The hotel that Graham had picked out was on the top 10 floors of an office building. The subway station was underneath this building and we never had to go up to street level. The hotel was also very well signposted and soon we were in the reception. This was a beautiful tranquil space. We had a short wait as there was a small group in front of us, but they were assisted very swiftly and efficiently. The front desk staff spoke very good English, and this was something I really came to appreciate. We were checked in and were given our key cards and directions on where to find our room. We headed up there to drop off our luggage. The room as clean and comfortable, but very compact. Even though the double bed was the smallest one I had ever seen, there was not a great deal of space in the room. I think the bathroom may actually have been bigger than the rest of the room. Still we were not planning to spend a great deal of time in the room, so this would do very nicely.
We had some time until we had to be somewhere. Graham had picked up a tourist map while I checked in and was studying this. I activated my Japanese SIM card and then went back to the front desk to see if they could print something out for me. Graham had kindly printed our holiday documents, but overlooked a couple of documents, one of which was my e-ticket for Tokyo Disney Resort. I was given an email address to send this to. Unfortunately, I had left my phone in the room when I went down so I had to go back to the room to send the email. Luckily, I had the foresight to bring some money as the charged me the princely sum of 20 Yen (around 12 Pence) to print off the two pages. I took my tickets back up to the room and we decided we may as well head out. Graham checked where we needed to go and discovered that the monorail station was within walking distance. So, we headed out.
There was not a great deal of interest on the way. I was utterly bewildered by the tsunami signs. I knew that Japan in general and Tokyo specially is at risk of tsunamis, but I had not realized just how close to sea-level a lot of Tokyo is. Often it is only 3 or 4 feet above sea-level. We also stopped near one of the countless canals and were amused by the diving ducks. It did not take us long to walk to the Tennozu Isle monorail station. We noticed that coming the other way would have been more of a challenge. Where we had exited in the morning was an exit only. The entrance was a couple of blocks further along and through a combined office building and shopping centre. That would not have been fun with luggage. The shopping centre part was quite pretty and we had a wander around before we got on the monorail.
We had an evening tour booked. I would spend most of my time in Tokyo at Tokyo Disney Resort, but I wanted to see at last a little of Tokyo. This seemed to work well. We took the monorail to Hamamatsucho. Our meeting point was the bus station which was supposed be near the monorail. We exited the monorail and could not figure out where we needed to go. The signs were in both English and Japanese, but there was no sign for the bus station. A passing policeman noticed that we were lost and motioned over somebody from a mobile tourist information desk, which was essentially just a folding table. The person who came over spoke fluent English. She gave us directions and then equipped us with all kinds of leaflets, maps and booklets. We thanked her and were on our way.
It turned out that the bus station was right underneath where we were. There was a small indoor market on the way, but there was nothing there that grabbed my attention. We found where we had to check in later and then decided to get a snack and a drink. Just above the bus station was an Italian coffee shop. We went in. Graham had an Americano and a slice of peach and raspberry mousse cake. I had a cup of hot chocolate and a slice of chocolate and berry cake. When we got there, it was relatively empty. We just relaxed and went through the various brochures and leaflets we had been given. However, as people finished work it got busier and to my immense surprise, people were allowed to smoke in the cafe. As it got busier, the smoke became an issue. So we left. I was really surprised by this. I has been a long time since I have been somewhere where smoking in an indoor public space was allowed. I expected smoking to be an issue in China considering how many Chinese people smoke, but it was not an issue at all. In Beijing, smoking is banned in all shared indoor spaces.
We decided to check out what else there was around. We found an exit out to street level and went to check it out. By then the sun had gone down and it was quite chilly. There was not anything nearby that seemed to be interesting, so we headed back inside. We then explored the various levels of the building and the Christmas decorations there. This was a real surprise. Christmas is not celebrated in either Japan or China, but a lot of public spaces had Christmas decorations up. At some stage, we both needed the bathroom. We found one near the entrance to the bus station. I was a little reluctant as my track record with bathrooms at stations and other public transport hubs is not great. This bathroom however was spotless and I had my second bathroom related surprise that day. The toilet seat was actually heated.
