Tag Archives: Tokyo

Big in Japan – back to Tokyo

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From San Francisco it was on to Asia – a ten-hour flight got me into Narita on Thursday, from here I made it to Akihabara for the first true Japanese experience: two nights in a capsule hotel. I had decided for a more traditional place with an artificial onsen (public hot spring bath). I was impressed, this place was very well organized, everything is provided (from house-wear, toiletries to towels) – and considering the other ~35 beds on my level, it was fairly relaxed and quiet. I’d definetely do this again  –  it made a great experience and was much better than any hostel, I have been at so far.

I had an early start on Friday … jetlag got me up around 05:00 – I kind of dozed on for another 45 minutes, before heading for the capsule hotel’s sento (public bath) and got ready for the day. After a long breakfast I made my way up to Ueno Park … with cherry blossoms  everywhere and a cherry blossom festival going on as well (not at 09:00 in the morning though). I spent some time  in Japan’s National Museum, before having an early lunch at the festival. The afternoon I spent in the area around the Imperial Palace, closing with a visit at the National Museum of Modern Art. In the evening I met with a former colleague from Tokyo – we ended up in a traditional izakaya restaurant for some great food, beer and sake – before continuing to a downstairs karaoke bar for more drinks and proof that I cannot sing 😉

Tokyo on Weekday Evenings

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During the week of course work was the priority; we nevertheless had some good opportunities in the evenings to get to see a bit of town and also (thanks to our hosts) had a superb introduction into the variety of Japanese food – from the well known sushi and sashimi to shabu-shabu (Japanese-style hotpot with thinly sliced beef), tempura, unagi to the diversity of Hokkaido cuisine.

Back to Tokyo …

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Already a couple of times during this year work had brought me (back) to some interesting places – and now it was back to Tokyo.

This time – having learned my lesson from the Singapore trip – I already made it to the destination (i.e. into Tokyo Narita) on Saturday evening, essentially to allow for an additional day to adjust for the timezone difference (which in retrospect this was a good decision, as I barely slept in my first night and was tired all day on Sunday).

Saturday evening I started, where my Tokyo ventures had also started back in 2008 – Asakusa and the Senso-Ji temple.

On Sunday the weather clearly showed that a typhoon was nearing – it was raining all day with rain and wind getting heavier in the course of the day. I had a very early start, making my way by subway to the Zojo-Ji temple; from here I continued to the imperial garden. With the weather conditions deteriorating, I decided to visit the national museum of modern art. For lunch I met back with the rest of the folks at the hotel (two more colleagues from Europe plus our Japanese host). For the afternoon we were basically left with indoor options – while the others went for some relaxation, I ended up in a shopping mall for a look around.

Asakusa

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I made it into Tokyo on rainy morning after a total of 14 hours in the air (and some time at LHR airport).

As usual (I guess, I may use ‘as usual’ meanwhile) I checked in to the hotel, took a shower and then started discovering the surrounding area – in this case the Asakusa area of Tokyo, including the Senso-Ji temple.

In the evening the group came together for an initial group meeting. Luke – our tour leader gave the usual plus some Japan specific pieces of information, afterward he took us to a very Japanese restaurant … one, where the main interaction was through vending machine.