Tokyo

So after our horrible start, things were much better being out of airport and in the city. We stayed at the Shinjuku Washington Hotel, which was fairly close to the train station and in a good area. The rooms were quite small but had everything you needed, and there was a good view out the window of the government building and the snow-covered streets.

The first morning we went to garden nearby and everyone made snowballs and Sarah made a mini snowman. We got wet shoes so we went shopping to department store so Sarah and Mum could get snow shoes. The roof of the shopping centre had awesome views from the top.

At night we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building nearby, which has a free lookout at the top that gives you views of the city. We also went there in the daytime, and on a clear day you are meant to be able to see Mt. Fuji, although there was too much cloud when we were there. A cool thing about Tokyo is the underground world, it was possible to walk directly to the building from our hotel and to the train station just using the underpasses and never going above ground.

The following night we went to Shibuya, which is the “Times Square” of Tokyo. There was lots happening and it is more what we were expecting of Tokyo based on what you see on TV. We went to a restaurant called Tsukuda Farm. It was really good and had excellent service. We had some marinated raw chicken which tasted awesome (if slimy and chewy) and we didn’t get sick so was all good. One negative was that we got screwed on the bill as we were charged for soup and other entrees we didn’t order and that we thought must have been complimentary. It wasn’t the last time that we would get charged incorrectly (happened a few times during the trip) but the food was quite cheap over there anyway so we didn’t worry about it.

We went for a day trip into Tokyo to see the Imperial Palace, which was cool but unfortunately you couldn’t get too close and it was also crazy cold. Rachael wanted to see if we could see the ocean, so we walked to a park on the harbour. We had to pay entry to get in (all the other parks were free) but it was really cool. It would be a million times better in the spring as it appeared to have lots of flower fields and cherry blossoms, but everything was just covered in snow for us.

On the last day we walked to a park near our hotel called Meiji Jingu, which has a Shintu Temple in the middle. The park was beautiful and it’s great they have things like that in the middle of the city. We paid to go to the museum in the park but it wasn’t that great.

Rachael and I really enjoyed Tokyo and I would be keen to go back in Spring when all the flowers are out and it isn’t so cold.