Back In Tokyo

Day 8 Thursday April 12th

It was a nice feeling been back in Tokyo after our long excursion down to the southern Japan. It meant finally we would be able to get a good nights sleep. At least I thought it did. To start off with we made our way down to the Tokyo Bay where we got a cheap ferry ride across to Odaiba. On the ride you get a great view of the Rainbow Bridge (50th largest main span suspension bridge in the world)the Tokyo Big Sight building with the 4 upside down pyramids and the Fuji Building.



After getting off the ferry we went straight to the Tokyo Big Sight and went wondering around inside. There was a conference going on and everyone was dressed up for it. Well everyone except me and Ryan who were in jeans and long sleeved shirts. We had a few looks but nobody said anything. Not to far away, was a car show that we checked out for a while and then it was off to another Arcade for some good old racing games!!!

Realising we were getting a bit low on time we made our way around to get some good pics of the Fuji Building and then on to the beach area to get some more pics of the rainbow bridge and the mini statue of liberty at sunset.



We had to be in Shibuya to meet up with one of my sisters university friends at 8:00 so we made our way there once the sun set. What was supposed to be just a meal out and a drink or two ended up being a little longer than that. We started with a great traditional Japanese meal and a few beers before heading out for drinks at 3 more bars. Drinks at these bars included glasses of Absinthe from Czech Republic, double shots of 151 rum, and a few ciders at a Irish pub. This was all prior to going to a club where we were drinking and dancing until 6am. After a quick McDonalds breakfast we said goodbye to Christian who had to work later that day and made our way back to Kichijoji. Well from Shibuya it is only about 20min on the train.... no problem. Ryan and I were both so tired that we instantly fell asleep. I remember waking up about 2.5 hours later and looking up to see what stop we were at. In my drunken state I managed to slowly pronounce the words on the station wall.... Shi... Bu....Ya. This is when Ryan woke up and also realised what had just happened. Sh*t!!! Yes we were back where we started haven ridden the train end to end about 4 times during rush hour on the trains which is quite an accomplishment I thought. My camera was still on the ground next to me as well. Had we been in London I am not sure my camera would have lasted 10min like that weather I was asleep or not. It just proves how much safer Japan is to most other places in the world.

Day 9 Friday April 13th

Well needless to say most of the day was pretty much a right off after the night we had just had. It was a day of sleeping, reading, eating sushi, and emails before we made our way into Shinjuku to meet up with some of Ryan’s friends for a few drinks. It was another great night as we were with Canadians, Americans, eastern Europeans, Japanese, and Koreans. We did debate staying out all night again with another drinking session but decided it best to catch the last train back to Ryan’s as we knew the following night was going to be a big one.


Day 10 Saturday April 14th

The day was spent walking around the Imperial Palace (called Kokyo). Unfortunately tourists are only allowed inside on 2 days each year around Christmas time. However the gardens are fantastic and it was great just walking around and catching minor glimpses of the palace. You also get a great view of some of the bridges that lead into the Palace.




From here we wondered down past the infamous "Diet Building" on our way to Tokyo Tower. Just before we got to the tower though, we heard the sound of bamboo been hit against something really hard. So we ran up a flight of stone stairs to see some marshal arts training in action. I was getting my fair share of the Japanese culture in the short time I was there.

Tokyo Tower is based off of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The main difference is that Tokyo tower is smaller and painted orange. We were going to go up it but as you get a better view from the government buildings (refer to first Japan entry) which is also free it seemed a bit of a waste to go up. Besides we were off to Akihabara.

Akihabara is Tokyo's discount electronics district and I was like a kid in a candy store. Stories upon stories of electronics in street after street. It was impossible to decide where to go next. One store we went in was at least 5 times the size of Hamleys Toy Store in London. Those who have been there can perhaps understand the size I am getting at. We walked around for as much time as we could before heading off to the Sony building to check out all the new Sony Products and a model who happened to be doing a photo shoot on the first floor.

As we were running low on time we raced back to Ryan's place for a shower and clean clothes before it was back into downtown Tokyo for a great Brazilian meal with his friends and a birthday celebration. The meal was amazing. It was all you can eat meat and they kept on bringing it out skewered on swords. Once you pointed out how much you wanted they cut a slab off and slid it onto your plate. After 2 hours of this we were all stuffed and ready to move onto the club Muse. It is also worth mentioning that one the things we ate was Chicken Heart. I might have liked it a little more if I didn't know what it was when I ate it.

It was a long night again for drinking and dancing until 7am but "most" of us stayed up all night dancing yet again. A certain someone.... "Ryan" fell asleep at the club yet again. hahaha. We managed to get a few hours sleep before we were up again and off to see one of the most famous sites in Japan!!!