is at the end of a long line of shops and cafe's. Once we'd visited this, Tom (our leader) took us for lunch to a Monjayaki (cook your own savoury pancake). We had to take
Tokyo
View from Rainbow bridge our shoes off and sit squeezed in little compartments (4 to a table). The table had a hot plate in the middle. We chose the filling from the menu. The waiter then brought the first filling, spread the pancake and added the filling and various other ingredients and let it cook. Kay's was the first as she's a vegetarian, the four of us (Stuart, Amy and us, pics of people later) had a bit each, then mine and Amy's, which was the same cooked by Amy pretty well. Stuart's was tuna. He cooked it very well and it was the best of the bunch. After lunch, we walked through the back streets to the station and caught the train, then the monorail to a man made island across from the Rainbow Bridge. Here some of us had a little paddle, and then we went to see the status of liberty (see pics) close by. From here we headed back to the hotel. We all decided to go for dinner together; ending up in one of the two malls next to the station at Ikebukuro. This had the top 3 floors as restaurants. After wondering around we decided on a noodle
Ikebukuro
Area around hotel bar were I had a chicken noodle bowl etc. with beer for around £15. Gemma, Kay, Adriano, Ian and I then decided to visit the bar we'd been in the night before. Kimberley and Isaiah went to withdraw money from the post office ATM. (note here cash is king and the only place you can withdraw it is at the post office or at a 7/11). At the bar nobody spoke English and none of us new the Japanese word for plum wine. Adriano drew a pic which we thought they understood, but we got something like Sprite with a dry plum in it. After a beer we decided to have some Saki. The waitress first issued saucers that looked like ashtrays, then she put glasses into the saucers and then poured the Saki from a kettle so that it over spilt into the saucer, again an acquired. Eventually Isaiah and Kimberley arrive (she withdrew 100,000 Yen, around £750 and was worried that the machine wouldn't give her more). Isaiah (after downing the Saki in one) somehow communicated with the waitress and we got the plum wine: umeishu (pronounced ohmyshoe!). I noticed that the beer was being automatically poured from
Local Bar
The cheapest bar we went to.
From left to right we have Izi, me, Ian, Kay, Kimi, Nicole, Gemma and Tom the tour leader. a machine, two glasses at a time, even the head was created by the machine by shaking the glass.
Observations
:
• The shrines and temples are kept very well, but don't seem to have that air of holiness. They don't instil a sense of calm contemplation.
• Vending machines selling beer and soft drinks are on every street corner. • Apparently there are 10 flavours of Fanta from orange to cider.
• Apparently (well according to Nicole) - there are vending machine that sell used girls underwear, Tom was sceptical about this. We never saw any anyway, but what I did notice (and was in the book I had) was the the girls dress in school uniforms when going out for the night.
• It's very humid at this time of the year with temperatures reaching 95+
• No insects of any kind are around including mosquitoes.
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