The weather forecast says we will have clear, sunny skies, and after a Family Mart breakfast (good coffee) we decided to make the most of it and set off to the Senso-ji Temple. We managed to navigate the public transport system without a hitch. Sensoji (浅草寺, Sensōji, also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple) is a Buddhist temple located in Asakusa. It is one of Tokyo‘s most colourful and popular temples. According to legend, in 628AD, two brothers fished a statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, out of the Sumida River. Though they put the statue back into the river, it always returned to them. Sensoji was built nearby for the goddess of Kannon and was completed in 645, making it Tokyo’s oldest temple.
The crowds were as we expected, so the experience was not a peaceful one, but it was still a lovely first experience. We wandered the nearby streets and escaped the crowds, finding some interesting restaurants amongst the souvenir shops. Happy with our first foray we headed home, finding the best bus option. The walk from the bus to our little apartment took us past a lovely little shrine, with a fishpond and some huge koi. The little parks and sanctuaries like the shrine are gems of the culture that the Japanese are keeping alive. Our experiences on the buses and trains are just as peaceful – whilst crowded, passengers are quiet and respectful of each other. It makes the journey feel incredibly safe and stress-free (once you work out the system!).
Disappointingly, we couldn’t find a restaurant nearby for an early dinner (restaurants near us seem to be thin on the ground), so we hit Family Mart again for a pre-packaged meal. Thankfully, they are delicious, and we both enjoyed our chicken and rice meals. Colin is happy – beer is cheap and as one of his favourite beers are Japanese, life is good. Our walks to our Family Mart are flanked by clubs that display lots of photos of beautiful Japanese women – upon further investigation, I have managed to book us in an area surrounded by soaphouses and other ‘clubs’ that provide specific services for men. Some of the names are interesting – among my favourites are ‘Rocket Wife’ and ‘Violence Soap’ – and it would appear to be a hugely competitive market. Unlike Patpong Road in Bangkok, the staff standing at the door to welcome guests don’t grab passing men’s arms and shoo their wife away to ‘go shop’.
After a successful first day, we are rapidly falling in love with this city, the people, the food and the country.
Feeling more confident with the public transport system, we set of to explore the gardens of the imperial palace with a plan to find a restaurant for lunch, thinking the area might be similar to the area around Senso-ji Temple. We found the gardens without any trouble and enjoyed a peaceful wander around a well-laid out parkland. The Imperial Palace has served as the residential place of the successive Emperors since 1868. It contains the Imperial Residence and the Imperial Palace Complex, where His Majesty the Emperor undertakes official duties. Various ceremonies and public activities are held there too. Other major buildings in the Palace include the building of the Imperial Household Agency and the Palace Sericulture Centre, where the successive Empresses have raised silkworms following the precedent set in 1871 by Empress Dowager Shoken, Empress and consort of Emperor Meiji. The East Gardens of the Imperial Palace are located on the eastern part of the palace grounds and opened to the public.
The gardens were lovely and would be spectacular in spring with flowers blooming, but we were still surprised to see Camelias blooming, as well as the early flowering of the plum trees. It was a peaceful and pretty way to accumulate our steps for the day.
We left the gardens and started walking around the palace complex, letting the joggers dodge around us. Apparently, the marathon follows this route, so it is a popular place for the locals to run. As we walked, we were not seeing many lunch options, with the surrounding buildings very office high-rise and not welcoming for hungry tourists. We decided our lunch options were so limited that we needed to find a different part of the city, so we jumped on the subway and headed towards Shibuya.
This is home to the famous Shibuya Scramble, and pedestrian crossing where traffic stops and walkers are given free reign to walk in any direction to get to their destination. After a disappointing lunch at a small Chinese restaurant, where the staff were lovely and saved us from ordering sheep tripe from the Japanese writing menu, we set off by train to find the Scramble.
Scramble Square is surrounded by towering skyscrapers and there are plenty of restaurants and venues to find a bird’s eye view of the pedestrians making their way across the streets. We were active participants and, as is the way in Japan, whilst there were a lot of people, it was a very polite experience. Not at all as stressful or chaotic as Ho Chi Minh! We wandered some of the streets around the square, and then decided to try for a view from Starbucks – definitely a budget option, especially when we shared a fruity slushy. Satisfied with our exploration, we headed home, with a stop at our local Family Mart for snacks for dinner.
Our next big exploration day led us to the beautiful forests surrounding Meiji Jingu shrine, a Shinto shrine that is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Express Shoken. The emperor’s grave is located at Fushimimomoyama, south of Kyoto. The emperor died in 1912 and a resolution was passed to commemorate his role in the Meiji Restoration, so an iris garden in Tokyo which the emperor and emperess were known to visit was chosen as the building’s location. The forest and shrine are peaceful and we paid homage to them at the shrine.
From here, we set off using the public transport system to make our way towards Team Lab Planets, where we were booked for a 2pm entry. With an hour’s travel time, we set out, and, arriving too early to go into the Team Lab, we found a nearby café where we enjoyed one of the best scones and coffee we’ve ever had. They sure know how to do food in this country.
Team Lab was a mixed experience. On the one hand, the art is rather spectacular and very immersive, to the point of getting your feet wet, but we found it rather chaotic and difficult to navigate, especially as there were no explanations of using the lockers, and once inside the displays, it could be difficult to find exits. As there are a lot of mirrors used, it does make it even more challenging, and some exhibits were quite disorienting. But it was fun to experience the 360-degree art, which was both beautiful, and sensory.
