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Japan 2010 - Part 4 - Tokyo
Sunday, August 1 to Thursday August 5
Sunday, August 1, 2010
We had breakfast this morning, finished our packing, and took a taxi to the train station downtown. The driver confirmed that we were taking the bullet train (the Shinkansen) and then took us to the entrance closest to that platform. We could see how the train got its name.
The Bullet Train
The Train Platform
Waiting for our train to arrive.
Around the Train platform
We bought our ticket and rode the train back to Tokyo. It was about a 2 1/2 hour ride, and made I think 3 stops. When we arrived back at the hotel, J discovered he had thrown out the ticket that we had been given for the luggage we had left behind. It didn't take them more than 10 minutes to find it though, and while that search was going on J went to the "tour desk" and booked us for the bus ride to Mt Fuji. We hope to actually see it this time, that will be on Wednesday.
After getting settled in we went to the mall next door and had some lunch. Then because we could, we caught the train and went to Harajuku.On our way to the train station we ran across some street theatre in a little mall. There was music and dramatic performances and I think it will go quite late tonight because I spotted some lights that had been set up for use later in the evening.
An outdoor performance near Shinjuku Station
A percussion group, all bells, cymbals, drums, etc.
Once in Harajuku, we got a few good shots of some of the fashion statements, and the very crowded street.
Harajuku
Harajuku
Harajuku - cosplay girl in pink
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped in the subway department store, and got some fruit cups to bring back for a late snack. We showered and put on our hotel yukatas, and ate the 2 apples which the hotel had provided as part of our welcome gift. We will get dressed and go down to the Regency club for a beer and some snacks soon.
Actually it was a glass of wine or two.... then back to our room for the fruit cups we had purchased. Only 8 PM but L is already in bed "getting her spot warm"....
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sleepless nights and mother's house seem to go hand in hand in this hotel. I'll try to do better tonight.
Breakfast was good as usual, although there is a family here with 4 children who all seem to have very bad coughs. I was glad our pieces of bread were already in the toaster when one child coughed on the bread table, not even covering it's mouth. If it's as contageous, as it sounded that should be on the airplane back home..... Oh well that's for another day.
We got the map to the coin laundry. It's across the street around the corner and down 3 blocks. Coin laudrys are the same the world over, good thing you don't have to be able to read to run the machines. That is pretty straight forward, and the signs are pretty much self explanitory too (although we are both wondering why that little mermaid needs clothes and where she is keeping the coin purse).
Coin Laundry
Coin Laundry
The washer didn't have any water temp or fancy buttons for washing either, it was just load it up and put in the money. The dryer ran for 12 minutes plus a cool down phase. As the cottons started thier second 12 minute dry, the rain started. J asked L if she had brought the umbrellas. Nope, they are nice and dry at the hotel...... We made a dash for the hotel when the rain let up, but were forced to stop in at the Starbucks a block short of our objective. We got a frozen Yuzu juice green tea mocha. L has become quite addicted to Yuzu juice. It is the local lemon, and makes really wonderful lemonaide.The rain having let up again we made the final dash across the street and got into the hotel only vaguely dampish around the corners.
Things to do on a rainy day. We decided to have lunch close to the hotel. In fact, there was a restaurant on the lower level of the office tower next to our hotel that served Japanese beef. The guide books all warned us that, once you try true Japanese beef, you will never truly appreciate North American beef again. We had always been strong advocates of Alberta beef but today our faith was sorely shaken. The beef was cooked (ie. charred on the outside and still raw on the inside) and then cut into strips or chunks. The pieces were still too big to take in one bite but you could easily pick it up in your chopsticks and bite off a smaller piece from it; it was that tender. I seem to recall that there were appetizers, soups, and other bits of food present but all we remember clearly was the beef. L thinks this may be the closest she has been to a religious experience in years......
Lunch - Appetizers
Lunch - Salad and Entrée
Lunch - Desert and Restaurant Entrance
Still kind of raining out and we have to justify buying and packing swimsuits (not to mention the bikini wax L got) so we spent an hour in the pool & hot tub. There was a little girl there with her parents, and she was having all kinds of fun.
Evening came, we went down to the Regency club and had a beer and a few snacks. The weather had sort of cleared up so we went out to see what we could find. We found a little Indie place for (mango) beer and a plate of rice pilaf, and much further on a place for sticks. Duck on a stick! Pork, shitake mushrooms and little green peppers too. We are going to have to figure out how to do sticks for ourselves. It would make for an interesting house party.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
"And on a clear day" the famous words from our last trip 2 years ago, you can see Mt Fuji from the hotel dining room! At least I'm pretty sure that's what it was. We could definitely see a range of mountains which is more than we've ever seen before (as we later discovered, it still wasn't Mt. Fuji, it was just a closer range). We are scheduled for that bus trip again tomorrow so are praying for another day that is clear. Today however we are going to go to museums. We went up to Ueno which is near Akihabara and has a University and large number of museums. We passed on the Museum of Western Art (probably has a Starbucks in it) but went through the Museum of Science and Technology. Most of it was natural science, neat dinosaur bones and stuff like that.
