Five weeks of practice was leading us to the grand finale – Tokyo!! It was crazy, bright, fast, delicious, and consuming – and we are already talking about return trips in future. From quiet Matsumoto it was an assault on the senses arriving in Shinjuku, apparently one of the busiest train stations on the planet. Once you are in the labrynth of train platforms, shops, pedestrian underpasses, and restaurants it is so disorienting, and taking the nearest exit in an attempt to reach the world above ground (eventually) often spits you out in a place nowhere near where you intended to be. It is quite literally organised chaos, and it is so much fun!
Di had a few days in town with us before heading home and we managed to collect some unique Tokyo experiences together – we watched a sumo tournament (very entertaining!); lined up for tickets to a kabuki performance in the grand Kabukiza Theatre in Ginza (quite amusing when you don’t know what they are saying!); and laughed our way through the very cultural experience of the Robot Restaurant in Shinjuku – an over priced and so-kooky-its-funny show with drums, dancing, laser lights and yes, robots! It’s definitely one for the tourists, and a mad ‘you can only do this in Tokyo’ experience.
Tokyo is a little like NYC with a collection of neighbourhoods spread out across the city, each with a different character. The metro/rail/subway systems are all intertwined and confronting at first, but once we got the knack of it, it’s relatively easy to get around and the multi day passes are excellent value. We had 5 nights in Tokyo and it was barely enough to scratch the surface – the eating opportunities are endless and we loved exploring the streets, both day and night.
So you can guess we ate allllll the food on offer, and hunted down bars and restaurants that had been recommended from friends, or that we had discovered in our own research. Shibuya, Harajuku, Ginza, Shinjuku, Akihabara were all on the tour; Andrew went go-karting (dressed in a sumo suit, of course) as an antidote to all the shops Diane and I dragged him through for 10 days; we had an Aussie brunch fix at Bills in Ginza, and another Aussie fix in the shape of Andrew’s cousin Matthew who lives in Tokyo. Eating out with a local was awesome, and its been such a long time between visits – it’s always special to meet up with family and friends in random places.
Despite the 20 million plus residents and also tourists that are swarming around parts of the city, we were often surprised to find ourselves in a laneway with no people, or come up for air out of a metro station that was peaceful and crowdless. And speaking of peaceful, the 2 nights in Mt Fuji/Hakone area were absolutely worth sacrificing some Tokyo time for. Using a 3 day travel pass for the area, we moved around on buses, trains, cable car and a ropeway, even a sail across the mountain lake, to explore this beautiful pocket of serenity just over an hour outside the Tokyo bubble.
We were thrilled to see Mt Fuji from the bus on the way in, a lucky win according to one of the locals on the bus. We actually saw the peak on each of the 3 days we were in the area, and enjoyed the slower pace and village-like feel of Hakone. Another win was our fluke dinner at the Gora Brewery & Grill in Hakone, which happens to be housed in an award winning architectural dwelling complete with zen garden, and a menu designed by Mr Nobu (of Nobu restaurants and hotels). It was a very nice surprise night out as we closed in on our last 24 hours.
Tokyo was a city full of surprises, as was the entire Japan experience. From Kagoshima down south all the way to Tokyo, we have loved the landscapes, the food, the calmness and order, but above all the people – you just can’t find a lovelier, more generous and polite group of humans. It will possibly go down as the least stressful travel experience we have had, due to the warm and gentle nature of the Japanese people.
No other destination we have travelled to has generated as much contributor input as Japan – no less than 10 different friends have provided us with recommendations, insights, guidance on transport and in some cases detailed trip notes to ensure we got to experience the country in the way they all did and cherished. A big thank you to all of you who shared your love of this beautiful country. I know I say this about every country, but it will be on our return list!
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