Arriving in Tokyo we were pretty tired and had an hour and a half journey to our hostel from the airport across the megalopolis that is Tokyo! Sitting on the train trekking across the city it was hard to comprehend the sheer size of the place and we lived in London! The city is HUGE! It just never seems to end. One other thing that was very noticeable was the music played at the stations when the train arrived. Think Disneyland/Alton Towers when rides start and finish! V v strange!
Finally arrivng at our station we thought we realised that Japanese Streets have no name! Turns out they name their disctricts and then give the streets a number within the district. We still didn't have the hang of it even after a week there! Japanese maps! Eventually we found the hostel and dumped our bags as it was too early to check-in so headed out in search of a cash machine!
Managed to cause a great stir in the bank when our cards didn't work and they wanted to give us advances on our credit card. Then had the really nice security guard personally escort out onto the street and point us in the direction of the post office which had a cash machine that accepted our cards. Then we had the challenge of trying to understand a Japanese menu for the first time!
Ended up walking up and down the same street 4 times in humidity I've never experienced before and shaky with tiredness and hunger before just heading into a place that looked o.k. and picking off a menu with a couple of pictures! This was to set the precedence for the rest of our time in Japan. NOWHERE has English menus and Japanese Lonely Planet phrasebooks are just crap!
Anyway, we eventually got some dumplings and noodle soup things and headed back to the hostel to check in to our capsule bunks! The capsule bunks were basically wooden bunk beds with doors and the hottest places in the world so the doors didn't really serve much purpose as they had to be left open all the time to let some air in from the air conditioning unit. It was something different!
First day we were there and our first day of a week of rain we went to Senso Ji. The biggest temple in Japan. Ivor had been expecting everyone in Japan to live in Pagodas so was very disappointed that homes and buildings looked very much the same as in the West. He was made up with Senso Ji and felt all Japanese people should be living in building like it. It was beautiful and had a pagoda!
Next day was Sunday and the day for the Harajuku girls. Teenagers who dress up like you expect all Japanese people to in crazy clothes and platform shoes and hang around on a bridge across the river. Went and took the obligatory photos with them and found a shop selling Care Bear and Popple merchandise. Transporting me back to my youth! Ivor was so annoyed he stayed outside!
Then we headed up to Roppongi Hills, a massive shopping centre where we ate Sushi and then searched out the Cavern Club! It was really expensive to get in so we just had a picture outside but it isn't a patch on the real thing! Then it was home to bed for another night in the capsule/sauna bunk. Up again in the morning to get out for our minimum hour journey anywhere!
Following day we went to Sega mega world. Basically a big arcade and we queued for over an hour to get on one ride which wasn't very good so we headed Shinjuku/Shibuya, I can't remember which but the big neon lit crossroads that's in Lost In Translation. There we found Love Hotel Hill which gave Ivor and Dave a lad from the hostel great amusement like teenage boys! I found it weird!
Then it was off to Beijing. Not before heading over to the sumo stadium which was shut but seeing plenty of sumo wrestlers catching the train in traditional dress as though it was normal! Ivor had really wanted to see a sumo match but unfortunately it wasn't the season. Maybe next time.
