マイク＆サム�ヘッド東！- A journey to Hong Kong & Japan - May 2014 - Day 13 - TOKYO

soarinfan · 7 Jun 15, 06:23 PM

Day 13 - Saturday 17th May - Tokyo

We both woke up with a sad look on our faces this morning - today we were leaving Tokyo Disney! And what made it worse was that our trip was slowly coming to a close. We only had 2 days left before the long trudge home, but the good thing is that it was going to be spent exploring Tokyo which is something we had both always wanted to do. Sam went into the bathroom first and I decided to go onto the balcony to watch some aircraft whilst waiting my turn, when suddenly...

Wow where did THAT come from!?!? I shouted for Sam to come quick before some divine intervention happened and it disappeared as I knew she wanted to see a clear shot of Mount Fuji on this trip - her jaw hit the floor!

It certainly was a sight to see, as we hadn't really been able to see it clearly at all from the bullet train earlier in the week. Wow!

Anyway, Sam finished up in the bathroom and I got my turn, and then I did the final downstairs trip to the bakery for some goodies. Before long we were all ready to check out, and we headed down the 12 floors or so in the lift to reception. Check out was remarkably smooth, and much smiling and bowing later we were out the front door. We decided not to take the useless shuttle bus to cross the road, and just walked to the monorail station with our suitcases instead. We had to purchase a one way fare on the monorail because our multi day pass had expired yesterday, but it was very cheap so not really an issue. Once back at Maihama station, we both bought a PASMO card (which is similar to the Oyster card here in the UK) and loaded it up with a bunch of Yen, and proceeded to the tracks for our train back towards Tokyo. We only had 2 trains to catch so it was fairly simple, and within about 30 minutes we were at Shiodome Station which is where our hotel in Tokyo was located. I had read that there was an entrance direct from the station into the hotel (located on the 30th floor of a skyscraper), and sure enough a corridor led from the station to a lift. We were on floor B2, and there was only one option on the lift - floor 30. We stepped into the dark lift and it started to rise fairly quickly, soon light engulfed our now seemingly glass lift as we rose up 32 floors! WOW! What a sight. It just seemed to keep going and going!

Our room wasn't ready until a bit later, so we dropped off our luggage and decided to head out into Tokyo. I had made plans to see several places that afternoon, so Sam really was following my lead on this one! My first stop which I wanted to see was the world famous Tsukiji Market.

The Tsukiji Market was the place where it all happens for the main trade of fish in Tokyo. Restaurants, shops, hotels and businesses as well as everyday folk all come here to buy and sell their catch of the day - everything is super fresh and as I'm sure you know, if Japan is famous for one thing it is sushi! (Other than electronics of course!) So it is a pretty big deal. Unfortunately as with most markets, the majority of the hustle and bustle occurs from very early in the morning until just past lunch time - and as we were arriving just past lunch time we had missed the main swarm and the market was winding down for the day. However, it was still all happening on the secondary market, where people were not only queuing to get into restaurants and eateries, but also busy buying up freshly made sushi. Unfortunately it did have a bit of a fishy smell to the place which turned Sam green, so she quickly vacated to a nearby supermarket to buy some lunch, whilst I dived straight in and bought a pack of sushi for what was essentially about 40p - about �4 cheaper than in the shops here! And the fish was freshly caught and prepared that very day to boot!

Tokyo being Tokyo there was naturally no where to sit unless you were going to queue to go into one of the restaurants, so I met up with Sam back over by the supermarket where she had bought what I presume was some form of sandwich (looked more like some form of pasty!) and she had found somewhere to sit, where again, Tokyo being Tokyo was remarkably clean - next to a litter bin!

