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Published: August 29th 2013
Today, Wednesday, was our only full day in Tokyo and despite a late start I think we did well and made the most of it. My feet are tired so I imagine that the kids are tired too.
Our hotel is in a lively area on the west side of town called Shinjuku and after breakfast we took the subway to the Senso-ji temple at Asakusa which is north east of Tokyo. It's a Buddhist temple but it felt very different from the Buddhist temples we saw elsewhere - very Japanese somehow - beautiful, and understated compared to some that we've seen.
From there we walked across the river towards the impressive Tokyo Skytree, which is the tallest tower in the world. The walk was longer than I anticipated, so en route we stopped at a small store for an ice cream. What looked like a berry flavored ice cream on the package turned out to be something different. We think it may have been kidney beans! I wouldn't recommend kidney bean ice cream.
The Skytree was very impressive however we found that they limit crowds by offering specific times to ascend and the next time slot was
two hours later. That didn't work for our one day Tokyo visit, so we got back on the subway towards the Akihabara district. This area is best known for its electronics stores. For the Brits among you, it's like Tottenham Court Road. It wasn't all that exciting but again, it felt very Japanese, and there is certainly nothing like this in Minnesota!
From there, we got back on the subway (using our $10 for one day tickets) and headed towards the Roppongi area which seems to be both the area where ex-pats hang out at night and where the luxury goods stores are located. Our destination was the Tokyo Tower but we'd made a bit of a navigational error so had to walk a fair distance to get to Tokyo's version of the Eiffel Tower. But it was worth the walk! The view was across the whole city was amazing and the sections of glass floor made us all a little queasy, except for Carys who isn't afraid if anything. At least, so it seems to the rest of us. She danced on the glass while we tiptoed.
Another walk to the next subway and then we headed
to Shibuya just as it started to get dark. This area was south of our hotel and us best known for its bright lights and its wildly busy pedestrian crossings. For you Americans, think Times Square and for you Brits, think Picadilly Circus. The lights were bright but the crossing was more impressive. We read that 1000 people cross every time the lights turn green and I can believe it. Shibuya may be busy but it's very orderly and very easy compared to crossing the road in Hanoi, Vietnam. That's the big league!
One of the unexpected things about Tokyo is how calm it seems. The roads are not especially busy. Car drivers rarely use their horns. And even the subway at rush hour isn't all that packed. We had read about "pushers" to cram passengers onto subway trains but never saw them. This was not what we expected and it certainly improved our opinion of this BIG city. People are very polite and everything is very orderly.
From Shibuya we headed back to our hotel arriving close to 8pm. We ate at the buffet in the hotel which was good food but priced like it was pure
gold. I love my wife more than I can tell you, but that love increased a little more when she told the kids to eat every flavor of ice cream so that we got our money's worth at the buffet! They reacted like any sensible kids would react and ate far too much ice cream. I'm writing this at 11pm and they have only just crashed for the night!
Our Asian adventure comes to an end tomorrow as we head to the airport at 11am. We arrive in Minnesota on Thursday afternoon.
At supper tonight we talked about highlights and funny memories. There have been so many that the conversation never really ended. A month traveling around Asia has been an incredible experience that I think we'll all remember for a lifetime. This will be the last blog post from the road but I intend to do one more after we get home to reflect on the trip.
Sayonara from Tokyo!
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jane perkins
non-member comment
Welcome home
What an amazing trip. Thanks for taking me along with you. I've enjoyed every day & have learned a lot about this wonderful part of the world. Looking forward to seeing you soon & hearing it all again