Tokyo (Part 1)

Our last destination on the epic adventure that was Japan. We had big plans, there was a lot that we wanted to do, and I am fairly certain we fitted it all in. We met up with a few people we had met in Japan. We managed to visit all the major places that we had not managed to visit on our first visit to the metropolis that is Tokyo. We were excited, and at the same time, we wanted every second to last a millennium. The journey had been perfected we didn't want it to end. Yet, we both missed tea, so we were looking forward to going home, a bit.

We arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday and after dropping the bags of at the hotel we headed out on the subway to Asakusa. Asakusa is famous for the temple there and was something we wanted to do the first time in Tokyo but just did not get around to doing. Asakusa's thunder gate and Sensoji temple are huge landmarks of Tokyo and they did not fail to disappoint they were a beautiful spectacle. The gates held up massive lanterns, bigger than I was expecting, and they were like nothing I had ever seen before. Tokyo is a unique city in that, before, nothing really came to mind when I thought about it. For example, I think of Paris, I immediately think of the Eiffel Tower, or if I think of New York, I would think of the Empire State Building, or even the Statue of Liberty. Now, when I think of Tokyo, I will think of Asakusa as the gates, and the temple itself were truly beautiful, and summed up Japan in the most subtlest of ways.

Asakusa's Thunder Gate

After Asakusa we headed to Akihabara. Akihabara is a popular district in Tokyo amongst teenagers, video game nerds and business men. That was evident upon arrival into Akihabara.In Akihabara we went to Electric Town. A town full of video game arcades, electric shops and gadgets galore. I literally felt like I was in heaven, a neon heaven, where the tall skyscrapers were the pearly gates. It was nice to have seen traditional Japan earlier on in the day at Asakusa and now to have come to the magnificent, technical and modern day Japan at night.

The next day we spent entirely in Odaiba. Odaiba is a man made island on the bay of Tokyo and is full of things to do and see. We took the subway to our first stop. The first stop was a shopping center, with the hugest Ferris wheel in the world. But, I didn't want to go there for that reason, I wanted to go to this shopping center because of it's name. It's name was "Palette Town" although spelled differently this is where Ash Ketchum comes from in Pokemon, and that just made me all giddy inside, took me back to my school days when Pokemon was all the rage. It was more of a novelty thing I guess. After the brief visit to "Palette Town" we headed to the Tokyo Big Sight. Tokyo Big Sight is an exhibition center, but one of the boldest architectural achievements in Japan, according to critics, and it was quite a complex building. It looked like they had but the roof on upside down. But the general area around the Big Sight gave a great few of the bay.

After the Big Sight we headed towards the main part of Odaiba. The port area that hosts many shopping centers, a hooters and a view of Rainbow Bridge. On the walk towards the port we passed by a huge life size replica of the One Piece boat. An anime about pirates is very popular in Japan, in fact it is the biggest anime out there, you can find merchandise anywhere and a majority of people had One Piece items on their person. Although I do not really know much about the anime it was cool to see the huge boat, being in Japan has sparked my interest in the Anime so I will definietly have to give it a watch.

We soon arrived at the port area where we were surprised to find a radom Statue Of Liberty and a Hooters, two things I did not expect to stumble across in Japan. The main attractions around the port area are the Fuji TV Building, which again is another spectacluar building, and the Rainbow Bridge. We waited around for night far and the illumination of the bridge. When the lights came on, and the sun had set, the bridge was beautiful. There were boats floating on by all lit up and the atmosphere was so peaceful, so quiet and so perfect. It was a moment I will never forget. Standing on the prommenade with Hayley and looking out to the bridge and window lights outlining the buildings and skyscapers of Tokyo. In that moment, I did not have a care in the world.
 
Stay tuned for Tokyo (Part 2)
Thanks For Reading,
Arigatou, Sayonara.