We left Team Lab feeling a little underwhelmed – perhaps because we had heard rave reviews about it – and made our way back towards home. Each time we board a bus, it takes us on a different route, so when we got off, we decided to find somewhere to eat. Our local area around our hostel caters well for the sex-starved, but not for empty tummies, so we found a well-rated ramen restaurant and made our way. When we entered the restaurant, we were the only customers, but being rather early, we broke our rule of not eating somewhere that was empty and were well rewarded. The ramen was superb, with typical friendly service. We shared a couple of bottles of beer and Colin tried a highball, which was really good.
Our detour to the restaurant meant we had a fair walk to get home, but the weather has been gorgeous, so we navigated our way back to the hostel on foot. While I intensely dislike the walking stick, it is helping to ease the pain on my hip. Some days are good, some not so good – today has definitely been a good day.
Sticking with the tourist attractions, we visited the Samurai Ninja Museum, which is a small, but interactive museum showcasing the Samurai history. Our guide was lovely, with great English, and it was an excellent way to get an understanding of this fascinating element of Japanese culture. We got to dress up as Samurai and play with swords, and the end of the tour included some information about the Ninja class, with ninja star throwing. Colin got to the final of the star throwing competition, but his technique let him down in the crucial round and he bowed out to a Californian. Thoroughly recommend this museum as it was entertaining as well as educational.
Food seems to be a focal point and for good reason. When even the convenience store meals are notable, restaurant meals are definitely something to write home about. We don’t seem to have much luck finding restaurants using google maps, so when our attempts to translate a sidewalk menu were noticed by a staff member, we let her convince us to go inside and try their food. It was a small restaurant, but there were plenty of Japanese eating, so taking that as a good sign, we sat down. Presented with a menu in English, we were at least able to make informed choices. Colin opted for a chicken set meal, while I went for the pork. Again, we were not disappointed. The miso soup has been a real surprise for me – I have never been a big fan, but each time I am served it here, it is one of the tastiest soups I have ever had. Each meal feels like it is not only nourishing my body, but also feeding my soul. Our restaurant meals are working out to be about $A30 for the two of us, including beer for Colin.
When we eat lunch out, our need for a big dinner is low, so Family Mart continues to earn our custom for light, tasty nighttime food. The Fami Chiki is delicious – KFC rates a very poor second. The packaged meals at Family Mart have all been delicious, and the sandwiches are so fresh and yummy. It is very easy to eat well for not a lot of money. One of the packaged meals I had was a beef and rice dish; so good and I love that the little sides of pickles, or ginger etc are included.
Our last day in Tokyo set us off to explore the views of this massive city from the lofty heights of Skytree tower. Not too far from us in Asakusa, we still caught the bus even though the walking time and bus time were similar. Thirty minutes walking with the devil was a bit much (I’m developing guns in my left arm!) and the public transport is just so cheap and easy to use.
On arrival, we struggled for a while trying to interpret the map to find the entrance. Again, not many directions, so we took a chance and went up the nearest escalator. We managed to stumble onto the line where we could download our tickets and, for a change, we were just in time to join the queue for our 11am time slot.
Tokyo Skytree is a broadcasting and observation tower in Sumida, the tallest tower in Japan since opening in 2012, and has displaced Canton Tower to be the tallest tower in the world. It is the third tallest structure in the world at 634 meters. There are two viewing areas for the public, one at 350 meters and the gallery at 450 meters. There is also a floor at 340 meters which has a glass walk to give views straight down to the ground. Colin and I had tickets to both decks, with both decks made up of three floors, hosting cafes and gift shops.
The first stop was at 350 meters on the Tembo Deck, the elevator whisking us upwards at 600 meters per minute. The Skytree is a popular choice for tourists and was quite crowded, but it was easy to get great views over the city. We walked around the deck marvelling at the scope of the city laid out below – impressive. Our next stop took us to the Tembo Gallery, at 450 meters. This time, the elevator let us see the inside of the structure of the tower, with flashes of the city below. The gallery has a spiral path which rises to the highest point the public can get to – 451.2 meters.
Thoroughly impressed, we descended back down to the Tembo Deck and treated ourselves to a beer while gazing over the harbour. This experience exceeded our expectations and after standing on the glass floor for a different perspective, we made our way back down to earth. This would be an amazing experience at night.
What would a day be without a foodie shout out? We set out to find somewhere for lunch, thinking there would be plenty of options in the nearby streets…hmmm, our expectations and our experiences just don’t seem to be matching up. It took a while, but we finally stumbled across a little restaurant and took another punt as there were no other people inside. Again, the service was superb, and we chose another set meal – mixed fry up for Colin, and chicken for me. Superb miso, delicious food and fine sake – it’s a theme!
Being our last day in Tokyo, we kept to our routine and chowed down on more delicious Family Mart fare for a light dinner. I finally tried a pork bun – yum! Going to have more of those. As we are travelling very light, packing was more about not leaving anything behind than trying to fit everything in. our little hostel has been a peaceful, clean place to relax, and we enjoyed watching the free Disney+ movies. We didn’t make it to the attached café – Coffee Plot – but the stay has been very enjoyable. Colin finally worked out how to make the shower hotter (it has been warm, but not quite hot enough) – better late than never.
We are booked on a Shinkasen to Kanazawa tomorrow at 10.39am. The weather in the region is very snowy, under alerts and we just hope our journey is not cancelled or significantly delayed. Thank you Tokyo – you have not disappointed.