Day by Day Travels

September 10, 2012
I left my house early in the morning and headed to aunt’s house in Bellingham.  I picked my aunt and cousin up and we headed to SeaTac for our flight- which was already delayed before I left home.
We parked and caught the park and fly bus with our 5 suitcases and 6 carry on bags- yikes.  We checked in and headed to the gate- for our 2 hour wait. Renee met some people at the gate who were traveling to Asia from Egypt- expats- making friends along the way.
Eventually we boarded and as luck would have it- I had a free seat next to me.  Thank goodness as 10.5 hours is a long flight!  I watched 2 movies- Safehouse and the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  We were served an early dinner and then the blinds were all drawn, as we were flying towards tomorrow we never had darkness.  After a few hours sleep I was awoken to ice cream bars being handed out- weird but okay, I’ll have one.  I managed to lie down and get some more zzz’s.  Before I knew it breakfast was being served.  An hour later we landed and it was 6:30 Tuesday evening!
We arrived into Narita airport, had to go through customs and we were expecting hustle and bustle when we go there-but it was very quiet.  We sorted out Sean’s school papers, organized delivery of his air freight and got him a cel phone.  We then headed to the airport bus limousine and awaited the bus- outside- oh boy it was humid.  The bus arrived and we traveled for 83 minutes on the bus- really not seeing much as it was dark.  We arrived at the hotel Otani and then had to catch a taxi (remember 5 suitcases, 6 carry on bags and 3 of us!). Thank goodness we only had to go about 3km’s (820yen’s worth), bungee trunked and front seat piled high.  Eventually we arrived at the Jal City hotel at about 10 at night. Exhausted and jet lagged we went to bed.  Wednesday would bring new sites, smells and sounds.

That was the beginning of 9 amazing days in a city I can’t wait to return to.  Tokyo had sites to see the likes of which I never new.  We went to Akihabra- Manga crazy and electronics heaven; Harajuku- girls you have the coolest look; Shinjuku (where we stayed) amazing eats and treats; Shibuya temples that were amazing and so much more.  Cannot wait to go back to this amazing city!

Our first taste of the hot and humid day was Wednesday am.  We awoke early and went for a walk the 3 blocks or so to check out where Sean would be living for the next year.  There were little kids all over walking themselves to school, lots of people on bikes and did I mention the heat!

We got Sean’s keys in Shinjuku, followed this up by settling him in, a lunch of Ramen and a trip to the the grocery store!  There are vending machines everywhere, selling water, beer, iced coffee and cigarettes all in one! Traffic is crazy too.

Spent the day just wandering around this crazy city.  Wednesday night, we hit the area with all the small streets in Shinjuku, it comes alive with clubs and tiny eateries of all sorts. Not that we knew what most were as English menus don’t exist in many of these establishments.

Thursday we headed to Sophia University to see where Sean would be spending the year, then we walked to the Imperial Palace grounds and the area know as Central Tokyo- Marunouchi Towers and many tall skyscrapers. It was a way longer walk that we anticipated and we should have taken the Metro. In the Imperial Palace, the gardens were impressive- although you couldn’t see the Imperial Palace at all. The moat was huge and we found it to had giant carp, turtles and swans. We headed out the gate and in search of a place to eat- we found pizza! All the shopping malls in Tokyo are in high-rise buildings. We arrived at the Maronouchi Tower via an area called Brick Lane – that was very remanicent of London. The impress 10 story shopping mall had some gorgeous stores and the 35th floor afforded us hazy views of the city and imperial palace grounds across the way. The we headed back to Shinjuku for dinner- there are so many little eateries we don’t think we will tire of eating here.

Friday we headed to Akihabara – Electric city, where all the latest and greatest electronics can be found. It was loud, as it turns out this Manga haven too and each store has Manga characters yelling at you. We didn’t stay too long!
We caught the train to Ueno and this area of shopping gone wild- hundreds of stores packed in to alleys- my kind of fun! After these  crazy sites we took a long walk to the Yushima Tenmangu Shrine.
Yushima Tenmangu, is a Shinto Shrine near Ueno, commonly called Yushima Tenjin. This Shrine was originally established in 458 in order to worship Ameno-tajikaraono-mikoto , one of deities appears in the Japanese myths.  Later, in February 1355, the spirit of Sugawara Michizane, a historical figure, was also enshrined to venerate his extraordinary virtue as a scholar.  Sugawara Michizane is enshrined as Tenjin a god of thunder and storms.
After Ueno we hoped on the JR line to Yanaka Cemetry. When we got off the train we realized we had landed on the “wrong” side of the tracks and were in the Love Hotel district- hence the rest or stay price!!  We walked up to the temple quickly!