Tokyo: Round 2

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Golden Week in Japan is a lovely time at the beginning of May were there are a cluster of national holidays which give people a few days break (and sometimes even a whole week) from school or work. I spent my golden week in Tokyo since a friend I met travelling was visiting Japan.



Despite visiting Tokyo for the weekend for my 21st, I felt that I hadn't spent long enough there to truly get a feel for it. I had not experienced the proper nightlife of Tokyo and I hadn't been to many of the big attractions. So this time, I made sure that I saw as much of Tokyo as I could and I really loved it! However saying that, I don't think I could live there. We spent so much time walking around trying to find where we were going or trying to find somewhere to eat and everywhere is SO busy. Tokyo is the biggest metropolis city in the world and you really feel it when you're there. Getting around takes so long. One example from was when we were trying to find Yoyogi Park as there was a Mexican festival on there. We thought 'Yoyogi park will be near Yoyogi station' - WRONG! We walked for a good hour or more, all the way through Meiji Shrine before realising that it was actually right next to Harajuku station, even though the map made it look closer to Yoyogi.

Despite the common thinking that Tokyo is super expensive, in actual fact it is no more expensive than London and if done right, it can be much cheaper. For instance, we stayed in an AirBnB whilst there which saved us ALOT of money on accommodation (we paid £16 each a night).



The highlights for me were watching the sunset over the city from Odaiba, going all the way up to the 54th floor of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower and my nights out in Shibuya and Shinjuku.



After falling in love with Odaiba the last time we were in Tokyo, we just had to go back. We decided to visit the artificial island just in time to watch the sunset over the rest of Tokyo. We sat on the beach and watched as the sky turned a burning orange colour turning the sky-high buildings and rainbow bridge into silhouettes. As we were sat by the water, we kept seeing fish jumping out of the water! It was hilarious, they were just flopping about. I still don't know why they were doing it but it provided some great entertainment.

There are a number of towers in Tokyo which offer panoramic views of the city. However we had been advised that the most famous; the sky tree and Tokyo Tower, were not actually the best. Instead, we went to Roppongi to go up the Mori Tower. Roppongi is an affluent area of Tokyo and this is obvious as soon as you get there. However, it is also (apparently) a very dangerous area, especially at night due to the presence of Yakuza (Japanese gangsters) which have reportedly been responsible for the robbing of people, especially tourists, after having been brought to a club by a tout. Nevertheless, in the day it is a lovely place with lots of modern tall buildings. It is not cheap to go up any of the towers in Tokyo unfortunately. A ticket to go up the Mori Tower and the sky garden (you also get free entrance to an art museum) is around 1500 yen (about £8-9) but we got a little discount as we had our university student cards with us. Its rare for places in Japan to offer student discount to anyone over high school age so we very pleased.

The view from the top was amazing. You could see Tokyo Tower, the bay and streets of neatly lined sky scrappers. In typical Japanese style, they were so concerned about the wind on the sky deck that you had to put any lose belongings in a sealed plastic bag. We even had to take our sunglasses off our heads! It was pretty funny, especially as when we got up there there was practically no wind given that it was really sunny day.

Another tourist spot we visited was Asakusa Shrine, one of the most famous shinto shrines in Tokyo. It is characterised by its huge lantern and overall it is a really pretty shrine despite the fact it was swarmed with tourists (it is one of the most famous shrines after all). The streets running up to the shrine are filled with omiyage (souvenir) shops. I love looking in the shops around tourist destinations. Japanese souvenirs are great; from key rings to hello kitty socks themed to that attraction to samurai swords!

We couldn't leave Tokyo without a visit to the famous Akihabara. Basically, any stereotype you had of Japan can be seen here. It is anime and sex-shop central which made for a very amusing few hours. Akihabara fulfilled the expectations I had before coming to Japan. Of course, I've now learned that there is no much more to Japan but it was great to see this side of it in full swing.

