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Published: October 12th 2006
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Tokyo
Tokyo (or perhaps I should say a part of Tokyo) seen from the Tokyo tower. I'm in the Japanese capital now and so far I like it very much.
Everything is really clean and tidy, the people are genuinely friendly and helpful, and the service is pretty good almost everywhere (and you don't need to tip people to get good service, tipping is not even customary in Japan).
Some things are a bit strange though to me as a westener, like most streets don't have any names so it can get tricky to find your way around from time to time.
The food is of course also a bit different from what I am used to. I decided to have lunch in a Japanese restaurant today (I'm not going to eat western food when in Japan) so I entered a restaurant and pointed at a picture in the menu, most of the menus have pictures which is helpful when there is no English translation.
But when the food finally arrived I realised I had no idea what I was eating and I had no idea how to eat it. There was some kind of bun for example, and I had the choice to eat it with either chosticks, a soup spoon, or with my hands.
Tokyo
The Ginza district in central Tokyo. Fortunately the waitress noticed I was confused and told me "hands" when she passed. I guess they had a good laugh after I had left 😊 I managed pretty well with chopsticks though.
Tokyo is a pretty cool city, but of course it has the problems of any large metropolitan city with too much people, too much traffic, too much pollution, crowded trains during rushhour, tired commuters, and so on...
This weekend I will continue to Kyoto in southern Japan where I think I will see a bit more of the traditional Japanese culture.
In Tokyo I have so far visited some of the different districts in the city such as the fashionable Ginza where many of the department stores are located, the Ueno district where the nice Ueno Park is located, Shibuya which is one of the entertainment districts of Tokyo and very popular among young people, and Shinjuku which is another entertainment and shopping district.
This morning I also visited the Tokyo Tower where you have a very good view of the city, and you get to see how massive the city actually is, 12 million inhabitants!!!
Fortunately the weather was perfect, not a cloud
Tokyo
One of those massive crossings in Ginza. to be seen, so excellent views.
I then visited the gardens next to the Imperial Palace, very nice but unfortunately you cannot visit the palace where the emperor lives, you hardly even see it from the garden.
Tomorrow I am planning to make a visit to Yokohama around one hour by train from Tokyo. I have purchased a Japan Rail Pass which gives unlimited travel on all trains in Japan (even the highspeed trains Shinkansen) during seven days.
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Tracy
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Excellent Trip Blogs
Hi there, I'm really enjoy reading your trip blog. Also, your photos are fantasic. Hope you are having a wonderful world-wide vacation! Take care, Tracy (from Toronto)