Her idea was to visit her cousin in Okinawa. He and his family were stationed there while in the military. Every flight I found had us connecting through Tokyo. I thought to myself " When would we be in this part of the world again?", the answer was easy - we decided to do a 7 day layover in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Little did I know we were in for one of the most wonderful experiences in our life.
Let's start with how to get there. I'm sure there are longer options available, we were dealing with two weeks so we chose to fly. There are two main routes to Japan:
We chose to fly east. Our flight took off at 7am, we changed planes once and arrived at the Narita Airport , outside Tokyo at 2pm the next day.
Narita Airport is located about 45 minutes outside of the city. We decided to stay in the business district near Shinjuku. Shinjuku is one of the neighborhoods inside Tokyo proper.
Getting to our hotel with 6 bags was going to be a challenge. Thankfully American Airlines decided to help us out! One bag didn't make the connection in Dallas. The Airport has a very formal process for processing lost luggage. We filled out a form and the bag was delivered to our hotel the next day.
The most economical ($20 pp) is the coach, although it takes roughly 3 hours to get from the airport to our hotel in the Shinjuku neighborhood.
The most expensive is the private car - ranging from $250 -$350 on the type of car.
We had previously purchased an international data plan for $80. It gave us 800mb to use for Internet and most importantly Google Maps. I was worried that 800mb would not be enough- it turned out to be plenty.
I couldn't find the "KO" department store in Google maps, so i looked up how far the hotel was, it was about 7 blocks from where we were standing. I sold the idea to my wife and she reluctantly agreed to hoof it to the hotel, our adventure in Tokyo begins!
Without proper footwear, We decided to head down to the Shinjuku Shopping district. We used that shuttle that we had trouble finding. After a short bus trip, we were dropped off at the "Keio" ( not "KO') department store. After getting my bearings the spot looked quite familiar. Not ten feet from where we stood was where we had abandoned our quest for the Hotel Shuttle and decided to get a cab a few hours earlier.
Lesson learned : When you're not sure where you are, stop and breath - get your bearings.
We did a little shopping, picked up some shoes and headed back to the hotel we were beat.
We had a tour planned for the next day. We made our reservations through use Viator , a trip advisor company. A bit pricey, and in reality they end up reselling local tours, but they are the best and everything went smoothly. The only thing I suggest is confirming with the tour company the day ahead of your tour. We thought about it a few minutes after 7pm and they closed at 7pm. Lucky for us, they have great customer service and they answered the phone.
Let me take a minute here and dote on the Japanese people, from customer service to the person next to you on the subway, they are some of the most polite people that I have met so far.
We arranged to be picked up at the hotel the next morning.
Day One in Tokyo
You'll find everyone is punctual to the exact minute. Our bus arrived and took us to the central tour facility where we got our tickets, we boarded another bus and began our introduction to the city of Tokyo. The idea was that this tour would get us acquainted with the different parts of the city, which we could come back to and explore more later.
The price of the ticket $60 U.S. per person. Our first stop was the Meji Shrine in the Heart of Tokyo.
It's a bit of a walk to get to the main shrine. As you enter the park you see large casks of Saki (on the right). Along a wide gravel path, you pass under one of the largest Shinto shrines in Japan (below). Actually before visiting Tokyo, I really didn't know what a Shinto shrine was.
It's very quiet here. You wouldn't know you're in the middle of a bustling Metropolis. There were plenty of people sharing the path to the temple. I'll take a moment here and remind you of how polite and respectful the Japanese people are. You can tell they have respect for this place. There is something about this area, a serene feeling. It just puts you at ease.
At the end of the path you pass into another world. The aura is something that I would imagine existed hundreds, maybe thousands of years ago.
It had begun raining just slightly, but nothing would damper our spirits. This experience was magical. We could not take pictures of the inside of the temple.
Although we did get to experience something unique. We had the pleasure of viewing the first few moments of a traditional Japanese wedding. The bride and groom were in traditional garb.
Our next stop brought us to the presidential palace. We could not get past the gates, you have to apply in advance to visit inside. What we did get was a first hand view of the gardens on the grounds of the estate.
There were plenty of Koi swimming in and around the Lilies.
Again here they intertwine nature in amongst the skyscrapers. You can see them slightly beyond the trees.
This is a guard house that housed the Samurai and Ninjas (yes ninjas!) protecting the Emperor and his family.
I learned that the emperor and I share a birthday.
In the picture on the right, you can see the enormous stone walls that surround the grounds and served to protect the Emperor. Years ago there were large wooden gates that barred entrance to those who were not allowed to pass.
The next stop was a Japanese market in front of a Buddhist temple. We got to venture down side alleys, popped in and out of different shops. It began to rain gain so we stepped inside one and purchased an umbrella. I'm sure it conveniently marked up due to the circumstances. We paid $20 U.S. for a cheap little thing, but it kept us dry. The beauty of the temple was breathtaking. It wasn't as quiet here but the general feeling of the place had a spiritual sense to it.
We got to try these neat little fish cakes called Taiyaki. They were pastries with a Azuki bean filling.
My first experience with the paste like filling was in Hawaii. They would use it as a base in our shaved ice to keep in all the flavors.
If you haven't had Azuki bean before it's like a soft chocolate taste. Not strong at all.
The reason we called them fish cakes were they were shaped in like fish. They were making them fresh right there in the market store front.
On the left you can see the shop where we bought that umbrella.
I'm not normally one for crowds, but this wasn't the pushy type crowds in Rockefeller plaza at Christmas time. Instead this was a leisurely stroll through a busy market. Quite enjoyable!
Rows of shops with lanterns above, this was the image I had in my mind when thinking about a traditional Japanese market.
Of in the distant you could heard large bells being rung by monks.
You could smell the incense burning, which gave the experience an authentic feel.
As it began to rain a bit harder, we promised each other that we could come back to this place before we left Tokyo.
Little did we know there were full days ahead of us in other parts of the city.
Our tour ended with a boat ride on Tokyo Bay. It was a bit overcast but it was a wonderful visual experience. On the boat there was a young opera singer who performed for us. A little old Japanese lady sat down beside us. She was so trendy , with a shade of purple in her hair. She couldn't have been a day over 65. She was so enthralled with the performance and kept turning to me and speaking to me in Japanese. It was a happy interaction.
After the boat tour, we returned to our bus. They dropped us at Tokyo terminal. If you've ever been to NYC and been in Grand Central then you would be familiar with the size of the expansive Tokyo terminal. We were to take a train back to Shinjuku Station and then onto our hotel. It was around dinner time, so we decided to eat inside the terminal. We had heard good things, so we bought a train ticket and entered. Roughly forty five minutes later, after many twists and turns and a wrong exit of the station, we found a nice little Ramen shop and settled down for our first true Ramen experience.
It was quite an experience, we used Google Translate in order to read the menu. We settled on a bowl of Pork Ramen and Gyoza. The Ramen in country is nothing like the 10 cent package you get in the U.S. The broth is what its all about. It's prepared for hours and filled with wonderful flavors. What is Gyoza you ask? It's pan fried dumplings, fill with pork. This meal would become a favorite we would experience a few times.
With our bellies full we caught a train back to Shinjuku Station and a short shuttle ride back to the hotel.
This ends our first day in Tokyo and was just a sample of what made us fall in love with this country.
<---And this is the wrong turn we made on the way to the zoo. The subway dropped us off with about about a 15 minute walk and while Google Maps is awesome, it did lead us around to the back entrance of the zoo.
<-------Yes they have Pandas!
