Jan 22, 20094 min read

Around the World Trip - Day 21 - 22nd Jan 2009 – Tokyo (Shinjuku)

Woke up at about 8.45am and went for breakfast as it finished at 9.30am. There wasn’t really a huge selection of stuff and definitely not much to pocket for lunch later. It was quite a small dining room and the head Japanese guy was constantly checking what needed topping up and you could tell he didn’t like his staff to be stood about. As soon as anyone was just stood he found them something to do and barked something to them in Japanese. I had scrambled egg, some cold thing that was like a cold square that tasted chickeny (is that a word? Like Cupbaordy as is in cupboard like lol) some pickled shredded veg stuff and then some pieces of mackerel. Managed to pocket 3 small bread rolls, 2 jams, a packet of dried seaweed and a small pot of what looked like nuts or beans.

After breakfast we put on all our layers and headed out to explore the town. It was raining and very grey outside and a lot of the sky scrappers were covered with smog at the top of them so you couldn’t really get any good pictures. We had decided to go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building first as they were listed as a must see, as they had an observation tower and entry to the buildings was free (we like free). I took charge of the navigating today, as it’s not one of my strong points so I thought I better get practising before I go solo when we split up.

Successfully found the government building. It was made up of two towers joined lower down by a base building and then there was an administration building facing them that joining the two towers with an semi circle of walkway (if that makes sense, if not see pics). We headed for the tourist info area to get some leaflets on the area and noticed a sign saying, “Free guided tour of the building” so we got this lovely old lady to take us round. She spoke good English so was able to tell us all about the different areas of the building, where the library was, the restaurant etc. We passed through a corridor with various pictures by an artist who had been chosen to have their work displayed. They were all quite abstract but I got photos of them all (see facebook for full collection).

We went up to the observations tower but because of the smog you couldn’t really see very much. Apparently on a good day you can see right over to mount Fuji. We will probably go back up there at night when all the neon lights are on over the city and get some pics.

When we finished the tour we went back into the tourist info section to find out train info to mount Fuji, as we wanted to see it and also try out the bullet train. The bullet train was quite pricey to mount Fuji (about £50 one way) so we thing we will get the regular trains to it and then part way back and then do the bullet for a section of the journey. As long as we can say we have been on it we don’t have to do hours and hours on it.

We left the government building and headed over to one of the small parks nearby. It was a bit grim with it being winter and raining but we got a few pics of one of the shrines. We then headed over to look for the hotel where the film “lost in translation” was filmed, as Phil wanted to see it. Found it and got a few pics outside.

Next on the list was the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, which was supposed to fuse East with West as it had English, French and Japanese style areas. We found it okay but by the time we got there it was 4.30pm and it had closed. Now we know where it is we have said we will go back another day. Ideally we want to go Mount Fuji on a clear day so we can see it properly so if tomorrow is another muggy day we will probably do the Garden and then in the afternoon the local museum. Museums aren’t really my thing, truth be told, but I guess you have to expand your range of experiences.

On the way back from the Garden Phil wanted to stop off at a department store for a look around, so we split up as I didn’t want to window shop when I knew we couldn’t afford to buy anything. I had a look around and then bought some postcards, as I had bought stamps en-route to the Government Building (forgot to mention that lol).