Day 1&2 Tokyo
It was an easy flight
but still a long one and t didn’t help that I took 2 Travacalm to
counter motion sickness. I felt quite woozy for most of the flight, but it
cleared up by the time we landed at Narita airport. Luckily despite its
enormous size and the thick throng of people, Johnny knew exactly where to go
and what to do to navigate past the paroling robots to passport control. Find our
bags, buy train tickets and get to the right platform and the right carriage. We
made it with 6 minutes to spare.
A scrupulously clean train took us to took via Chiba in an
hour and then it was a quick taxi ride to our hotel in the Ginza. Even though
it was quite late (after 10pm) we were keen
to get out and about. Saturday night was big night out for lots of kids and the
place was busy with young people. We headed for the brightly lit shops, many of
which had people mingling at the doorways. There were loads of tiny places, but
they all seemed full. Johnny hates waiting outside places for a table to come
free, but as I was keen on one particular place, he indulged me and we got in
line. We ordered from a computer at the door, paid by card, collected a handful
of receipts and in less than five minutes, were ushered in. We put the receipts
on the counter and the chefs worked
their way through them. Apparently a “beer”, meant not just a modest 375ml. a
couple of half litre bottles landed in front of us. I had a lovely bowl of
ramen and Johnny powered through some freshly made sushi. There are loads of
these hole in and he wall places around the hotel so I’m sure we will be using
them a lot more over the next few days.
It was close to midnight and so we headed back to the hotel,
but not before going into a nearby shop that was full of people, music and
flashing lights. If Walt Disney ever designed a supermarket, this would be the
sort of thing he would have come up with. This place was an assault on all the
senses. People were leaving with carts of weird and wonderful foods. We made a
mental note to come back, because matcha, banana, strawberry and ..other
unlikely flavours of Kit Kats had to be further explored.
Our hotel room was compact but perfect. The toilet and
shower required some help from Google translate as there were buttons and
instructions galore. The bed was so comfortable, and despite the somewhat
strange bean bag filling in the pillows we were soon asleep
Day 2 began with breakfast in the restaurant and the buffet
catered for all tastes. Johnny, a creature of habit, settled for muesli with yoghurt.
I has steamed dumplings, yoghurt and then croissants. Hey, why not. I’m on holiday!
The hotel dining room was filled with a wonderful mixture of people from around
the world. The hotel was very popular and it was the only time I had seen a
lift overloaded. It stopped working and some people had to get out.
Our plan was to explore the Ginza, a pretty ritzy area full
of high end fashion shops. Both the footpaths and the roads were full of look
at me sights. A couple of sports cars kept screaming up and down the roads,
getting all the attention their drivers were hoping for. Lines of people were
starting to form outside some of the shops, because truly fashionable places
would never be seen dead opening up before 11am. By the time the clock ticked
over to 11am, we found ourselves in front of Itoya, a magnificent multi storey stationary
shop that devotes a whole fooor to Home, Work, Colour, Imagination etc….As you
can imagine, the prices were as astonishing as the goods. One Parker pen cost
over $4000. Who knows how much they were charging for Mont Blanc, and of course
you need a deer hide wallet to store your pen in. there was also a discreetly
placed defibrillator. Johnny thinks it might be there to resuscitate the odd
customer suffering financial shock at the cashier. It was amazing to see that this shop was selling a glorious collector chair (Nychair) that Johnny had bought for his Chelsea home nearly a half century ago. They take orders and have them hand made.
The main street of Ginza hosts a competition not only in terms of the
fashionable clothing that it sells, but also in terms of some pretty
spectacular architecture. Every building shouts exclusive and beautiful, but
the Tiffany building won my heart. It looked as if molten icy green glass had
been poured all over it. It was a thing of astonishing beauty. Way down the
street, amongst every building shouting “look at me” there was a modest and
unlikely little place that stuck out like a sore thumb. It was a tiny police
station housed in what looked like something built when Toko was a very humble
place. It had a different kind of beauty.
Of course the people parading through the Ginza know that
they have a responsibility to add to the show. Places like Paris and Milan have a reputation for some incredible street style, but I think Tokyo is in the same category. Young people in particular , are very fashion conscious. The style here is more edgy. People seem to totally curate their appearance. We saw some very glam looking people but today, I think the prize went to
a woman who looked like Marie Antoinette’s shepherdesses. She flowed down the
street with her skirts bobbing and a parasol shading her from the non existent sun.
For utter silliness, my prize went to Valentino who had tricked out a window model
to look like a homeless bag lady. That sight would have looked very much at home on
Sydney Road and could be achieved for under $10 at Savers, rather than $10,000
on the Ginza.
A couple of hours of the sights and sounds of the Ginza, was enough and we decided to head to the Hama-Rikyu Gardens, that sat next to the river that runs through Tokyo and surrounded by residential and business skyscrapers. The garden was once the home of the Tokugawa Shogun and the site of a fort. We bought lunch from Lawson, heated it up in the supplied microwave and walked a kilometre or so to the gardens. It was a lovely park and the path took us past a range of buildings that survived from the Shogun’s time. As we were finishing our lunch in the gardens, a lovely couple offered us some of the sweets they had brought with them. We had Matcha tea in one of the teahouses on site and caught sight of some of the herons and white storks that swooped over the lake.
It was a lovely way to spend our first day in Tokyo, which for all its size and busyness, still manages to preserve some tranquillity.
By 2pm we were heading back to our hotel, for a beer and a rest, before we set out for dinner.
Rested and restored we set out, bearing in mind Britt's good advice about not overthinking where we might go for dinner. The city was dressed up in her glad rags and sparkled in the evening lights. There was even a film crew making a movie down one of the streets. The problem was that so many places looked good, and even though it was relatively early, they were full of people. After trawling the little streets behind the main drag, we took a punt and opted for a place that looked busy but welcoming. It was an oden style restaurant that used a hearty broth for many of their dishes. The chef took pity on us and brought us an English menu. Johnny was my saviour and took charge of the ordering. Our dishes included hairy crab stuffed with sea urchin and caviar, some crysanthemum greens, potatoes cooked in a dashi broth, tempura mushrooms and some very tasty fried fish which was again presented in a broth. We found out later that the chef had earned a Michelin star. It was a lovely meal and a bit of an adventure. Of course we picked up a couple of desserts from a convenience store on the way home.