We then went to the counter of the tour operator we were booked with and checked in. We were given our tickets and were advised our meeting time and the gate where we needed to be. We had nowhere else to go so we went over to the gate and sat down. I made use of my Japanese SIM card and caught up with things online. At some stage, our tour guide came over to introduce herself. She advised that we were the only customers that evening, but we still had to wait until the allotted time. She did check with us if we eat everything and went into a bit of a tailspin when I told her that that I do not eat fish or seafood. She went off to make some phone calls and came back a few times to clarify if there was any kind of seafood I eat. I told her I was OK with shrimp, but vetoed squid. In the end she came back and said it was all sorted. She then walked us over the bus. Yes, you read this right. We actually had a whole bus to ourselves. That was a bit much. A car or even a minibus would have done nicely.
We were introduced to the driver and then we set off. She pointed out various things to us as we drove and explained a bit about Tokyo and its history. We crossed Rainbow Bridge, which was lit up in all the colours of the rainbow. Our tour guide explained that although it is called Rainbow Bridge, it is not always lit up like this. For most of the year, it is just illuminated in white with a warmer tone of white used during the summer months and a cooler tone of white during the winter months. During the month of December, Rainbow Bridge is lit up in rainbow colours in honor of Christmas. Other times of the year when there is special lighting is for Valentine’s Day and cherry blossom season. I was very glad that we were at the right time of the year to see this.
Shortly after driving across rainbow bridge, we made our first stop at the waterfront in Obaida. We headed straight for the waterfront to see the Statue of Liberty. I have to admit that this has confused me in the past in picture trivia as I instantly associate the Statue of Liberty with New York. This version is much smaller. She is only about 1/7 of the size of her counterpart in New York. However, as you can get really close, she looks impressive. We were really spoiled as the rainbow bridge is right behind her. The history of her is fascinating. There are actually multiple Statues of Liberty in Paris. One of them is on the Île aux Cygnes in the river Seine, which was given to the people of Paris in 1889 by US residents of Paris to celebrate the French Revolution. This Statue of Liberty went on a long trip to Tokyo in 1998 to commemorate the “French Year in Japan”. For just over a year, she stood proudly by the waterfront in Obaida before being returned to Paris. However, she was so popular that a replica of the Statue of Liberty from the Île aux Cygnes was erected in the same spot in 2000 and has been there ever since. We took plenty of photos and our tour guide offered to take some photos of us with the Statue of Liberty and rainbow bridge in the background.
We had one last brief stop to make before we got back on the bus. Just around the corner from the Statue of Liberty is a shopping centre called Aqua City Obaida. This shopping centre’s claim to fame is that it has an android receptionist called ChihiraJunco. Our tour guide made a comment that she does not do a great deal and she most certainly did not while we were there. If she is actually working, she speaks Japanese, English and Chinese and apparently you can ask her certain preset questions via a tablet. When we were there, she was on strike. The experience may be different if she is actually working, but I just found her creepy.
Once we had visited ChihiraJunco, we headed back to the bus. Our next stop was dinner. On the way, we crossed Dinosaur Bridge. Dinosaur bridge resembles two dinosaurs facing each other. This time we just drove across and did not stop for photos. We both tried to take photos, but because of the movement of the bus and the lights, they did not come out. Our tour guide told us a bit more about Tokyo and then we were chatting about our plans while we were in Tokyo. It did not take long until we got to the restaurant. This was in a food court area of an office building. There was hardly anybody there. We were taken to our table where a whole feast was waiting for us. Our dinner consisted of shrimp and vegetable Tempura, miso soup, a curry soup, vegetable salad, marinated beef and onions for me, sashimi for Graham and rice. We were also served some plum wine and tea. Our tour guide advised that we could order wine, beer or sake, but that there would be an extra charge for this. We ordered some sake to share. She took some photos of us and then she left us to it. There was just so much food and I would have been perfectly fine without the beef and onions, which I was given instead of the sashimi. It was utterly delicious though. I had my share of the Tempura, all the miso soup and beef, but did manage to finish anything else. The only thing I did not like was the curry soup. The soup base was actually quite tasty, but I have no idea what was swimming in it. There was no discernible taste to any of it, but the texture put me off. It was kind of slimy.
