Thursday 19th April 2018

Hi,

Last summer (June 2017), whilst in Italy for brother Donald's birthday, I sat down with my nephew Edward and we agreed that the following year I would travel to Japan to visit him and see another new country which has been on my list for some time. Ed has been in Japan studying and working for a period of seven years and it made sense to undertake this adventure when I had family to visit and especially one who could give so much help and advice given his intimacy with the country, language and culture. My friend Duncan was also keen to visit Japan so was promptly signed up!

On Saturday 7th April we travelled south to fly out from Manchester as the deals were better from that location as opposed to Glasgow/Edinburgh. This gave us a good chance to catch up with Rachel and recently retired brother in law Brian. After a pleasant weekend, including a visit to the friends in Barnoldswick, we set off on the morning of Monday 9th April.

We booked with Finnair (first time for me) and had a two hours forty five minutes journey to Helsinki, before switching planes for Tokyo and a nine hours thirty minutes journey. Fog at Manchester meant a delay in our flight arriving but we managed to catch the connection. I would recommend Finnair to anyone based on my experience. We had paid for economy tickets but were put in Economy Comfort which had more leg room and as the flight was not full we had a seat between us. The food was excellent and the in-flight entertainment up to date with modern equipment. Total travel time was about fourteen hours in all.

We arrived in Tokyo the following morning and had a fairly lengthy wait at immigration so it was useful that we didn't have to be somewhere in a hurry. We caught a local train into town and then got the subway to Yanagabashi, where our hotel was two minutes from the subway. Our rooms weren't ready so we went to a coffee shop where my first food in Japan was a soya milk latte and a curried hotdog! Very tasty too. I have since redeemed myself in the Japanese food intake as you will read. We stayed at Hotel Yanagabashi for six nights. It is what is called a business hotel. The rooms were small and the toilet/shower room even smaller but clean and adequate. Staff are friendly and we were able to make ourselves understood. We paid about £35 per head per night which for a major city is great value. It is well connected with train and subway (Asakusabashi stations). Thanks to nephew Dave for recommending the area.

We met up with Ed at Nihombashi and walked to a restaurant near Tokyo station where we sampled a number of small dishes (chicken, various raw fish, omelette and different vegetables). There will be much more detail on food to follow. Ed supplied us with Suica cards for local transport which you use like an oyster card and just top it up as required. The first ATM I tried my debit card in didn't work but the next one at a 7-11 store did. An eventful couple of days but we were now ready for some major sightseeing.

I'll divide this blog into a general list of places we visited, talk about the food experience (which was major) and then give some impressions of Tokyo and Japan in particular. I will have a further blog for our adventures the following week where the locations will change to Kyoto and Hiroshima.

Sightseeing:

Our friendly gent at the hotel front desk informed us that the blossoms had all but finished in Tokyo but there were still some types in flower over in Shinjuku Gyo-en National Garden. We headed over there the first morning and I hope the photos do justice to the wonderful set of colours on display. We did see some more blossoms when we visited the Imperial Palace East Gardens. The gardens are set in the former grounds of Edo Castle, which was a 16th Century Shogun and Imperial Residence. You can see some of the huge stones of the castle still in place. The Imperial Palace was not accessible but the gardens were stunning and the camera was very busy!

In order to get another perspective on the city we went up a couple of towers. First was the Tokyo Tower which is a sort of Eiffel Tower rip off built in 1958 and painted red. It was good to see the views from there but in hindsight I wouldn't bother with it if you are in the city and your time is limited. What is worth visiting is the Tokyo Skytree Tower. At 634 metresit is the tallest tower in the world and the second tallest structure in the world. We went up to floor 350 but you could pay extra to go to 450. Even at the lower level it completely dwarves everything in a city with quite a lot of tall buildings. Recommended.

On the less modern side we visited the Senso-Ji Temple, which was originally founded in 645AD, making it the oldest temple in Tokyo. The road running up to the temple is a riot of street life with dozens of stalls selling goods of the usual tourist variety, but mainly forms of food. You could watch as biscuits and other forms of what looked mainly like confectionary, were being baked and crafted using moulds and machines. I tried a cracker wrapped in wasabi flavoured seaweed. Spicy! Just before the temple there was a booth where incense was lit and people wafted the smoke onto themselves before going into the temple. I did go inside although no photos were allowed. (As is the case in all temples visited). From my perspective, having been in Thailand, it was the usual collection of idols of varying quality lined up from the far wall and screened off from access. Another aspect of this area of the city was that many people hire kimonos to dress up in which made many a colourful photo!