Museum day
After that, though, it was lunch time so we went back to the train station and looked for a lunch place near there. Some cultures have their Cargo Cults but Tokyo seems to have Train Station Cults. Every major train station has a cluster of small shops that spring up near (if not under) them. Most of the JR stations tend to have high end shops and restaurants inside them but outside the actual station, there is a whole sub-culture of small shops and restaurants that cater to office workers on their way home. We had lunch at a small noodle shop located directly under one of the elevated train tracks. You could not only hear but feel, the trains as they went overhead every few minutes.
After lunch, we went back to the museum district and went through the Tokyo National Museum. It started with mostly art work and some pottery but eventually moved on to swords, samari armour, tea services, and ordinary house-hold items from kimonos to dishes and other common items. It was all quite interesting though, by now, we had been walking for over 7 hours and were pretty much dead on our feet.
Museum day
Museum day
Armour & Kimonos
bowl, plate, incense burner
Kimonos
Hair ornament & comb
Ceramic Pillows!
Museum day
Museum day
We headed back to our subway station and, on the way, found a couple of very nice peaches to have as supper back in our room. We also stopped for pineapple on a stick and melon on a stick (let's face it, these people will put anything on a stick if it will sell). I think they were selling off the produce that was left over from the day. It seemed to work pretty well since, at a 100 yen ($1) per stick, people who were just getting off work and on their way home, were snapping it up like crazy. They were probably making more, per slice, than they would if they had sold the stuff (watermelon, cantelope, honeydew, pineapple) whole.
We should have eaten the peaches in the bathtub. They make quite a mess, juicy lovely things that they were. We felt bad about the extra work that we have put the maids to. Towels covered in peach juice, peach stains on the sheets. They are probably going to wonder what we were doing.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
It has dawned clear, maybe not as clear as yesterday, but you can see the mountain range from the Regency Club on the 9th floor (again, as it turned out, Mt. Fuji was not only still hiding, it was to the left of where we were looking).
I think I can see mountains
We had breakfast and were down to the lobby for 8 AM. The guide from the bus tour showed up shortly after and gave us our stickers for the Mt. Fuji tour.
We were taken to the transfer station and eventually got on our bus. We discovered that they had over-sold our bus by 6 seats so they moved a few people off to another bus. I know I would not have done the tour on the little fold down jump seats in the middle of the isle.
Anyway, we got underway and as we are headed to Mt. Fuji it began to rain..... shades of 2 years ago. By the time we got to the mountain it was occasional drizzle. By the time we hit the 5th station (where the bus parked for 30 minutes) we had intermittent sunshine. For the most part, we were actually above the clouds. We saw mount Fuji!
Mt Fuji "on a clear day"
The view from Mt Fuji (not quite as clear)
Mt Fuji "on a clear day"
Mt Fuji "on a clear day"
Mountain blue bells
Mountain blue bells
And Tour buses all in a row
The bag of chips on the mountain and at the foot
Lunch was good but a little too "Western" for our current tastes. The gondola ride was much better. With sun and only some drizzle, we actually got to see the view.
Gondolas
Gondola ride
View of the valley
Boiling mud pits, sulphur vents, Souvenir shop
Gondola terminal
The boat ride was also improved by a lack of rain and fog.
Our ship for the lake ride
Photo op and paddle boats
This is the way we guide the ship
Lake views
Lake views
J and our tour bus
We rode the bus back to Tokyo and J spent the ride talking to another programmer. L got some nice sunset pictures of Mt. Fuji.
Sunset on Mt Fuji (from the bus)
We got off the bus down by Shinjuku Station and found a little alley with at least a dozen yakatori restaurants. We should have found it a week ago!
We found a new alleyway near Shinjuku Station
A final beer in the bar on the 3rd floor of our hotel. Back in our room, we took a few nighttime pictures from our window.
The night view from our hotel room
We are ready to turn in for the night.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
We went down to breakfast and there was Mt Fuji, big as life and over her shyness saying goodbye. Took some photos from the Regency Club just to prove it can be seen "on a clear day".
And on a clear day, you really can see Mt. Fuji
We packed and left luggage with the bell man, went out to find some lunch. We found a bowl of soba noodles that had a piece of pork, several pieces of duck and some leeks. Along with the cold tea it was a very good lunch. The hotel shuttle took us to the airport and we were through check-in and security with plenty of time to spare. As we are travelling first class we went to the Admirals Club to check it out..... nice lounge, lots of plug ins for people's 'puters and free beer and snacks! Damn I could get use to this. They said they would announce our flight too.....
Narita Airport and back in 1st Class
The view from our plane
All too soon, we were on our plane and headed home.