Tokyo Revisited

So I'm afraid to say that the majority of my Tokyo write up will be used for the fourth issue of the Walnut Tree zine, but it only seemed fair that I finished this holiday blog off.

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.

Final Day - Kansai International Airport

So, this is where it all ends. I'm currently struggling with a japanese keyboard on the free internet that KIX provides in the departures lounge - I'm also standing up with my face about 10 inches away from the screen, so this isn't the easiest of updates! My trip to Japan ends in about half an hour as my plane begins boarding at 11.10 and I'm just killing time before then. I've had an awesome time and have had so much more to write about than I've been able to do on this blog. I still have Tokyo to update you about but it will be so much easier to do that when I'm back in Hertfordshire and getting ready for the English way of life again! All I can say is that my hotel did indeed have a dolphin stadium and an aquarium, and it also had 5 rides (one of which was a rollercoaster with a 360 loop thrown in for fun). Tokyo is every bit as busy and as mental as you expect it to be and so it was a tiring few days of getting a train to a district, walking for hours and then getting a train to another district. I'm half relieved to be heading into a day with minimal walking, but if my flight is anything like my incoming flight then I'm sure its going to be an endurance test to say the least!

Airports can be a lonely place when you have hours to kill and fortunately Bill Bryson has been keeping me company (not in the flesh of course, only in the form of a paperback).

I should go before this keyboard hurts my wrists anymore and sets me on a path to old age and arthritis.

It's been a blast - thanks to Tom for letting me stay and showing me the sights (plus beating me every single time at Winning 11 - I owe you a good beating soon dude!)