Andy Wood had recommended a trip to the Mount Fuji lakes and it was an opportunity to get out of the city for a day and hopefully see the iconic mountain. The travel guides recommended a Hakone Free Pass. For about £38 this got us unlimited travel for the day and it was certainly worth while. We got a train from Shinjuku station to Odawara and then a small local train onto Hakone itself. From there we travelled in a loop by bus, boat, rope gondola, cable car and finally funicular railway arriving back at Hakone for the journey home. We arrived back at Shinjuku about 1730 after an excellent and varied adventure. Highlight was the sail over Lake Ashi in board a pirate style ship for the 40 minute journey across the lake. Check out the photos. Downside is that the day was dull so some of the views were not great. We did get a brief sight of Mount Fuji briefly from the train on the way down but by the time we got to Hakone it had disappeared. Still we will pass it twice again on the trip so who knows. Overall I would certainly recommend this as a day trip out of Tokyo and do go for the Hakone Free Pass.

Another highlight of the week (and one which many may not get the chance to witness), was an Iaido tournament. Edward practises this Japanese martial art which emphasises an awareness of being attacked and dealing with the attack using a sword. We visited the Tokyo Budokan where the event took place and viewed most of the competition. Edward took part and at the end we witnessed a demonstration from the Iaido Masters followed by the prize giving. A bit of a 'one-off' to say the least.

Food:

One lasting memory of being in Tokyo and indeed Japan in particular, is the food. On the second night we tried Monjayaki. We sat around a square table with a centred hot plate. A bowl of broth comes up with a variety of vegetables and sometimes meat. The solid items are taken out of the bow and put on the hotplate where they start cooking. Gradually the broth is integrated in and usually an egg is added just before you tuck in. The staff started us off and Ed finished off the cooking. I think we had three rounds of dishes and I even gave it a go myself, if not too tidily! Again see the photos.

Small places serving single figure numbers of customers is common. Duncan and I got adventurous and tried Ramen, which are basically noodles in a bowl of broth topped by a variety of items. Miso Ramen is my favourite so far. The restaurant had about 8 other customers sitting on stools in a semi circular bar. Business men and workies were all in together, plus two tourists! You choose from the menu by putting money in a vending machine at the entrance and then giving a ticket to the server. Water is supplied as obligatory in all places without you asking. Prices are very cheap, with a main dish for about £5-6 and very filling. Ed also introduced us to Tempura (deep fried vegetables or fish) in a tiny basement restaurant with two server and just nine customers. Another highlight was an 'all you can eat' Korean BBQ in Ginza, a glitzy area with some fabulous modern buildings. Lastly Duncan and I were out for a stroll and came across a wee shop called McLean's burgers! Well they just had to be visited. In a land of shrines, the clan seem to have their own! On drink, well I tried sake both hot and cold. Can't say I will be stocking up for the road home. There was also a Korean mass produced spirit at sixteen percent with no real description but not really worth repeating. Overall on the food front exploring different varieties of the cuisine and experiencing the way in which it is sold and served is so much fun, easily one of the best parts of the trip.

Impressions:

Some initial impressions to conclude this rather lengthy blog. I can write more on this after the Kyoto/Hiroshima visit. For a huge world city Tokyo is completely non-threatening and feels very safe at every time of the day or night and in every situation. Politeness and respect seems to rule behaviour. Like all cultures the Japanese have their own idiosyncrasies but the relationship to the visitor is unfailingly polite. Bowing seems to take the place of handshakes and hugging, there seems to be an issue with putting your bags on the floor in a public place and in some eateries they supply you with baskets or stands so you don't have to have your bag on the floor. There is a big list of these items but again if you don't comply, there is no rudeness towards you, but you can somehow pick up the subtlety of their view that you are going against convention. Singing and humming on public transport was one thing I picked up about myself that does not fit in! Fair enough. When in Rome...

The customer service is up there with Canada and given the language barrier that probably pushes them to the number one position on my chart. In a huge city there is no litter, no neds , no graffiti and people who stop all the time (even with limited English) to try and help you. Public services are first class. Transport is so easy to use as there is enough understandable signage to get by. Even for the most inexperienced and hesitant traveller you would manage just fine over here. I can't say fairer than that. To sum up, I love the place, the trip has been a major experience. Great fun. More to follow. Have a look at the photos when you have time.

All the best

Murdo