Japan: Day 1 - Tokyo

The official day 1(26th June) in Japan started a bit late: 11 AM to be exact. Actually I think I woke up at 5 AM and left the bed around 7 AM because my physical body was still in the Eastern Time. The time from US to Japan is the maximum and this time I really found it difficult to adjust soon enough. Generally travelling from west to east than the other way round and incidentally my whole trip has been from east to west starting and ending at Chicago.

There was one thing that I found interesting about the toilet. There was a tap on top of the flush with which one can wash his hands while filling up the flush. Later I noticed it was pretty common all over Tokyo. After having cornflakes, banana, ladoo and several biscuits for breakfast, Prakhar and I started to make my travel plan for that day. The original plan was to go to a park situated in the middle of the city, Korakuen and then go to Odaiba, which later changed to Asakusa and Skytree.

For going to Korakuen, I had to get off at Iidabashi station. But as soon as I exited the metro station, I did not expect to be amazed at such a scale. There was a high roller coaster cutting through building leading to a question whether that roller coaster was built first or the building. I was in awe for some time and stood there for 10-15 min just to see the ride whether it was functional and indeed it was! Tokyo Dome was situated just beside it which was a huge baseball stadium from the outside but where rock concerts are also held (Coldplay). After roaming there for a bit, I went to find the entrance to the park. Even though I could see the park just next to the Dome but the entrance was all the way around.

Massive roller coaster passing through buildings 

The entrance fees was 300 yen and the park was indeed beautiful. It was quiet away from all the city noise. The only sound that I could hear now and then was the sound of the children screaming from that roller coaster. The park was so dense with trees that I could hear the rustling of the leaves, chirping of the birds and sound of the wind while it was so quiet there. There was one particular bridge over the water through which a tortoise was peeking out as if to say hello or goodbye to every person passing over that bridge. Then there was a bridge named half-moon bridge which was semi-circular in shape and one can see the other half in the reflection from the water. Also there was a pathway just inches above the pond with many big fishes on the side as if to scare us. There were places inside the park where it was suddenly so dense and dark with trees and with only me around. The park was full of lovely trees although their names were written Japanese.

Gollum fishes

Tortoise bidding adieu and welcoming

Half moon bridge

Dense park

Now time for food came. Debating whether to take the boring metro or to fight with hunger and walk a little bit more, I decided to walk. Walking by, I came across a big crossing and had to cross a skywalk to go over the other side. There was a burger place which I decided not to go and entered a mall in search for food. There was a shop full of women’s cloth upon entering the mall. There was a Wendy on rooftop but still I thought that there ought to be more. Maybe it was written but I was not able to read. There was arrow pointing downstairs for more restaurants in Japanese. I went there and then came the kind of restaurants that exactly I had been hoping for. The ambient and the restaurant architecture all resembled to ones I had seen in movies. I decided to go in a Thai restaurant and ordered a stir fried spicy minced chicken with basil on rice which was delicious as soon as I tasted the first scoop. And the good part is that however tasty the food is, you don’t have to leave a tip even if you want as it is against the Japanese culture. “In many cases, maybe most, tips may be politely refused. Just remind yourself: a price is a price.”

Thai food

Thai restaurant

Following, I decided to go to Asakusa and Skytree instead of Odaiba as I was already getting tired and wanted to spend a fresh day and more time at Odaiba. As soon as I exited the Odaiba metro station, a 4 year back flashback started immediately. Last time when I came here, it was rainy all day and I was with 5 other friends. This time, it was sunny, I was alone and the crowd was much more. I took the usual route having all the shops but this time I actually saw what were the exact things that were there and tried to remember the spots where we took the photos of one other last time. Last time, I didn’t try that fortune sticks because we were like too ethical as it was written there to pay 100yen to try. This time, I saw many people do that thing without paying so I also did that. After spending sometime at the temple, I went to take the route for Skytree.

Asakusa entrance

Asakusa market

Sensoji temple

The initial portion and the final portion of my walk were quite similar to the route we took last time as I could remember the landscapes and layout of the area. I was already getting so tired that I had to take a brief rest every now and then with a total of 3. I was glad that I didn’t go to visit Odaiba in this kind of situation of mine. Although, this I didn’t happen to take a road which lead to dead end last ime. Finally, after a lot of walking came the Tokyo Skytree in its full glory. Last time, as it was raining, the upper portion of the skytree was covered in clouds and we couldn’t see even the full Skytree but this time it was not the case. The whole structure was fully visible. I didn’t go to the top and after spending some time at the bench, I took the metro for Shibuya.

Skytree from a distance

Passing over a bridge

Skytree from closeup

It was maybe a 20 or 30 min ride from Skytree to Shibuya and even for that time, I was not able to sit upright in the metro. I remember I was starting to lean either to my left or right after every few minutes. Overall, the second half of the day was full of nostalgia filled with my previous visit to Tokyo.

There was a dinner party at one of the Prakhar’s friend which was like 1 hour far so decided not to go there as next day, I had to go to Kyoto. Prakhar met me at the Komaba Todai-mai station to give me the keys to the apartment and showed me the way. I went home and in a little bit fell asleep as soon as I laid on the bed after eating some snacks but not a proper dinner.