マイク＆サム·ヘッド東！- A journey to Hong Kong & Japan - May 2014 - Day 14 - TOKYO

[soarinfan]

Day 14 - Sunday 18th May - Tokyo

As we woke up this morning with the sun beaming through the window (we had left the curtains open last night to gaze out at Tokyo as we fell asleep!) it dawned on us that today was our last day of the holiday. Although we would still technically be on holiday tomorrow, the entire day would consist of travelling home so hardly worth counting really! But still we had a fair bit to cram in to today. We didn't have any breakfast for a specific reason which you'll find out later in the post, so stay tuned for that!

We took some final looks from our amazing room view (where Mt Fuji had once again shown its face for a picture with the Tokyo Tower! ) before heading downstairs with our bags to check out. We wanted to explore Tokyo this morning, and thankfully the hotel has a left luggage area where you can leave your luggage with the concierge and come back and collect it later. Some hotels only allow it on check in, so to get it on check out too was a bonus - didn't want to lug those around the city all day!

We hopped on the Metro and headed towards Shinjuku. I had heard there was an amazing shrine located inside a local park there which I wanted to see, plus it is one of the biggest train stations in Japan so wanted to see just how busy this kind of place was. We had heard about Tokyo being heaving but it really wasn't! It was only about 20 minutes on the Oedo line so we thought why not. The infrastructure around here was amazing. We didn't really know where to go so picked a direction and started walking - thankfully it was the right way! (Secretly I had my Google Maps open - this Pocket Wifi thing was a god send!)

It was very idyllic and peaceful in the park itself. Lots of tortoises hanging around. There were a group of youths playing around on their BMX bikes which was cool to watch, as well as a small group of girls practicing some form of dance which again was cool to watch - you'd probably never see that in a park back home! Looked a bit like a silent disco!

We found the shrine tucked away in the north of the park and it was wonderful to watch. There was a small island (which Sam can be seen standing on!) where there were lots of tortoises swimming around in the water, next to the actual shrine itself. I must have sat for about half an hour watching people walk up to the shrine and do what they have to do - such an amazing cultural experience which you just can't really get anywhere else. It took about 45 minutes to walk there from Shinjuku but I highly recommend it if you go to Tokyo, especially if the weather was as nice as it is in the photos!

I had a little surprise in store for Sam for lunch. She had no idea I had worked out how to get there or that there even was one, and as its her favourite restaurant of all time, she was super happy. We were off to... !

The Hard Rock Cafe in Tokyo is situated in a place called Roppongi and if you blinked you would miss it. I had to have Google Maps open for the entirety to even find it - hidden down a small side street and ontop of a Tony Roma's of all places! It was by far the smallest Hard Rock Cafe I have ever visited, yet somehow it still managed to have an upstairs in it! There were some screens on the wall as well which showed supposed "live" footage of other Hard Rock Cafe's around the world...which was miraculous because New York seemed to be enduring the midnight sun...!

I had my usual - Chicken Fajitas with a side of Twisted Mac & Cheese! Where as Sam had her usual - Twisted Mac & Cheese (no spice!) . I got Sam a cocktail as well as she always like trying them out, and I stuck with a standard Pepsi Max (or equivalent!) as I was a bit dehydrated from the dry heat in Tokyo today and didn't think alcohol was a wonderful idea! We did opt for a dessert in the end and had an awesome milkshake each - divine! After the meal we went to the rock shop and I joined the Rewards club - why hadn't I joined this before? Of all the times I've been to the HRC. You basically get points and after a certain amount of time you get money off or are able to book priority seating (apart from London - naturally!)

Next up, our final stop in Tokyo but it was a cool experience - the infamous Shibuya crossing! You probably had no idea what this was called or where it was in Japan - but this is the thing you see in the movies and on TV. Its a crossing which goes diagonally across the road, as well as straight across on either side. And it is a miracle how it seems to just...work!

We watched it happen for a couple of times before deciding to throw ourselves in. There was no pushing, no shoving, no bumping. The man goes green and people begin to walk across - it might sound simple but when you see that wall of people flying towards you it can be a bit intimidating! However it was seamless! People just seemed to slide in-between everyone else without bumping into them and then that was that! If only it could be like that in every other country!

There were heaps of traditional touristy shops on the other side of the crossing as well as your usual McDonalds and also a pet store which was a bit surreal as they sold dogs (obviously not used to seeing dogs any more in UK pet shops!) We had a browse here for a little while before emerging back onto the street which connects to the Shibuya crossing where there seemed to be some form of parade going on down the street. It reminded me of a Japanese version of the Notting Hill carnival and seemed to be going on for a fair way down the street - lots of people wearing incredibly freaky masks! We had no idea what it was about but it seemed pretty fun and colourful!

