Summer Tour - Japan - Tokyo

For the next stage of our extended Summer break we headed to the Land of the Rising Sun - to fulfil  a long held ambition to have an in depth look at Japan. The original intention was for all 4 of us to go but unfortunately V picked up a bug on the way back from Budapest so it ended up just A and I travelling.

We started off in Tokyo arriving in Narita after a ridiculously early start from Dubai in time to check into our Hotel (right next door to Minamoto Station and therefore very handily placed for what proved to be an incredibly efficient train and underground system). 

We arrived just in time to grab some Dinner at an adjacent Food Court which seemed to be almost exclusively populated by Salarymen and women making the most of a Friday night. Because of the late hour we jumped into the first restaurant that seemed to do Sashimi as a speciality - and were immediately transported into the delights of Japanese dining opportunities that became a real feature of our trip.

Whilst not exactly basic, our chosen  restaurant was much more focussed on a practical, utilitarian experience rather than a lush fixtures and fittings but they sure made  up for it in the quantity and cost of the food which was uniformly excellent from the introductory plate (every restaurant has a cover charge but you get an extra dish of the restaurant’s speciality) through the mixed chef’s sashimi selection  to the final dish of garlic rice and some fruit for dessert (As well as a couple of Kirin beers). 

After a long flight it was a really terrific way to start our trip and the good food theme continued with a fabulous breakfast at the Pullman Tokyo before A and I headed off to the station to get the main line to Ueno Park. 

I invested in a Suica card which allowed me to put money on to it and travel around the network (and make purchases at 7 Eleven etc.). A had a Revolut card which we used for most of our purchases and to get local currency from the ATM so I hardly used my credit/debit cards at all in Japan (felt like the Queen as A did most of the purchasing!).

Ueno Park is one of the main tourist destinations in Tokyo with a Zoo and a number of museums including the National Museum and the Museum of Western Art which was out first destination - slightly counterintuitive to  go and see the Burghers of Calais, Breughel and the Impressionists but the key point was that there was only a short queue unlike the other attractions! In the same gallery we saw a Di Chirico exhibition - I had never really come across this artist and we were very impressed - we saw a number of examples of his work in later art galleries.

We also managed a quick trip to  one of the more unusual tourist attractions in Tokyo - the Shibuyu Scramble - a major road junction which has been adapted to allow a mass pedestrian road crossing every 5 minutes or so.

I also booked myself in the first few days onto a bicycle tour that took me around the City  -  a really good way to get to see the main areas without getting stuck in traffic jams so was able to get up close to various temples, cemeteries and parks as well as the Tokyo Tower. We were not however immune from the severe weather warnings in force when we arrived so it was a somewhat  hot and sweaty expedition which. - like the superb food - became another theme for our trip.