Arriving in Tokyo

We had been led to believe that arriving in Tokyo was like being dropped into an enormous people-blender where bodies and cars would whizz past in a blur, but in fact it was quite a chilled affair. We caught the longer train from the airport in order to see a few sights and save a few bob. It was a lovely way to start, as the empty train slowly filled with locals from both Narita and the suburbs of Tokyo. By the time we arrived at Tokyo train station (I thought that name was a joke at first, and when I realised there really was an actual Tokyo station I imagined it to be an enormous commuter nightmare, but no…) the train was about half-full. We carried on through to Shinagawa, which was the nearest station to our guesthouse, where we disembarked and loaded up our backpacks. We were feeling wide-eyed and still very jet-lagged, a bit like two puppies waking up in bright sunlight, so we took our time and eventually made our way to the guesthouse; a thin building on a quiet lantern-lit street surrounded by small shops, local restaurants and temples dotted here and there.

The man who owns the guest-house is called Taka, and he gave us a very relaxed and friendly welcome. The guesthouse is a real Ryokan, so you take your shoes off before entering (borrowing leather slippers from a box for the time spent indoors) and you sleep on futon mats laid on traditional Japanese straw floors. This all sounds very cool, except that carrying large bags whilst wearing leather slippers made me stumble and slide about like a newborn deer.

From Shinagawa we were able to jump on the JR overland train to all major areas of the city. We bought a cheap day pass every day and visited as many wards as possible, making sure we spent time wandering through each one as this is apparently the best way to get a feel for Toyko.

One thing I noticed very early on is that Tokyo is absolutely MASSIVE. There’s no two ways about it: it’s very, very big. Each area has a different feel. The palace grounds, manicured parks and European-style cafes near Tokyo station were very relaxing, whereas stepping into the electric district of akihabara (streets filled with multi-level electrical shops and gaming arcades) is like being hit in the face by a cluster-bomb of neon lights and braying techno-bleeps. The fish market is hazardous, crowded and traditional (and smells very much of fish), whereas the skyscraper district is much less pedestrian, and leaves you feeling very small and insignificant as you wander beneath the enormous hotels and Government buildings.

Our favourite time so far was when we bumbled our way into the Grand Hyatt (featured in the film ‘Lost in translation’) and had a cocktail in the New York Bar on the 52^nd floor. I’m sure that our fellow patrons assumed we had been arguing because we just sat in silence, looking out over the breathtaking view. I tried to take a picture by resting the camera on my cocktail glass and very nearly ruined the whole evening by knocking it over, but fate was smiling down on me that night, and I managed to retain my composure and look as cool as a ginger man can look wearing glasses, a patchy month-old beard and clothes washed in a Las Vegas bathtub.

Here are a couple of vids from Tokyo! Claire will kill me for posting the second one. We're both very jet-lagged and tired from lots of yomping around - watch her eyes as I'm talking, she's falling alseep! Genius!