The next stop was Akihabara. Akihabara is Tokyo's central hub for Technology. You've seen all the neon signs in the movies (which are pretty much everywhere anyway!) and the shops where there is signage literally EVERYWHERE - well this is here! Inside this shop was a huge department store (think Macy's size if you've been) which contains everything electronic, from cameras to toothbrushes! After a good browse around here we were both after a cool down, so headed across the road to McDonalds where I was hunting down a milkshake and Sam wanted an ice cream.

As you walk around the electronics district which is huge, there are countless shops for electronics and computer games, as well as huge collectors items for the big collectors such as models and other random paraphernalia! There are also big arcades in this area, including what is essentially a Sega World where you can play all the old Sega arcade games! Most of these places have women dressed in school girl outfits to try and tempt you in (seemingly a big thing in Japan) - again lots of smiles and waving!

Super Potato! We spent AGES trying to find this place. I had read about it in my guide book a few months before. It is basically a shop which sells (and lets you play) console games from all across the ages. It is something I have never seen before - it was amazing! Old Mega Drive games, Nintendo, SNES, Nintendo 64 - even Pong! You name it it was for sale here. If only the games had been in English and what not I probably would have gone mental buying stuff here. Just wish there was a similar shop over here in the UK without having to pay triple the original price for everything! Certainly worth the search party for!

I had planned to see the Tokyo SkyTree which is basically a huge observation tower, but it was pretty expensive to go up there so we decided not to bother - we had a perfectly good enough view from the reception area of our hotel - so I imagined our room would give just as good if not a better view, and it wasn't to disappoint! We headed back to the hotel to check in and were greeted with this awesome room!

What a VIEW! We had an amazing view (unfortunately Mt Fuji was slowly disappearing with the setting sun) of the Tokyo Tower (very similar design to that of the Eiffel Tower - actually a communications tower, painted international orange due to air traffic safety regulations). Our window had a huge ledge where we could sit and look out the window (which we must have done for a good hours whilst settling into the room for our 1 night stay. We were pretty glad we didn't pay for the Sky Tree now considering we had this kind of view.

This seemingly was on the tele at the time - we decided to stick it on as you can't go to Japan and not see some Sumo Wrestling - and we certainly weren't going to fork out the crazy prices they were charging for tickets for a match!

We loved watching the bullet trains zoom past the rail way line which was directly beneath the hotel - I honestly didn't realise that there were that many Shinkansen - literally one every 4-5 minutes we saw! Anyway, the night was moving on, and we decided we were pretty hungry for dinner as it was approaching 7pm, and we wanted to get back to watch the sunset from our room as we thought that would be pretty romantic and make for some nice photos, so we headed out into town.

Sam unfortunately was getting a bit sick of Japanese food (namely rice!) by this point, and she really just wanted "typical English food" (spoil sport!) now, so we found an British restaurant of all things in Tokyo and I said I'd be happy to eat there. It was a bit of a mish mash of foods to be honest. Sam ordered the fish & chips (which ended up being fish fingers!) and I ordered some form of chicken and chips, with a side of what they said was Macaroni Cheese - as you can clearly see, it's not macaroni!

But naturally the most important part was there - the gin and tonic.

We didn't fancy anything on the dessert menu, so headed off into the very closed shopping centre in search of Ice Cream. There was an Ice Cream Parlour/Milkshake bar which we searched for for ages but just couldn't find, so ended up getting something out of the freezer in the local 7 Eleven! We headed back to the hotel where we were greeted with an amazing sight out the window, and where we literally spent the next 4 hours of our evening sitting and enjoying the view together. The sun was truly setting on our holiday unfortunately as it was coming to a close, but what a way to start seeing it out! I'll leave you with some pictures of our view that evening

Thanks for reading Day 13 folks - tomorrow sees our final full day of the holiday as we spend one final morning and afternoon in Tokyo enjoying the sights and delights, until we head off to Narita to come home

but stay tuned! Coming in just a few days!

**AntonyJ** · 7 Jun 15, 06:55 PM

Loved these reports, so many thanks - I want to go!

kevin_cambs_uk · 7 Jun 15, 10:39 PM

Fantastic!

