Hi All

We finally have some time to update the blog again (on the train to Kyoto). It is unbelieveble how little time we actually have to spend on the blog and diarys. I think we are now about 20 days behind on writing our diarys so we are going to take the time in Shanghai to upadate them as we have about 10 days booked there.

So this is our update on Tokyo.

We were booked into hostel Asakusa Smile for 7 days in one of the older neighbourhoods of Tokyo (if you get timet to google it look at the gold statue thing - looks like a big poo!!), I would have said youth hostel but we are finding all sorts of ages and people in the hostels. You get what you pay for.. We stayed in a 6 bed dorm room, the rooms where very small and just about fits 6 bunk beds. Luckily the people we shared with where nice enough and we did not have any problems. (the only other girl was 19 and from Sweden, she has stayed in Tokyo 9 times on her own and only comes to party!! so she went out in the evening and came back around 10am the next day then slept all day and then went out again in the evening etc....!)
It struck us immediatly how big Tokyo is. To understand the layout of the city we decided to go on the subway loop line that circles the city. We then deciced to go to the electronics area to get a look at all the gadgets and stuff. Unfortunatly they are as expensive as the UK even though its made in Japan and China. The trains, taxi's, coffee shops, clothes, hotels and everything else is also very expensive.

We also whent to a very famous crossing in Shibuya. The amount of people there is crazy. We sat at a Starbucks for about an hour just watching all the peolple go by. We did a lot of walking and wondering throughout the city. We went to Tokyo bay and spent the afternoon at the beach and then we had a very nice meal in a Hawaain restaurant overlooking the bay and watched the sun go down while drinking a beverage or two with all of Tokyo's lights coming on through the evening. It was very nice and relaxing after a hard days sight seeing.

Not sure if everybody has seen Lost in translation but we whent to have a drink at the New York Bar on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt. This is were part of the movie was filmed. The view that evening was not very nice because it was raining and very cloudy - so we had to come back the next night for another drink and eat all the free peanuts and look at the view.It was worth while because the view and the hotel is amazing. To get to the top floor you walk through a couple of very richly decorated lobbys and then a library and then a couple of restarants ans then you get the elevator to the 52nd floor from the 42nd floor. The people flock to help you and they are so friendly I geuss its because you are paying an arm and a leg for some drinks. Herman had a white russian and I had a Grenadda (?) - which was either very strong or the height of the building made me light headed cos i felt pretty pissed! On the bar menu you can have a burger for about £30 and then if you decide to stay at the bar after 8pm you have to pay a cover charge of 2000 yen per person.

We visited the National Museum, which was incredibly busy but very interesting - lots of ancient Japanese artifacts we learnt lots of Japanese history. For lunch we palnned to have a picnic in the ?? park, but when we got there is was al guarded and we where told we could not go in. So we walked up to the baseball park and watched them practice. While we where sat there a BIG black bird tried to fly off with our Japan book! I has no idea baseball was so big here, but it is masive everyone loves it!

We also went to see The Imperial Palace - which was really a waste of time, because all you see is a tiny corner and a bridge as your not allowed anywhere near it. We also spent some time looking for the drifters (as in Fast and the furious 3) but we didnt see any. Apparantly it happens in the middle of nowhere rather than in the city as the film says!

Stopped off at the Sony building, where you can play with all the new gadgets, some that have not been released yet.

On out last day we decided to go the the Tokyo fish market. We got up very early about 5:00 to be there as early as possible, Sadly we missed the tuna auction but we managed to walk through the fish market looking at all the fish they have caught that day. The place is huge and there are little carts driving very fast all over the place. The fish market opens at 3 in the morning and closes at about 12 lunch time. The size of some of the tuna is amazing. They are massive chunks of fish. After we had a look around and took thousands of pictures we went to one of the little restaurants to try some fresh sushi. Christina had a very fresh looking uncooked prawn on a ball of rice and I had a piece of uncooked tuna on a ball of rice served with green tea. We decided that the sushi was not really for us. :)

So we are still writing this update and we are now on the train from Hiroshima to Osaka! ... and still writing now in Shanghai!!!!

So what else can we tell you...... Tokyo is really exciting and lively and yet the people are still really friendly and helpful - now off to Nikko.

Bye for now

Herman and Christina