Sightseeing across Tokyo, and venturing further afield to Nikko

---

Day 3 Odaiba

Yesterday evening we set ourselves a plan for an epic bike ride across the city taking in many different attractions and things we wanted to see. Knowing it would be difficult we knew we had to get up early.

Leaving our hostel at 9am, we went to find the bike hire place marked on our maps. When we got there we were told they had ran out so instead they directed us to another place 15 minutes away. Same story again. No bikes. Looking across the city there were hundreds of bikes, either in use or parked up outside of apartments and shopping areas. We concluded that most locals must also hire these out too as it was insane how all the bikes were gone. We were instructed to come back another morning at around 5am!!!

Not letting this ruin our day, we set about to see what the island of Odaiba was all about. This was to be visited on our bike tour but as it may require a couple of hours we decided it would be best to visit it separately. Odaiba is a man-made island originally built in the 1850’s as a defensive site and expanded over the years to now a popular shopping area/amusement park. We purchased tickets to take what we thought was a water taxi from Asakusa which turned out to be a type of mini cruise boat costing us more than half of our daily budget. On arrival, Odaiba looked like a mini metropolis complete with a beach, a miniature statue of liberty and a 60ft robot statue from the anime series Gundam, we didn't really know where to start.

In the end we visited the ‘Mega Web’ complex; described as part showroom part amusement park with a museum containing pristine cars of yesteryear including the Back to the Future Delorean which Chris insisted on having a photo with. There is also an actual showroom where visitors can not only sit in cars but for a mere 300Yen can take one for a 20min test drive on a purpose built track around the building!!! Chris excitedly signed up for the following day to test drive the Prius G Sport but unfortunately due to time constraints we never actually made it. Next we went to the Joyopolis building (Sega Land), where we greeted with an arcade fans paradise; the sound of the latest arcade games blaring from machines met with the occasional scream from the passing indoor roller coaster! Watching many people engage in these interactive games rather than engage in them ourselves provided us with a lot of entertainment.

Feeling like we saw all we could see on Odaiba we agreed it was time to head back home. Not wanting to buy another one of those cruise tickets (only bought a one way there), we set off walking across the half mile rainbow bridge on a 6 mile journey north. Three slightly sweaty miles later we decided to throw in the towel and caught the metro. To our surprise it was only 200yen (£1.19) back to our hostel - No brainer really!!

Before the night ended we we stumbled upon a popular Japanese cuisine, Okonomiyaki. Oh what a treat this was, even for P. Described as a Japanese pizza, to us it was more like an omelette full of veg, shredded meat and shredded shrimp, mixed together with egg and then topped off with a delicious sweet sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed and bonito (dried fish) flakes . All prepared and cooked on a hot iron plate in front of you. Well that’s a bit of a lie, you are supposed to make it yourself but as we had no idea what the Japanese instructions were telling us to do, a staff member cooked it for us.



Day 4 Shinjuku, Shibuyu-crossing and hachiko

After our excursion yesterday, today we wanted to see more of Tokyo and so bought a city day metro pass for 600yen. We started early heading to the Government building in Nishi-Shinjuku (home to some of Japan's tallest sky scrapers) to get some city views from the observation deck on the 45^th floor. Because it was unusually hazy our views of Mount Fuji was completed restricted but nonetheless we enjoyed our time staring fixatedly over Tokyo’s breath-taking skyline. What was remarkable to see was that along with the soaring sky scrapers, Tokyo did not at all take for granted it’s green spaces that you could see were densely populated in small and huge pockets around the city. We were in awe.

Next on the agenda was ‘Electric Street’ – exactly what it is. Neon bright lights decorated the buildings while traders kept the streets busy. Nothing really took our fancy here so we kept on going towards the Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens. This park is separated into different gardens such as the Japanese, English, French and mother & child gardens. We particularly loved the Japanese gardens they were just soo serene and idyllic. The English gardens were completely bare fields, with really low cut yellow looking grass and trees on the outside, not to dissimilar to many back home. We spent a few hours here strolling around checking out the various landscapes and taking pictures. Our intention was to head to Yoyogi park (bigger and denser than Gyoen) for more of the same but as we seemed to find out being in Tokyo “There just isn’t enough time”.

