A delightful stopover in Tokyo

Location: on the train to Narita Airport

Time: 2:45pm

Weather: rain 20C

So it turns out that I didn't have nearly as much stuff as I thought and easily fit everything into my camping pack and another backpack with a lot of room to spare. The flight over was the smoothest long haul flight I have ever had thanks to the wonderful service of ANA. They even had Mario's Gelato for dessert. And the windows can change colours to mimic day and night! I got to watch a beautiful sunset just before we landed.

Leaving Haneda Airport, I took the Monorail into town and met up with my friend Ryan who is on a co-op in Tokyo. Having been to Kyoto, Nara and Osaka, my first impression of Tokyo was how new all the buildings seemed, that is not to say there aren't older-looking parts of the city and little hidden shrines around. We went up the Tokyo Tower and took in the concrete jungle that is Tokyo. In spite of how many people live here (apparently Metropolitan Tokyo is more than the population of Canada), everything runs exceptionally well and people are extremely organized. If you have never been to Japan the first few things that will strike you are the virtually spotless streets, due to their high concern with cleanliness, and how polite and orderly people are. Their calm disposition combined with a linfrastructure that encourages physically moving for commuting and a healthy diet, and it's no wonder they are the longest living people in the world. After the Tokyo Tower Ryan gratefully showed me around the famous crossing at Shibuya and then we found a typical izakaya in Shinjuku and had some delicious ramen. Somehow I managed to stay awake for pretty much over 24 hours (sleeping maybe only 30min on the plane) before finally crashing around midnight at my hostel near Shinjuku.

Thanks to jet lag I was up at 5am this morning and didn't need at all the 7:30am alarm that I had set. I got going at 6:20am and walked to Harajuku and then Meiji Jingu. The streets and those places were essentially deserted which I didn't expect from the most populous city in the world. Harajuku is the heart of youth culture in Tokyo and maybe even Japen but of course nothing was open when I was there. Walking in the forest around Meiji Jingu, which is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his wife, was incredibly peaceful even though I could see the skyscrapers peeking out all around. Later on I did get my taste of Tokyo rush hour taking the subway to the Imperial Palace. The Palace grounds were off limits unless you book one of the daily guided tours so I just went in the Imperial Palace East Gardens and saw ruins of the Edo castle amongst other interesting historical remainants. Since it was only 11am then I decided to make an unplanned stop at the Tsujiki Markets where I had some of the freshest sashimi don ever. Comparing to the other markets I've been to in Japan, this one seemed to be primarily fish and bean products. It started raining in the afternoon so I went back to Shinjuku and walked around the shops before returning to the hostel to grab the bulk of my stuff. As complex as the subway and train system is here, navigating has been overall very smooth even for a directionally challenged dummy like me thanks to their super clear signs and my maps.me app. Now on the train to Narita Airport for the flight to Taipei!