Bloody brilliant

Many thanks!

adsy83 · 7 Jun 15, 10:53 PM

Hope you dont mind me asking.. But roughly how much would it cost for a trip similar to this one? Would love to do this

Steve.S · 7 Jun 15, 11:09 PM

wow what a brilliant trip,would love to do this kind of holiday,been lucky enough to have lived in Hong Kong for a year,and would love to visit it again,will have to wait till the kids leave the nest though

soarinfan · 8 Jun 15, 04:58 AM

Originally Posted by adsy83

Hope you dont mind me asking.. But roughly how much would it cost for a trip similar to this one? Would love to do this

Based on 2 sharing inc flights and everything we did including spending money, I think it came to around �2300-�2500. Flights were cheap but coming home we had to connect via Hong Kong again which you'll see in a couple of TR's time - which I really won't be looking at doing again as it just adds so much time onto the already hideously long journey - but it does make it much cheaper!

lovedisney89 · 9 Jun 15, 12:31 PM

Great report! Fab view and photos from your balcony

Bobsledwheels · 16 Jan 16, 12:10 AM

Another fab day - my husband is going to be very excited about Super Potato!

Your hotel looks great - what was it called if you don't mind me asking?

kevin_cambs_uk · 26 Feb 16, 03:45 PM

Can I ask what is the name of the hotel you styed in , in Tokyo please? Thanks!

Guest · 26 Feb 16, 04:45 PM

Brilliant. We just love Tokyo and Japan and will be back there in 2017.