Our tour guide came back just as we were finishing our meal to check if we were ready to move on. We were. We made a quick bathroom stop and then we went back to the bus for our final destination. We were headed to Roppongi, which is a commercial and entertainment district. Roppongi is Japanese for six trees and there are various backstories to this name. One of them is that there used to be six very old and large zelkova trees used to mark the area; the first three were cleared, and the last were destroyed during World War II. The one our tour guide thought to be the more likely explanation is that the area was once populated by 6 families that either had the Japanese character for tree or a type of tree as part of their family name. Whatever the real reason for the name is, it made me smile. In the UK, we have a town called Sevenoaks. I have never been to this place, but yet it has influenced my life quite significantly. When I met Graham many moons ago while volunteering, he was planning to cycle across Europe in the middle of winter. He did promise to come and see me in Germany on the way back, but I have no illusions that if everything had gone according to plan, both of our lives would have moved on. Instead he collided with one of the oaks in Sevenoaks. Fortunately, he only had some very minor injuries, but they were enough to stop him taking his trip. Instead we got to spend some time together before I had to return to Germany and by the end of it, we had decided that we could not imagine life without each other. As you read this, we will have recently celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary so that oak has a lot to answer for. You can probably understand why the name made me smile.
The reason why we were in Roppongi was to visit an observation area that would give us a panoramic view over Tokyo. Out tour guide explained that our ticket would allow us admission to the observation level as well as the modern art museum that was above it. Neither of us had an interest in the museum. When we got to the observation level, we found that there was an exhibition on that level, too. Bulgari currently sponsors an exhibition called Serpentiform that is all about snakes in jewelry, fashion and art. This exhibition is traveling around the world and was in Tokyo from the end of November to the end of December. I have to admit that I was ever so slightly irritated by this. Not only are snakes not exactly my favourite creatures, but the exhibition lighting made it hard to enjoy the view as this was reflected in the floor to ceiling windows. I may have felt a little bit more charitable if I had realized at the time that there was a lithograph by Marc Chagall that was part of the exhibit. Some areas where more affected than others by the light pollution and we found some quiet corners away from the exhibition that allowed us unobscured views. Our tour guide came around with us pointing out landmarks every now and again. Despite the less than optimal viewing conditions, it was still enjoyable. We very slowly made our way round and once we had come full circle, we were ready to leave. Me made our way back to the bus.
On the way to Tokyo Station, where our tour would end, we came past some more landmarks including the Tokyo Tower. The Tokyo Tower is an observation and communication tower and is the second highest building in Japan. The highest building is the Tokyo Skytree, which is the new communication tower. Our tour guide explained that unlike many other major cities in world, Tokyo does not have any really high buildings due to frequent earthquakes. At night, when it is all lit up, Tokyo Tower looks like a small Eiffel Tower. In daylight, that effect is kind of destroyed by the fact that it is painted with red and white stripes. Although Tokyo Tower was not officially opened until 23rd December 1958, construction was completed with the erection of the antenna on 14th October 1958, only 8 days after Graham was born.
We had nearly reached Tokyo Station when my phone went off. This was my main phone with the UK SIM card, which I had brought because it has a better camera. I did not recognize the number. I Googled the country code, and this came back as Hong Kong. Now I was completely confused. I did not answer as I did not pay the roaming charges. I figured that if it was something important, they would text me or find another way to contact me. Shortly afterwards we arrived at Tokyo Station and it was time to say goodbye to our tour guide and our driver. Graham had been less than thrilled when he realized that we would be dropped off at Tokyo station as he had read that this is a bit of a nightmare. It may well be that during rush hour, but it was really straightforward. We took the Keiyō Line for four stations and then changed onto the Rinkai Line. Those lines would become a bit of a commuting route for me. It did not take us long to get back to Shinagawa Seaside station. I decided to top up my Suica card as I was not sure if I had enough credit to get me to Tokyo Disney Resort and I did not have to negotiate the machines during morning rush hour. The process was straightforward enough. We then headed back to the hotel.
I decided that I did not fancy another early morning nor the morning rush hour. I checked if there was anything going on a Tokyo Disney Sea that I needed to be there for at a specific time. The first one was at 17:00. As the park would be open until 22:00, I figured that as long as I was there by noon, it would be all good. Graham had nothing specific planned for that day either. We agreed that I would set the alarm for 9:00 and we would have breakfast before heading out. With this sorted, we got ready for bed, I read a chapter in my book and then we settled down for the night.