Another Two Weeks in Tokyo

So, I was back in Tokyo again, and again I was not alone. Well, I was for the first night, arriving from Kobe and checking-in at the hotel a day before my significant other (the missus, ‘er indoors, etc.) to account for her early arrival the next morning. Awww, eating tempura in Shinjuku like a true bachelor.

This stay in Tokyo came in two part: 1) in Yotsuya at the Mitsui Garden Hotel; and 2) in Ikebukuro at the Metropolitan. The two parts were broken up by the three day trip to Kawaguchiko, where merriment was had, and was largely some good ol’ sightseeing for the Tokyo virgin.

Part 1 started with lots of rain, and continued much in that vein throughout. The Shinjuku Metropolitan Government Building view deck kicked things off, though little could be seen, so we resorted to drunkenly watching an FC Tokyo game in Shibuya in the Asian Champions’ League: where the J-League team always wins. The rain kept up the next day, but that didn’t stop us donning our umbrellas (well, the hotel’s) and seeing the north east trilogy of Ueno, Asakusa and Akihabara through rain drops. We decided to walk the whole way, which seems stupid in hindsight, but there you go: Another victory for Captain Hindsight.

Uenokoen

Sky Tree

Asakusa

The rain let off to allow enough time to go to the Imperial Palace and Ginza, but it soon started again, so we withdrew before an attempted night out in Roppongi – a place I’m not too fussed about really. We settled for some food, but returned to Yotsuya to frequent two genuine English pubs, one of which (The Rising Sun) claims to be the oldest English pub in Tokyo – true facts! The sun stayed for the next two days, with a long walk around Shinagawa and across the Rainbow Bridge across Tokyo Bay followed by the usual Sunday in Yoyogi Park, Harajuku and Shibuya following ending in some further football watching at my new favourite pub, The Aldgate, where it seems the American barman is a genuine, authentic Man City fan. Who’d have thought?

Imperial Palace

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Shinagawa

Rainbow Bridge

Tokyo Bay

Odaiba

It was then the Kawaguchiko was visited, initially with slight hangovers, for three days peace and quiet, before the second part of the Tokyo tour, with some slightly more adventurous locations.

With many of the main tourist attractions ticked off in Part 1, we started Part 2 with one of the main tourist attractions: Tokyo Tower at night, though we were a little more interesting the next day, heading west to the suburb of Kichijoji, a nice little place for shopping, eating and generally hanging round dressed like a clown as well as finding the Ghibli Museum, but not going in it (not sure if I need to see a model of something from a cartoon that badly) as the complicated ticket buying system seemed unnecessary. Not that it was complicated really, I was just feeling lazy. It was on the train back that I discovered the new dance craze among chubby Japanese schoolboys that everyone is talking about. Yes, the ‘Chubby Japanese schoolboy falling asleep while standing up on a train’ dance is going to be all over the globe soon. It’s not to be confused with the ‘Chubby Japanese schoolboy falling asleep while standing up on an escalator’ dance or the ‘Chubby Japanese schoolboy sleepwalking through Shinjuku train station’ dance. The evening was then spent drinking in Shibuya once again, this time in the company of an American I met during the earthquake last year to celebrate his 21^st birthday with his Finnish cousin. Then, a crippling last train home.

View from Tokyo Tower

Kichijoji

Last train home, Shibuya Station

We then did a round trip I did on my first visit to Japan, heading off to the old capital of Kamakura to shrine watch and beach sit before heading back to Tokyo via Yokohama port area and Chinatown. The weather wasn’t great in the morning, so the beach action left a little to be desired, but it was a good day spent in the nice old city allowing us to get our walk on. It grew darker and colder as we arrived in Yokohama, and as I grew increasingly lost, but eventually found the way to Yokohama Bay and Chinatown, but it was too cold and dark to stick around too long. Plus, we needed to get back in time to watch Richard Gere and Hennifer Hlopez in the remake of Japanese smash ‘Shall we Dance’. If only all films could be that good!

Kamakura

Kamakura

Kamakura

Yokohama

Yokohama

Having someone watch them with me killed my two-match winning streak as a Tokyo Verdy fan as they lost 1-0 in poor style to the beautifully-named Okayama Fagiano before locating a pub appropriately named ‘Camden Town’ in Ikebukuro which is shrewd enough to feature that classic Camden staple: the Rubik’s Cube. Then how about some real football? Last day of the season had to be watched. ‘Man City have fucked it! They have well and truly fucke…OOOOOOOOOowwwwaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAArrrggggggghhhhhhhh! That was liquid football.’ At least Villa just survived, thanks to Baggies equalising against Bolton the week before. Thanks Baggies. Didn’t see the news the next day coming at all; where will Sir Alex go now?

Tokyo Verdy v Okayama Fagiano

Tokyo Verdy v Okayama Fagiano

It was then time to be left on my own again by ‘the wife’ and take up a new hobby of plane-spotting and hit a shopping spree while staying in the urban ryokan, Ryokan Kamogawa. I took up some new trainers, an interest in anime ‘Tokyo Tribe 2’ and, since the sad news regarding Adam Yauch, took liberty in updating my Beastie Boys back catalogue (essentially their instrumental albums). I also went to see the poor 'Sadako 3D' for kicks.

Asakusa

Shibuya

It was a good two weeks and felt a lot more settled and like being back in London after all the constant unpacking and packing and changing of location. But it’s moving on up from here, literally, as I venture to Nikko en route to Hokkaido.