Japan Trip - Part 2: Leaving Tokyo

Shibuyu - the busiest crossing in Tokyo, and possibly the world!

Plenty of room!

With space to spare!

So the journey in Tokyo continues - up until this point, I'd had my friend Oli taking me round the city, showing me all the cool places in town. The first day in the city, I'd met up with him at the busiest train station in the world, Shinjuku. I don't know how I managed it - this place was my first experience of Tokyo, and it blew my mind! People everywhere! The meeting place was the West Gate of the station, but there were about 5 of those, a big bus stop, as well as a JR train line AND a Metro... don't ask me what the difference is! The first thing I noticed was a big group of people standing together all smoking - strange sight at first, but then I realised that you can't smoke on the street, and there were designated spots in the city. Strange as I later found out that you can smoke in bars!

Zojoji Temple in Tokyo.

Beep beep!

Smoke break at the fish markets.

Heading off on my own as he went to work, I was full of hope of not getting lost and getting pushed onto a train in peak hour! Sadly, I didn't get pushed onto the metro by the guard with his little white gloves, and I also go lost several times. I'm sure you've seen it on Youtube, people cramming and being pushed into the train during peak hour - there was plenty of sardine action, but no pushing. Maybe it was a certain station at a certain time, so I only got half the treatment - luckily nobody groped me on the train (but seriously, this is a problem for women sometimes where there isn't any room to turn your head). I was trying to get to the famous Tsukiji Fish Market (築地市場) and made it (after getting off at the wrong stop, but then being directed by wonderfully polite and helpful locals!). All the guidebooks (and the savvy travellers) say you need to be there at 5am for the tuna auction - apart from the fact that the trains don't start that early, the other options were waking up and getting a taxi at an ungodly hour or just camping out the front, and I did nether.

A 'stand up' sushi bar, where you can actually sit down.

It was still an experience though! Guys on small forklift-type things wizzing around beeping at everyone, huge tuna being cut up and packaged, and of course loads of tourists with cameras! It was a strange place - it felt as if it hadn't changed in half a century - bent over old ladies wrapping up fish (there were A LOT of old people working here!), frail looking wooden structures acting as storage above the shop (as well as hundreds of styrofoam boxes stacked everywhere), and no computers or tech-stuff in sight. Smoking laws were also pretty lax here, which was a surprise, and I even saw one guy cutting up some eel, fag but in his mouth with an inch of ash hanging off the end - still think it's freshest at the fish market?

After walking around the markets and seeing all sorts of seafood, hunger set in a little, and so thought I would go and get some sushi from the local shops. Forget that - the queues outside the restaurants opposite were long and wide... I guess everyone had the same idea! I decided to head further into the city and see if I could find somewhere cool to eat, preferably without a queue and millions of tourists. I found a little 'stand up' sushi bar (that's what they are called) where I could sit down (I know!) and have some local produce. For Y600 (about $6) I had a wonderfully fresh and tasty sushi lunch, as well as tea and miso soup - couldn't ask for anything better! The guys preparing the food were incredible - it was like a tapas bar, and people would order 1 thing, they would prepare  then serve it. Then do it again! I had the normal, run-of-the-mill meal (but still amazing!), but the person next to me was ordering squid which got the old blow torch treatment for 5 seconds before being devoured. There was only 1 tourist in the place, and he was hell-bent taking pictures of everything!!

Say cheese!

Zojoji Temple and Tokyo Tower.

After lunch (and 100 photos of it), I just wandered around aimlessly really. In fact, the way I went was just by choosing a tall building that looked interesting, and heading that way. It worked out really well! I found loads of little neighbourhoods along the way, and eventually found the Tokyo Tower! Although it's no longer the tallest structure in Tokyo (it was until the Tokyo Skytree was competed in 2012), it is still quite impressive. Built in 1958, it served as a radio tower but also made a lot of money from tourist going up to get a good view of the city - much like The Eiffel Tower today - and in fact it was modelled after it too (but painted orange and white to stop planed and helicopters from hitting it). I didn't go up, as there were 2 other buildings in Tokyo that I wanted to scale - 1 free and 1 not. 

My $6 sushi lunch - with miso and green tea.

Zojoji Temple.

Tokyo Skytree (東京スカイツリ)

My wandering around Tokyo also took me to the Tokyo Metro Building, which is basically the city hall. It is also a big tourist attraction, as it is free to go to the 45th floor and look out on the skyline. Although it wasn't a great day for it being overcast, it was free and so worth it. The lift up didn't make a sound, and it didn't even feel like you were rocketing up to the roof of Tokyo. On the other hand, there is the Tokyo Skytree, which I also visited. It is, however, not free. Only finished 2 years ago, I'm sure it's made it money back already - they charge Y2060 (about $20) to get you to the middle observation deck 350m high, and an extra Y1030 ($10) to go up to the top deck at 450m. I did the first option, as I dont think another 100m would make a difference. The views were impressive I must say - clearer weather than the day I went up the Metro building, and in a better place to see the skyline - out of the city centre looking back in. On a clear sky you can see Mt Fuji (apparently), but inside it is packed with tourists, but who can blame them! This radio tower is the tallest in the world, at 634m (more than twice the Eiffel Tower), and of course has been earthquake-proofed to absorb 50% of the shock. Still not catching me up there during a quake!

Hey - that's my boob you boob!

Sumos!!

The view from The Skytree.

My time was nearly up in this wonderful and crazy city that is Tokyo. Before catching the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) at 300km/hr to Osaka, I needed to see some Sumo. I headed out to Ryogoku Kokugikan (両国国技館) , the Sumo arena in Tokyo. Although the season hadn't started yet, I was hopeful. I scoped out the tournament building and had a look inside at the museum, but nothing else was open. I walked around the back of the building, on my somewhere else, feeling a little disappointed, and there he was! In fact, I before I had taken a picture of the first sumo, I saw a second one! They were everywhere! Well, not quite, but I did see 4 - including one having his big sumo breakfast at a cafe - job done! Shame I missed a game, but it didn't start until after I was due back home.

Back streets of Tokyo.

Everything comes to end, and my time in Tokyo was up. I was a great few days, and I am very thankful for my friends in the city who I met up with and who made my time even better. I headed off to Tokyo station to get the 9am Shinkansen to Osaka. These trains are wonderful - 320kms per hour at top speed, and they link the whole country - something not many other nations have done, and let's face it, it's much better than flying and better for the environment. Next blog will be all about Osaka and Kyoto!

Shibuyu crossing from Starbucks.