7 Jun 15, 06:23 PM	#1
	7 Jun 15, 06:23 PM soarinfan Relaxing at the Grand Floridian
soarinfan Relaxing at the Grand Floridian Join Date: Aug 12 theDIBB Guidebook Guidebook Photos: 1	マイク＆サム�ヘッド東！- A journey to Hong Kong & Japan - May 2014 - Day 13 - TOKYO Day 13 - Saturday 17th May - Tokyo We both woke up with a sad look on our faces this morning - today we were leaving Tokyo Disney! And what made it worse was that our trip was slowly coming to a close. We only had 2 days left before the long trudge home, but the good thing is that it was going to be spent exploring Tokyo which is something we had both always wanted to do. Sam went into the bathroom first and I decided to go onto the balcony to watch some aircraft whilst waiting my turn, when suddenly... Wow where did THAT come from!?!? I shouted for Sam to come quick before some divine intervention happened and it disappeared as I knew she wanted to see a clear shot of Mount Fuji on this trip - her jaw hit the floor! It certainly was a sight to see, as we hadn't really been able to see it clearly at all from the bullet train earlier in the week. Wow! Anyway, Sam finished up in the bathroom and I got my turn, and then I did the final downstairs trip to the bakery for some goodies. Before long we were all ready to check out, and we headed down the 12 floors or so in the lift to reception. Check out was remarkably smooth, and much smiling and bowing later we were out the front door. We decided not to take the useless shuttle bus to cross the road, and just walked to the monorail station with our suitcases instead. We had to purchase a one way fare on the monorail because our multi day pass had expired yesterday, but it was very cheap so not really an issue. Once back at Maihama station, we both bought a PASMO card (which is similar to the Oyster card here in the UK) and loaded it up with a bunch of Yen, and proceeded to the tracks for our train back towards Tokyo. We only had 2 trains to catch so it was fairly simple, and within about 30 minutes we were at Shiodome Station which is where our hotel in Tokyo was located. I had read that there was an entrance direct from the station into the hotel (located on the 30th floor of a skyscraper), and sure enough a corridor led from the station to a lift. We were on floor B2, and there was only one option on the lift - floor 30. We stepped into the dark lift and it started to rise fairly quickly, soon light engulfed our now seemingly glass lift as we rose up 32 floors! WOW! What a sight. It just seemed to keep going and going! Our room wasn't ready until a bit later, so we dropped off our luggage and decided to head out into Tokyo. I had made plans to see several places that afternoon, so Sam really was following my lead on this one! My first stop which I wanted to see was the world famous Tsukiji Market. The Tsukiji Market was the place where it all happens for the main trade of fish in Tokyo. Restaurants, shops, hotels and businesses as well as everyday folk all come here to buy and sell their catch of the day - everything is super fresh and as I'm sure you know, if Japan is famous for one thing it is sushi! (Other than electronics of course!) So it is a pretty big deal. Unfortunately as with most markets, the majority of the hustle and bustle occurs from very early in the morning until just past lunch time - and as we were arriving just past lunch time we had missed the main swarm and the market was winding down for the day. However, it was still all happening on the secondary market, where people were not only queuing to get into restaurants and eateries, but also busy buying up freshly made sushi. Unfortunately it did have a bit of a fishy smell to the place which turned Sam green, so she quickly vacated to a nearby supermarket to buy some lunch, whilst I dived straight in and bought a pack of sushi for what was essentially about 40p - about �4 cheaper than in the shops here! And the fish was freshly caught and prepared that very day to boot! Tokyo being Tokyo there was naturally no where to sit unless you were going to queue to go into one of the restaurants, so I met up with Sam back over by the supermarket where she had bought what I presume was some form of sandwich (looked more like some form of pasty!) and she had found somewhere to sit, where again, Tokyo being Tokyo was remarkably clean - next to a litter bin! The next stop was Akihabara. Akihabara is Tokyo's central hub for Technology. You've seen all the neon signs in the movies (which are pretty much everywhere anyway!) and the shops where there is signage literally EVERYWHERE - well this is here! Inside this shop was a huge department store (think Macy's size if you've been) which contains everything electronic, from cameras to toothbrushes! After a good browse around here we were both after a cool down, so headed across the road to McDonalds where I was hunting down a milkshake and Sam wanted an ice cream. As you walk around the electronics district which is huge, there are countless shops for electronics and computer games, as well as huge collectors items for the big collectors such as models and other random paraphernalia! There are also big arcades in this area, including what is essentially a Sega World where you can play all the old Sega arcade games! Most of these places have women dressed in school girl outfits to try and tempt you in (seemingly a big thing in Japan) - again lots of smiles and waving! Super Potato! We spent AGES trying to find this place. I had read about it in my guide book a few months before. It is basically a shop which sells (and lets you play) console games from all across the ages. It is something I have never seen before - it was amazing! Old Mega Drive games, Nintendo, SNES, Nintendo 64 - even Pong! You name it it was for sale here. If only the games had been in English and what not I probably would have gone mental buying stuff here. Just wish there was a similar shop over here in the UK without having to pay triple the original price for everything! Certainly worth the search party for! I had planned to see the Tokyo SkyTree which is basically a huge observation tower, but it was pretty expensive to go up there so we decided not to bother - we had a perfectly good enough view from the reception area of our hotel - so I imagined our room would give just as good if not a better view, and it wasn't to disappoint! We headed back to the hotel to check in and were greeted with this awesome room! What a VIEW! We had an amazing view (unfortunately Mt Fuji was slowly disappearing with the setting sun) of the Tokyo Tower (very similar design to that of the Eiffel Tower - actually a communications tower, painted international orange due to air traffic safety regulations). Our window had a huge ledge where we could sit and look out the window (which we must have done for a good hours whilst settling into the room for our 1 night stay. We were pretty glad we didn't pay for the Sky Tree now considering we had this kind of view. This seemingly was on the tele at the time - we decided to stick it on as you can't go to Japan and not see some Sumo Wrestling - and we certainly weren't going to fork out the crazy prices they were charging for tickets for a match! We loved watching the bullet trains zoom past the rail way line which was directly beneath the hotel - I honestly didn't realise that there were that many Shinkansen - literally one every 4-5 minutes we saw! Anyway, the night was moving on, and we decided we were pretty hungry for dinner as it was approaching 7pm, and we wanted to get back to watch the sunset from our room as we thought that would be pretty romantic and make for some nice photos, so we headed out into town. Sam unfortunately was getting a bit sick of Japanese food (namely rice!) by this point, and she really just wanted "typical English food" (spoil sport!) now, so we found an British restaurant of all things in Tokyo and I said I'd be happy to eat there. It was a bit of a mish mash of foods to be honest. Sam ordered the fish & chips (which ended up being fish fingers!) and I ordered some form of chicken and chips, with a side of what they said was Macaroni Cheese - as you can clearly see, it's not macaroni! But naturally the most important part was there - the gin and tonic. We didn't fancy anything on the dessert menu, so headed off into the very closed shopping centre in search of Ice Cream. There was an Ice Cream Parlour/Milkshake bar which we searched for for ages but just couldn't find, so ended up getting something out of the freezer in the local 7 Eleven! We headed back to the hotel where we were greeted with an amazing sight out the window, and where we literally spent the next 4 hours of our evening sitting and enjoying the view together. The sun was truly setting on our holiday unfortunately as it was coming to a close, but what a way to start seeing it out! I'll leave you with some pictures of our view that evening Thanks for reading Day 13 folks - tomorrow sees our final full day of the holiday as we spend one final morning and afternoon in Tokyo enjoying the sights and delights, until we head off to Narita to come home but stay tuned! Coming in just a few days! __________________ Mike DIBB Trip Reports: COMPLETE: Mike & Sam Go East - Hong Kong & Japan (inc Disneyland's & Universal) May 2014 COMPLETE: Mike & Sam Go West - Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Fran (inc Disneyland & Universal) June 2015 COMPLETE: Mike & Sam's DLP Summer Adventure Aug 2015 CURRENT: Mike & Lauren's Orlando Halloween Spooktacular! Oct 2015

