Travel Tadaima!!

I got back from my 1st visit to Japan yesterday!

I dont really know where to start! I feel actually culture shock coming back, England feels weird. Like going into a shop and no body says irasshaimase! What is wrong with these people! ^_~ The nice thing tho is that the weather here is exacly the same as it was in Japan, sunny, like early summer should be, unusual in England though. I would be depressed if it was dark and rainy as normal. Anyway, this suppose to be about Japan not UK...

I was in Tokyo 8 nights in a boring district called Bakurochou/Higashi Nihombashi. It's by the Sumida River that goes down to the port. There are plenty of rail and metro stations though, and you can even walk to Tokyo Eki/Ginza (which is what I think is the centre) if you like walking, like I do. Also 15 min walk to Akihabara. I even walked to Ueno (big park and stuff) and then on to Asakusa (Tokyo's most famous shrine is there, Sensou-Ji) on Constitution day. All very crowded with Japanese as it is a big holiday. The main thing about the district though is that the hotel was cheap, cheap, cheap!

I was there basicly during Golden Week. This is a week where a lot of people take vacations away because there is a cluster of national holidays in it. This makes Tokyo often very quiet, because many people leave the city, which is not a bad thing from my point of view. Children's day (or Boy's day) was Thursday, and in Ginza they close parts of the streets to traffic, and there are endless parades of marching bands, and little street (so-called) entertainment things. We get this kind of thing a lot in tourist parts of London, like near the London Eye and Covent Garden, it's pretty much sucks exactly the same in Tokyo. I meant the street so-called entertainment, not the bands.

I'm thinking of doing a page when I get my photos back (real film camera!) so I won't go on much more here, but here's a list of the districts we visited: Ueno, Asakusa, Ginza, Hibiya/Imperial Palace, Tsukiji, Akihabara (electronics & porn), Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ebisu (trendiest part of Tokyo) and Ikebukuro (a lot of manga shops, like Animate, it's the centre for BL and "Women's" manga particularly) and of course Harajuku (kusupure and visualists pose hangout).

Best things: just being there, vending machines, kombini (convenience stores), bakeries in depato (dept. store) basements, slot machine ramen, trains/metro. Did I say vending machines?

Worst things: leaflet/tissue muggers, homelessness, working out where to eat, never being able to find places again! The cost of CDs, you only get discounts with points cards, so unless you are buying tons of stuff it's hard to take advantage if you are there for only a week or so.

Things in between: "irasshaimase!" it gets a bit too much sometimes, esp. in depato when they aren't too busy, cyclists (hardly ever use the road), TV.

Etou... I guess that's enough for now. I was basically really getting the hang of it and it was time to go home. Japan, missing you already ^_^

 

your back yay!!! make sure u put up lots of pics of Tokyo and give pointers on places to go

 

welcome back!!! hope you had a good time. and eh, that was your first trip? hn.

but wasn't it just so... COOL?! esspecially the vending machines.... they even have hot foods in there...