It is official, the trip has begun and there is no more turning back, no chance of a Mog style non-committal flaky reversal of actions. Touch down on the start of the first leg... Yapan!
As expected the flight was terrible, made even more miserable only by my inability to use chopsticks as the indigenous Japanese fellow next to me fought back the laughter when he saw me cutting up my noodles with a knife and fork. Amazingly, upon landing, I was able to bundle my way through the airport train station and catch the right train to Tokyo central. The quiet calm of the Narita Express train was broken when switiching to the hustle-and-bustle of the Yamanote line and standing shoulder to shoulder with the Japanese locals.
One of the first things that strikes you about the Japanese is their affinity for surgical masks. On the plane, the trains, and just walking down the street people don their masks like it's an every day part of life, somwthing which is just so bizarre to the average westerner.
My first port of call was the Oak Hotel in Ueno, supposedly a 'mild' Tokyo district. If this is mild then i fear for what Shinjuku will be like. Advertising, everywhere. The signage adorns every street corner, every building, every bus and train, everything has advertising space on it. It's an overwhelming visual assault on the senses, but, thankfully, there are quiet retreats which intersperse the bright lights. Parks, pagodas, and traditional Japanese culture side-by-side with modern bustling Tokyo - and this is what makes Japan so amazing.
Ueno Park is a prime example of tranquility amongst chaos. Winding wooded paths conceal hidden pagodas, statues of heroic Samuri, torii gates, shinto shrines and expansive museums. You can look one way and see the imposing statue of Saigo Takamori, look the other and see the bright panorama of Asakusa-dori. Brilliant.
Once you work up a thirst there is the experience of ordering Japanese food. This really is a challenge when you have no grasp of Japanese of Kanji. Point, and nod. So I pointed to a tall glass of dark liquid with ice in it; coke, surely. Apparently not, not unless you take your coke with sugar and cream. Yep, iced coffee. A sign of the adventures yet to come....
Sayonara for now!
As expected the flight was terrible, made even more miserable only by my inability to use chopsticks as the indigenous Japanese fellow next to me fought back the laughter when he saw me cutting up my noodles with a knife and fork. Amazingly, upon landing, I was able to bundle my way through the airport train station and catch the right train to Tokyo central. The quiet calm of the Narita Express train was broken when switiching to the hustle-and-bustle of the Yamanote line and standing shoulder to shoulder with the Japanese locals.
One of the first things that strikes you about the Japanese is their affinity for surgical masks. On the plane, the trains, and just walking down the street people don their masks like it's an every day part of life, somwthing which is just so bizarre to the average westerner.
My first port of call was the Oak Hotel in Ueno, supposedly a 'mild' Tokyo district. If this is mild then i fear for what Shinjuku will be like. Advertising, everywhere. The signage adorns every street corner, every building, every bus and train, everything has advertising space on it. It's an overwhelming visual assault on the senses, but, thankfully, there are quiet retreats which intersperse the bright lights. Parks, pagodas, and traditional Japanese culture side-by-side with modern bustling Tokyo - and this is what makes Japan so amazing.
Ueno Park is a prime example of tranquility amongst chaos. Winding wooded paths conceal hidden pagodas, statues of heroic Samuri, torii gates, shinto shrines and expansive museums. You can look one way and see the imposing statue of Saigo Takamori, look the other and see the bright panorama of Asakusa-dori. Brilliant.
Once you work up a thirst there is the experience of ordering Japanese food. This really is a challenge when you have no grasp of Japanese of Kanji. Point, and nod. So I pointed to a tall glass of dark liquid with ice in it; coke, surely. Apparently not, not unless you take your coke with sugar and cream. Yep, iced coffee. A sign of the adventures yet to come....
Sayonara for now!
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