Day two in Tokyo and it hasn’t gone unnoticed that this part of the trip resembles the premise of the film ‘Lost in Translation’. George headed off for the second day of his conference and I took advantage of a slow start with tea and Japanese TV in bed. Thankfully, I am not so lost in translation and have enough of the language to explore the city freely!
Having spent many weekends in the capital I was looking for something new. Re-aquainting myself with the metro system I navigated my way to Ueno, a district in the North East. Grabbing a coffee, I sat in the sun of the main park to people-watch and practise my Japanese by earwigging on the conversation between two elderly women next to me. Next, I headed across the park to the Museum of Science and Nature. Here, I enjoyed the exhibition on Japanese wildlife, quietly ticking off species we had seen including the huge Crested Kingfisher and of course monkeys! Later I found myself in front of a live earthquake monitor – the map for the previous month displayed so much seismic activity, you could hardly see the outline of the country.
Making my way further into the park I visited a shrine in the middle of a large lake surrounded by novelty swan boats – a typical Japanese sight in naturally beautiful places. After picnicking in the sun with a view of the Skytree (the tallest structure in Japan), I headed out of the park to the Yanaka District.
This vintage neighbourhood is home to several shrines along with some examples of traditional buildings and shops that have survived many an earthquakes and fire. A particularly lovely example came in the form of an old liquor store filled with sake barrels and the first Japanese beer bottle designs. Wandering through narrow lanes lined with small craft shops and local vendors, I eventually found myself at a metro station and returned to the hotel.
After a conference reception, George later met me near the Tokyo Dome for a drink. Strolling under a rollercoaster (yes, in the centre of the city), we could hear the cheers of fans from the baseball stadium and stood for a minute watching trains disappear over our heads into the sides of buildings – true Tokyo scenes! One of our favourite pastimes is to enjoy a drink with a view over the city and we weren’t going to leave without fulfilment! We ascended a council building to a free observation deck and spent the evening taking in the 360 degree view of the glittering city – you simply can’t come to Tokyo without doing this. We feel a world away from the temples of Koya-san now.
The Geos go back to Tokyo 