When we reached the crossing again we realised our time in Tokyo had come to an end, and really we should begin the trek to our final hotel of the holiday, an airport hotel up by Narita Airport. Narita Airport is surprisingly far away from Tokyo in the district of Chima which is seemingly Japan's earthquake capital! Yikes! Anyway, we first had to grab our luggage so headed back on the train towards Shiodome and our hotel. Sam was pretty zonked from the heat and didn't feel wonderful so she had a little sleep on the metro on the way back if memory serves. Our bags were ready and waiting for us at reception once we arrived there, and then we made our way to Tokyo station to catch the Narita Express.

For those who have used it - very similar to the Heathrow Express which runs directly up towards Narita Airport. We needed to make sure we boarded the correct train because it seemed a bit confusing trying to work out where each individual train was going to, but when the Narita Express actually pulled up to the platform it was obvious it was ours. Narita Airport was the destination which sounded good enough to me!

The Narita Express was of course remarkably clean and surprisingly empty as well (but then I suppose it was a Sunday evening! I bet Monday morning it wouldn't have been as quiet!). There was also a fairly nifty luggage rack where you tied a cord to your bag and set a combination to it so no one can pinch your luggage when it stops at certain stations - why doesn't all trains have this feature?! Would certainly make travelling by train more comfortable (for me anyway! ) We soon arrived at Narita Airport, and upon disembarking from the train - we were asked for our passports by officials! It seemed they were checking passports of government issued ID for everyone actually entering the airport from the train - not quite sure why but we obliged of course before heading out to the arrivals areas to grab our transfer bus to our hotel - The Hilton Narita.

On arrival check in was very quick and simple as I had come to love in Japan. The concierge did offer to carry our cases up to our room for us but I politely declined saying it was ok! Didn't really want to inconvenience them! I was hoping (being the avgeek!) that we were going to get a room facing the airport so I could watch the arrivals but unfortunately this wasn't to be - though I did see a couple of aircraft coming in to land - but it was pretty much dark by this point so there wasn't much point in trying to watch out! The room was wonderful as you'd expect with the Hilton - but was a bit disappointing that the toilet didn't come with the traditional bidet/Japanese toilet thing! Just a normal western toilet! How disappointing. Never mind!

Sam proceeded to find this in the welcome book about Earthquakes and then got herself into a panic we were going to have a huge earthquake! There had actually be a 5.0 or similar in the Chiba region only a few days before hand (which we didn't feel in Tokyo surprisingly) but I said it would be fine - as the book clearly says its designed to survive them! I suggested that food would get her mind off of the potential (yet never happening) earthquake, so we headed down to the reception area to see what was on offer for dinner.

Now we saw what people said when they said to us before we went "cor Japan is expensive! " - we went to the hotels Chinese/Japanese cuisine restaurant which seemed incredibly posh on arrival (but also seemingly the only one open on arrival). Sam had some Ramen and I opted for the Beef in Black Bean with Rice - which came to something ridiculous like £30 with a drink - not even a starter or dessert! Welcome to airport hotel prices! It was nice, but I wasn't expecting to pay that when in that region of the world where the food originates from!

We had seen some cakes for sale on a small stand near reception when we went down for dinner, and planned on having some in the room for dessert but it wasn't to be as the stall was closed when we returned - shame! Never mind - this will do... !

A gorgeous gin and tonic to finish off the holiday with! Sam fell asleep pretty quickly when we got back to the room - whilst I watched a movie on the TV (Jurassic Park rings a bell!) whilst getting a bit sozzled on Gin (had to prepare for those earthquakes!) but soon I realised I really should go to bed - we had a huge day ahead of us tomorrow flying home to London which would literally see me pretty much flying for the entire day (literally!) so I soon put my head down and got some much needed sleep - alarm set for 5am!

Thanks for reading Day 14 everyone - comments welcome as always Day 15 for our Travel Day will be up within a couple of days! Thanks again!

[AntonyJ]

So... so ... SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO want to go!

Great report again.

Question - when you use the Jap super loo with the spraying water arm that pops out, do you just ... sit there and think of England while it washes / dries (does it do it all?) or do you have to get in there and ... "help" with the washing?

[Tharky99]

I've really enjoyed this trip, you've convinced me that I will have to go to Japan one day!

[soarinfan]

Originally Posted by AntonyJ

So... so ... SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO want to go!

Great report again.

Question - when you use the Jap super loo with the spraying water arm that pops out, do you just ... sit there and think of England while it washes / dries (does it do it all?) or do you have to get in there and ... "help" with the washing?

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Haha! Good question. Thankfully you just sit there and think of England! Its very advanced!

[Bobsledwheels]

That park & shrine looks lovely - will need to look this up

HRC will be on our list as well for sure. They have two in Tokyo now from recent searches - I think i'll have to hit up both in April!