7 Jun 15, 10:39 PM	#3
	7 Jun 15, 10:39 PM kevin_cambs_uk Imagineer
kevin_cambs_uk Imagineer Join Date: Oct 12	Fantastic! Bloody brilliant Many thanks! __________________ 1997 - Ho Jo Maingate West. 1998 - Orange Lakes 2000 - Ho Jo Maingate West. 2002 - Ho Jo Maingate West. 2003 - Caribbean Beach. 2004 - Forgot where we stayed. 2008 - Pop Century. 2012 - Disneyland Paris for the day. 2015 - Contemporary Resort - 7 days, POFQ - 3 days. 2016 Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea. 2018 Contemporary and Wilderness Lodge

7 Jun 15, 10:53 PM	#4
	7 Jun 15, 10:53 PM adsy83 Excited about Disney
adsy83 Excited about Disney Join Date: Jun 12	Hope you dont mind me asking.. But roughly how much would it cost for a trip similar to this one? Would love to do this

26 Feb 16, 03:45 PM	#9
	26 Feb 16, 03:45 PM kevin_cambs_uk Imagineer
kevin_cambs_uk Imagineer Join Date: Oct 12	Can I ask what is the name of the hotel you styed in , in Tokyo please? Thanks! __________________ 1997 - Ho Jo Maingate West. 1998 - Orange Lakes 2000 - Ho Jo Maingate West. 2002 - Ho Jo Maingate West. 2003 - Caribbean Beach. 2004 - Forgot where we stayed. 2008 - Pop Century. 2012 - Disneyland Paris for the day. 2015 - Contemporary Resort - 7 days, POFQ - 3 days. 2016 Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea. 2018 Contemporary and Wilderness Lodge

26 Feb 16, 04:45 PM	#10
	26 Feb 16, 04:45 PM Guest Guest
Guest Guest	Brilliant. We just love Tokyo and Japan and will be back there in 2017.

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