Our first night out in Tokyo was in Shinjuku. Shinjuku is a brightly lit, bustling part of the city that never seems to sleep. It offers all sorts of nightlife; from hostess clubs to izakayas (Japanese pubs) to gay bars. Our original aim was to make our way to Golden Gai - a famous street of very tiny bars that only seat 4-5 people. However, when crossing the road outside the train station, we were approached by some Japanese guys who wanted to know where we were from and what we were doing etc. They were very surprised when I introduced myself in Japanese and quickly asked if we'd like to join them at an izakaya for an all you can drink session. We hesitated for a moment before deciding that actually it could be really fun to experience a night with some locals. So we sat and out drank them for two hours whist communicating in broken English and Japanese. Somehow it worked and it was actually really fun. Nevertheless, when it as time to leave and the bill came we were asked if we wanted to go back to theirs! At this point we decided that the fun would end there and politely declined. It was kind of funny though as they were going to pay for us if we had said we would go back but as we said no they demanded the money from us. I was fine with that though, we definitely made the right decision. After this we decided to head home as it was quite late and we were tired from sightseeing all day. Although we didn't make it to Golden Gai, the atmosphere of the izakaya and Shinjuku as a whole was buzzing enough to make for a great night out.

We chose to spend out second night out in Shibuya. Shibuya is one of my favourite parts of Tokyo as there is so much going on day and night. It is of course famous for Shibuya Crossing but also for its Love Hotel district and the night life. The clubs there are famous for electric dance music and are known to be a little crazy. We started our night in an international bar that was offering beer for 300 yen. The atmosphere in there was great, people kept coming up and speaking to us. After a few hours in there we decided to go and find somewhere else. We ended up in the smallest bar I have ever been in! Whilst it was two floors tall, the width of building was so narrow that I could touch the walls if I put my arms out! The building was brightly coloured and tall but so skinny, it looked like a dolls house or something! After a shot there (we didn't want to stay too long) we walked around a bit again and found a street of clubs. We were being handed loads of flyers for them and we almost decided to go into one before realising that actually, maybe we weren't drunk enough. So we headed off to find an an all-you-can-drink izakaya.

Since I was the only one of our group that could speak any Japanese, the negotiations and ordering was left down to me. At the izakaya we picked it was pretty obvious they didn't want us in there... I understood everything he was saying except for one part and when I asked him to repeat (multiple times) he kept saying it over and over again in fast Japanese when quite clearly I didn't understand him! However, when my friend then asked him directly in English, he replied in perfect English!! Anyway, we stayed in there for 2 hours drinking literally as much as we could and also eating a few snacks that we had to order with out drinks. The nicest, but weird, thing we had was dry spaghetti sticks that were coated in chicken flavouring! Unfortunately my memory after the izakaya is completely black though I am told we went to a karaoke bar and carried on drinking before getting the first train home.

Overall, my experience of nightlife in Tokyo is a good one. It is absolutely thriving and there is definitely something for everyone. Its a shame I never made it to one of the big clubs but actually, I don't feel like I missed out on too much since they tend to play EDM music which I am not a huge fan of and the nights I had in bars and izakayas were so much fun.

Since the first flight back to Fukuoka was much cheaper we had booked that. Nevertheless, we did not realise the issues we would have in getting ourselves to the airport! We found that there was an airport bus from Tokyo station at 4am so we could get this but it meant getting all the way across Tokyo from Shinjuku where we were staying by taxi which ended up being pretty expensive. When we finally got to the bus stop it turned out the bus was full, something we had not anticipated! We were told that another bus would be there in 30 minute but this would make it very tight for us to be there in time for our flight! In the end we pulled up at the airport 13 (!!!!) minutes before our boarding time. Luckily we had checked in online and didn't have any baggage so ran through the airport straight to security. With true Japanese efficiency, we were through in a matter of minutes and made it to our gate just in time. Times like this I love Japan and its efficient but laid back approach to transport.

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