We were both super excited at the prospect of visiting Tokyo, especially as neither of us had set foot in Japan before. We wanted to visit Japan and as our travel plan was taking us to south-east Asia we decided to include Japan in our itinerary in order to give us a taste of the country, hopefully as a precursor for a longer stay in the future.

Whilst we were excited we were also a little nervous as we had heard that, unlike India and Hong Kong, there is very little English spoken in Japan. Our Japanese extended to saying hello, goodbye and thank you so there was a potential language barrier. As it turned out we had little to worry about as there were lots of signs in English and we found that whilst people didn't speak fluent English, they certainly had enough to help us when we really needed it.

We arrived in Tokyo during the middle of what we would term a bank holiday weekend, consequently the airport and, for the first few days, the roads and underground system were relatively quiet. This gave us a great chance to familiarise ourselves with the transport network which is essential because Tokyo is the largest metropolis in the World and getting around by underground is the only way for backpackers like us to travel between the various areas and sights.

Our hostel was called the Khaosan Tokyo Smile situated in the Asakusa area. The hostel was clean, warm, friendly, comfortable and had a load of facilities (a shower for a start!) which was in sharp contrast with our hostel in the Chungking Mansions. We were made to feel really welcome and enjoyed our time there so much.

By the time we had settled into the hostel on the first day it was early evening so we decided to check out Shibuya, famous for its shopping, crossing (now replicated in Oxford Street) and its love hotels. As usual we couldn't do any shopping which was a shame as it seems to be a major preoccupation in Japan.

The next day was a very busy day taking in many of Tokyo's principal sights including, the Imperial palace (which, save for a peak at a bridge remains hidden from the public), the excellent Bridgestone Museum of Art (which is 6 rooms of all killer and no filler artworks from Matisse, Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Picasso, Rodin, Gaugin and Renoir) and the slightly controversial Yasukuni jinja war memorial, where we visited our first Shinto shrine. In the evening we went to the man made island of Odaiba and gawped at some of its outlandish architecture.

Sightseeing continued a pace the next day with a visit to Sunshine City (yet another shopping complex - yawn) where we scaled Tokyo's highest observatory, Sunshine 60; and a trip to a shrine in Harajuka where there were lots of young Japanese ladies in Kimonos. We gathered that this national holiday revolved around teenagers turning 20 and becoming adults. The area of Roppongi in Tokyo has a history as a red light district although in modern times it's the home of up-market shopping malls, we went there in the evening and saw little of the red light district but lots of Armani and Louis Vuitton.

When asked what she really wanted to see in Japan, Gemma replied: "Sumo!". We were in luck as in the hostel we saw some adverts for a 15 day long Sumo Basho (tournament) just down the road from us. The reason we were lucky is that these tournaments are only held three times a year in Tokyo. Anticipating high demand for tickets Craig has us up at crazy o'clock queuing for tickets in sub-zero temperatures. Gemma was delighted when this proved unnecessary as ticket sales were slow! We got inside the building at around 8:30am when the junior wrestlers were on. The most senior wrestlers only appear around 4pm so we had time to take a Sumo break and visit Asakusa shrine (Asakusa-jinja) before returning in time to eat some Chanko (Sumo stew - not stew made out of unsuccessful Sumo wrestlers) and catch the main action. We had a great day and even contemplated going again later in the week.

Another morning and another early start, this time to see Tokyo's famous fish market and tuna auction. By early we mean early, the alarm clock went off at 4am! We took the first tube and arrived at the fish market in search of the obligatory guided tours round the tuna auctions (as it's not open to the public). We couldn't find the guided tour so wandered round anyway looking at the many weird and wonderful fresh seafood on sale. All was going well until Craig took out the camera at which point we were pounced on by one of the stall holders and a security guard who kicked us out of the market telling us we could return at 9am, as it was only 7am we felt disinclined to take them up on their offer. Japan is renowned for its gardens and we are sure that they must have some terrific gardens. Unfortunately in the midst of winter a lot of the gardens that we visited were unremarkable. This wasn't the case with the Shogun's gardens which were next on our itinerary after the fish market. Even in the freezing winter, these gardens were truly spectacular and we can't wait to see them in the summertime. As a bonus the gardens are connected to Asakusa (where our hostel was) by a water taxi.

Our last day in Tokyo was upon us sooner than we would have liked. We still had loads to see including the Tokyo National Museum (it's massive), Shinjuku Garden (which has a traditional Japanese garden), and the 44th floor observatory of the government buildings (where we saw the stunning Tokyo skyline at night). After all the sightseeing we had to catch an overnight bus service to Osaka. This was our first overnight bus journey and it was surprisingly comfortable and something we might look into more during our travels.

We both really loved Japan and Tokyo is such an exciting and interesting city combining history and tradition with the ultra-modern. We found the people to be polite and friendly and the city is always immaculate and clean. The downside is that Tokyo is so expensive, especially as we are on a backpacking budget. In 5 days we could only scratch the surface of this fascinating city, but Gemma didn't want to leave and we both can't wait to return to Japan in the future to learn more about it.