Tokyo

I've wanted to go to Japan for a while and this trip was my chance. I did virtually no planning and had almost no idea of what I was going to see or even what I was going to do. Nothing like turning up somewhere unexpected

I arrived on a Saturday night, still on US time, so I crawled into bed at the hotel and passed out. The problem was, I was wide awake by 4am. Not wanting to missing anything as soon as it got light I was out of there. I actually did not know how early it was until I discovered I was on the second train of the morning heading into the middle of Tokyo.

It is actually really cool being there that early in the morning. I expected people everywhere, but the place was deserted, entire city streets with no one on them. To some extent, it was like the city had been abandoned, I loved it.

I headed for the main Tokyo station, walked to the Imperial Palace, then off to Yasukuni Shrine before circumnavigating the Palace and heading towards Akihabara then on to Asakusabash before taking the train to Harajuku and walking to Shibuya on the other side of Tokyo. Look it up on a map, its a lot of walking.

If you're in Tokyo, go to the Metropolitan Government Building. It has two towers, you can go up them for free and they offer a spectacular view of Tokyo.

I did a day trip to Kyoto, but those photos are on another page. My hotel also had an aquarium attached (I swear I did not know this when I booked it) so I had to go in and see the dolphins, which made me sad about seeing dolphins in captivity, but the smaller tanks of crustations I found much more enjoyable.

I spent half a day wandering around area around the hotel in Shinagawa, not really a tourist precinct. I could tell as I'd often get second glances from people as I wandered around, but you would walk around the corner and find a temple or perhaps a garden, totally unexpected.

I visited Tokyo tower, this time at night. I love cities at night and plus I had already had the arial view during the day. Less people too. If you do go, walk from the station, much nicer than taking a taxi or bus, it will take you about 15 minutes.

The last day was my designated shopping day. I started with a walk to the fish market, but I was too late for the wholesale market and too early for the retail market. I think I'm glad, the smell was a little, umm, too fishy for my tastes. Then I wandered over to Ginzo, which I think is the more upmarket area before heading for Akihabara, which wasn't open. Curse my early morning starts!

I spent some time at Shibuya people watching, then back to Akihabara to take in the electronics and toy stores. I could spend so much money there. Most of the computer stuff was so-so, but the ranges of electronics was great and the toys. Oh, such wonderful, geeky toys.

I've said it before, but I did love wandering around the backstreets. Tokyo felt very safe and it was so much more relaxing, instead of being with the hordes on the main street, walk up the one parallel to it, a fraction of the people and probably a lot more interesting

The train system is freakishly effective. Apparently in England a train runs on time if it arrives/departs 8 minutes either side of its scheduled time, which is a 16 minute window. England has 80% of its trains run on time. In Japan, a train runs on time if it leaves/departs within 10 seconds of its scheduled time, so a 20 second window. In Japan 98% of trains run on time. Wow.

It is also very complicated, but easy to figur eout. Just look at some of the maps. And they're the above ground maps, I don't have any of the underground system, but I don't think I ever got lost or had too much of a problem buying a ticket and I went everywhere by train.