Friday
We arrived at Miwa’s house early in the morning, the sun was blazing, and already intense. As I looked around the sweet entrance hall, I noticed this sign looking back at me.
I got set up in Miwa’s room and we took in a drink and cooled off, before heading out in the city.
We took the subway Monzen Nakacho, our local station to Otemachi and walked over towards Tokyo Station.
This is when I first realised Japan was New York City from an alternate universe. There were so many skyscrapers, glass on glass on glass reflecting nothing but blue skies for miles. The pavements were broad and immaculate; also empty save the odd person here and there. Most eerie of all was how quiet it was. Visually this city was much like others I’ve seen, but on a much grander scale. Unlike any city I’ve ever been to though, Japan was silent! Amazing.
We explored Tokyo Station, which was immense. Big enough to rival a medium sized airport I’d say. Full of food and retail stores on the lower levels. Here, I had ramen on Ramen Street. Like many places we visited in Japan, you made your food order via a machine. You receive a ticket for your choice, which you hand to the restaurant staff who then whip up your dish for you, in always record time I might add!
After lunch we ventured to the Imperial Palace, for a free tour of the grounds. A nice thing to do if you have the time, to get a history lesson and explore the exquisite buildings beyond the palace walls.
As we took the tour the sun started to cook my brain, and we headed home for a rest before dinner at Bistro Agathé. The restaurant served up a taster menu of delicious fusion dishes including a tuna and salmon salad, seafood soup and pistachio crème brûlée. Simply delicious!
Finally we swung by the local mall, which was actually ginormous, like most things in Tokyo, so I could pick up a few bits to see me through until my case arrived the following night.
Upon finalising this I was completely pooped as you can imagine. We retired to bed, and conked out almost immediately. Which was just as well, we had an early rise the next day for our road trip to see the Narusawa Ice Caves!
Thanks for spending some time Up and Away with me!
I’m writing here to keep track of not only my travels to new places, but also my daily journeys through learning, loving and life.
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