It was getting dark and the parks were closing so before we hit home we decided to go check out the famous Shibuya crossing. The busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. Rather than just watch, we eagerly got involved, crossing the roads at all 5 different angles with way more excitement than the locals who may think this was a chore. It was incredible how many people descended on the streets in masses as soon as the road traffic lights turned red and the green man became illuminated. It took us a few attempts but think we managed to get a photo in the end. Jealous however, of some other tourists getting there photo's more easily, we seriously regretted not purchasing one of those ‘I’m a tourist selfie sticks’. The laugh was clearly on us. Before heading home we quickly checked out the tiny area called ‘Golden Gai’ within Shinjuku that contains around 200 small bars along 6 small alleyways most of which sit around 5/6 people maximum. The bars here charge a fee for entrance and some give you a small bowl of finger food if you’re lucky. We were a bit early as the area doesn't get going till around 9pm. Maybe another day.

Before we hit home we made a quick stop at the Hachiko Statue. This was a must as after watching 'Hachi: A dog's tale' with Richard Gere (2009). P wanted to visit Japan to see this statue alone. Nothing to do with Richard Gere but more to do with the dog which may surprise many people. Based on a true story about a dog's loyalty to his owner this story blew us away. The statue was a lovely reminder of this. Located just outside of Shibuya station and next to the famous crossing, this statue really pulled on P's heart strings. Home time and we feel asleep quite easily after such a busy day.

One observation to note is that we believe Japanese people, especially those who live in Tokyo must be some of the fittest set of residents. To get around the city they either ride their bikes or catch the metro. The metro is not as easy as you may be thinking as there are so many stairs you have to go up and down, and most stations like Ginza, Tokyo, Nimbashi, Shibuya and Shinjuku are all enormous. You can easily spend half an hour in them walking from one line to another, that is before walking down steps walking up another and doing this all again on the other side. No need for Gym here we're sure the metro stations are a good workout alone.



Day 5 Nikko

One thing we had done some research on was a place called Nikko, which is a world heritage unesco site, a train ride away from Tokyo. In the end we purchased the Tobu 2 day rail and bus pass bought from Asakusa skytree station costing 2670yen / around £16 per person although the entrance to most temples are not included on this pass. This area of Japan is higher up than Tokyo and a lot colder. We were surprised to be hit by the icy temperatures and to see the ground covered in snow and ice. Although it comes highly recommended as a day trip, for us being budget conscious backpackers we would not really recommend it. One of the most important temples ‘Rinnoji Temple’ was covered in scaffolding outside but as it came highly recommended we paid the 900yen / £5 each to enter this one and another one. What we did not expect to see was the whole temple inside demolished as they began to rebuild it. Are you kidding????. Nope the sign clearly says work its expected to finish in 2021. Feeing slightly robbed and disappointed we concluded that this temple was not worth the entrance fee. Instead you get a better idea of what the temple would have looked like from the image on the scaffolding on the outside.

The other temples we visited offered more enjoyment. They came with a complex of gates, memorial related buildings and temples. All lovely decorated and in a stunning lovely rural area. However alone, it's not worth the visit all the way here when similar sites can be found in central Tokyo. One thing that put us off to be honest was that due to possible erosion, most of the shrines and temples had been rebuilt in stone and painted red rather than being rebuilt in wood. In other words they looked plastic. This took a lot away from the authenticity of the place for us and made it more manufactured and cold. After we'd seen a few of the temples we were pretty frozen all over, so off we set back on our journey to Tokyo.

Hungry and tired we went on the search for ramen; a noodle dish served up with what is described as a tasty mix of vegetables and meat. Finding the hostel’s recommendation another vending machine operated restaurant, we ordered our ramen. Ordering the same dish, Chris was content but for P not so much. The flavour, something she came across often in these dishes she did not like, so not one to miss out on more food Chris ate P’s too.

---