We'd wanted to visit Tokyo/Japan for many years but had never really managed to find an appropriate opportunity to visit. Fortunately we had arranged to travel through Tokyo on the way back to Britain from Melbourne.
After a reasonably long flight on a largely empty Qantas flight, we arrived in Tokyo at around 7 in the evening and after a longish train trip to Shinjuku (Tokyo) from Narita Airport, we eventually managed to find our way to our hotel, which was compact but generally fine....and notably, the hotel and many other things were not anywhere near as expensive as people believe Tokyo to be.
In fact, in our experience, the prices were on a par with Australia with the exception of sushi and fresh fruit and vegetables. Get this...a watermelon and rockmelon for $60AUD!!! A punnet of grapes for over a hundred Aussie Battlers....SHEESH! Tomatoes for around $3AUD each....OUCH! Overall though, not that expensive really, in our opinion.....
So, Tokyo...what an interesting place.
Essentially Tokyo is a collection of smaller cities grouped together in one massive conglomerate city...all linked by a great underground rail line - subway/metro. It's pretty easy to get around as some ticket machines have an English language option and all the stations are numbered and written in English, which made it very easy really.
We were staying near Shinjuku, which had loads of neon lights and shopping centres, not to mention loads of people.
Initially we acquainted ourselves on the first day by visiting Tokyo centre and wandering around the city centre as well as visiting Asakusa region to see the Senso-Ji temple. Tokyo has several temples which seem very old and spectacular.
On our second day in Tokyo we awoke early and trekked out to the Tsukiji Market which is a massive seafood and vegetable market. Some of the tuna are absolutely massive, but not only that, the market is predictably frenetic and it seems that you can see almost any type of fish that is fished in the ocean - thankfully no whales or dolphins as far as we could see.
It rained pretty constantly on the second day which did limit our options, so we had another wander around the shops in Tokyo centre and one of the best points was that they closed the main street where the shops are on the weekend, meaning that people could walk freely along the street instead of crowding onto the footpaths - a great idea and something that other cities could learn from.
In the evening we visited one of the most famous intersections of the world - Shibuya. This amazing intersection is so busy and there are cars and people walking everywhere. This is shown on music videos including Oasis - Acquiesce.
Our final day on this trip to Tokyo was a stunning blue sky day and we ventured out to Harajuku to initially have a gawk at the Harajuku girls who dress in all types of weird and wonderful outfits....as it turned out there were none there in the morning and just a few in the afternoon. In the meantime, we took the opportunity to walk to the Meiji-Jingu Shinto shrine, a short distance away.
The shrine is set in beautiful parkland and it's absolutely superb. Unexpectedly and a highlight, we saw several couples being married in the grounds of the shrine. The costumes the ladies especially and the gents also wear are simply stunning.
We stood and watched (the Japanese love cameras and taking photos, so we were never a hindrance - besides we stand away from the main action as we respect others) and one bride's initial costume was a superb red kimono which was followed by a beautiful white dress.
Photos were taken by one and all as well as the professional photographers after several minutes painstaking work in getting the dress looking just so. Our perception of the Japanese people is that they are very respectful and also very patient and this showed as the groom stood silently by, awaiting his turn in front of the cameras.
Later, we saw a wedding procession, led by one of the spiritual leaders (we believe) as they walked through the main square of the shrine and onwards to a more private section.
A wonderful experience and as mentioned, completely unexpected.
Tokyo is a brilliant city and we will definitely return for a few days with the idea to tour the country in greater detail.
