Introduction to Tokyo!
Introduction to Tokyo!
Today, Steve and I woke up in a bit of a daze really. Its a feeling hard to explain, but if any of you have had those incidences where you've had to sleep in a strange new house you have to reacquaint yourself to the new lay out. Wire in a new navigational map for those middle of the night moments when you wake up needing a trip to the bathroom and wonder to yourself "Now which house is this one?" Perhaps that is the feeling we had this morning.
Our first real day in Tokyo started at the Narita Airport Resthouse with an included breakfast as part of the room deal. We both ventured out inspired to see what was on the breakfast menu in Japan . Quite honestly as Steve mentioned in his post - I was not yet awake enough nor adventurous enough to sample the local diet. I chose to stick to a Western style breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage followed up with a delicious croissant and a questionable coffee!! Steve on the other hand made his first brave cuisine move by trying on some bean curd, mackerel and that thing that resembled the consistence of chalk.
After breakfast we retired to our room, loaded up the internet and began our plan to migrate from the temporary airport hotel to a more permanent station in Tokyo. We were really not sure how long it would take us, how challenging the trip would be and whether we'd successfully get to our next hotel. I often ask myself how did people travel to different locations/countries without google maps and street view? I cannot believe the luxury we have these days, we can essentially have already virtually been to a place before even arriving here with a resource such as street view.
From the hotel we were shuttled back to the airport terminal 1 and found our way to the Skyliner train line. The biggest question we faced was to a) head to the ticket office and try and communicate to an unsuspecting local where we wanted to go or b) attempt to navigate a ticket machine? Which would you choose? We both looked at one another and thought "Hey we can do this surely the ticket machine has an English option right?" After choosing option b) Steve and I confidently marched onto the skyliner train headed to Ueno.
The thing about arriving in a new city/location there is always a chance for mistakes, many reasons including fatigue, language problems or just plain stupidity or a lack of common sense. We very promptly discovered that we had purchased the wrong kind of ticket for another service provider after watching some announcements on a digital screen on the train. For a moment, you panic and think "We'll get fined".. but not here.. Oh no.. Surely as this thought crossed our minds the ticket inspector arrived... I politely tried to explain that we had purchased the incorrect ticket. Despite the confusion in communication (the ticket inspector did not speak any English), the problem was corrected. Instead of being scolded for messing things up - we simply paid a fare adjustment. Brilliant idea, honestly and it applies I think to all the networks in Tokyo if not the entire country. You also have the luxury of transferring your fare between service providers whether its the Tokyo Metro or JR Lines etc.
Really to cut a long story short, Steve and I found our way to our hotel after the ticket incident without any problems. It was almost ridiculously too easy with all our google map research prior to departure from our airport hotel. The hotel we booked in an area of town called Akihabara - we arrived a little too early for check in so the hotel kindly offered to hold our bags for the duration. Steve and I wasted absolutely no time getting out exploring, we headed straight back to the JR station and jumped on the circle line as we had read in our trusty Lonely Planet guide that this would give us a proper introduction to Tokyo via overground rail. No sooner had we boarded the train, we were jumping off at Tokyo Central station. It is a spectacular building from the outside but we were keen to get to the Imperial Palace Gardens as the sun was shining and just beckoning for us to look around. As it turns out, most of the Imperial Palace grounds are not open to the public. Steve and I walked around some of the surrounding areas to take in the atmosphere. After a while, we both realised what time it was but also that we had become aware of the backpacks and their restrictive nature and decided to head back to Akihabara to check into our hotel.
On impression we were both rather surprised by the size (or there lack of) of our hotel room. Literally a shoebox, but you got to hand it to the Japanese they really know how to make a small space efficient. Still, the room is adequate, comfortable with free WI-FI, cant complain about that! One thing I do seem to have consistent challenges with when travelling is the availability of pillows - I just cant get used to sleeping on one...and one that is usually flat as a pancake. I always follow up an initial room check in with a search for an extra pillow or a trip down to reception to request one. Steve looked at me as I left our room on the hunt with a "Goodluck with that.." given that there had been some confusion at check in with language. I ventured downstairs confidently, only to arrive to a struggling request between a French lady and the reception staff in the hotel. The French lady was asking for a scale, she wanted to weigh her luggage before boarding a flight tomorrow between the both of us we really had no success in communicating this to the reception staff and it all ended with a large amount of giggles from all parties involved in the quest! I was however successful in my requirements for another pillow. I politely bowed and said "Arigato" and went on my way.
Following our check in at the APA Hotel, Steve and I ventured out and headed in the opposite direction as previously towards Ueno Park. We'd read that this was a good area to start in and rightfully the Lonely Planet was. The surroundings were lovely and we ventured promptly through the park as the sun was setting fast. After sundown, Steve and I wandered around the streets of Ueno and stumbled into a Sushi bar for dinner. It really is no different to those in Melbourne, however I might argue that there was a more interesting and exotic menu. I did try eating some of the Tuna sushi (not rolls) but found it to be the consistency of rubber so was not successful in really getting it past the back of my throat. I followed up Unagi (Eel). I did eat a hell of a lot of pickled ginger and drank about three cups of green tea to try and settle the fishiness....
After dinner, Steve and I ventured back to our hotel to get some rest. Honestly, I found myself still writing the first issue of our blog remembering what it was like to do so again. Hopefully, this time I'll be able to finish all the way through our trip.
To everyone who matters back home in Melbourne and beyond - Im thinking of you x
