Tokyo is everything you expect it to be. It's incredibly busy and full of cool electronics and littered with advertising and neon signs. That's hardly surprising to most people I'd imagine. We arrived early Saturday evening as Tom had work first thing Saturday and the shinkansen train took us into Shinagawa. The hotel was literally just over the road and it was mental. Having seen the website before I knew that it had rides, cinemas, 3860 rooms and a dolphin show (yes, you read that right) but I didn't imagine it to be on such a scale. The queue just for checking in was 10 people long! Room was pretty standard but did have one of those toilets that warms the seat and spray a quite foreceful jet of water back at you!
After a bit of guidebook reading we headed into Shibuya and Harajuku for a bit of wandering around and people watching and had a pizza at a little restaurant just up from the famous 'busy' crossing. The train was easy enough as the Yamonate line pretty much mirrored the Osaka Loop Line and I could use my JR raill pass on it. Shibuya is my favourite place in Tokyo as its where the youth predominantly hangs out and was therefore lively and exciting - but you never felt uncomfortable or rushed. Harajuku seemed like the Camden town of Tokyo - in fact I think they should twin the two. There were enough "metal" shops to please a whole marching army of My Chemical Romance fans on a protest mission (how topical!).
The rest of the weekend we spent treading the streets and covering as much ground as we possibly could. It was tiring and our feet ached afterwards. It seemed like the natural end to my holiday and the train journey home to Osaka was spent playing DS and listening to Hey Mike!
Good times.
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