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| Cover Photo: Ueno Park, Tokyo |
After spotting whales in the ocean from the plane, and admiring the impressively square, small, identical fields that were very unlike those in England, I landed at 9.30.
I collected my rail pass, and wandered around Narita airport for an hour, impressed to actually see the famous Japanese vending machines in the flesh, and trying not to feel too concerned about so many people wearing protective facemasks!
I boarded the Skyliner train, which was shockingly five minutes late (I assumed I must have somehow missed it, as I'd been assured that Japanese public transport is never late!) and it was a beautiful shiny pointy blue train, which didn't stop nattering in Japanese for a good ten minutes into the journey!I only realised after looking at the map I was given with my Skyliner ticket that I could have saved myself Y1,200 by just getting the subway into the city. I'll write the unnecessary expense off as 'an experience'. It was cheaper than the Narita Express (another train, and my original plan)!
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| Ｓｅｌｆｉｅ ｏｎ ｔｈｅ ｔｒａｉｎ． Ｉ ｈａｄ ａ ｌｏｎｇ ｗａｙ ｔｏ ｇｏ ｔｏ ｍａｓｔｅｒ ｔｈｅ ａｒｔ ｏｆ ｃａｐｔｕｒｉｎｇ ｂｏｔｈ ｍｙ ｓｅｌｆ ａｎｄ ｍｙ ｓｕｂｊｅｃｔ ｉｎ ａ ｓｅｌｆｉｅ |
The Skyliner terminated at Ueno, and Ueno park was on my list of interesting places, for its Sakura, and its zoo. The Sakura was just starting to bloom. I think it will be perfect by the end of the week! I went to the peony garden where there was a stunning elaborate Chinese gate. I have decided Japan is Disneyworld for photographers. The 20th March also happened to be Ueno Zoos anniversary (it's one of the oldest zoos in Japan) so it was free entry! I'll mentally deduct that Y600 off the cost of my Skyliner ticket. Ueno zoo has a pair of giant pandas, and my best friend loves pandas, so I joined the immense minute queue to see it. (similar to when I returned time and time again to the red panda in a previous blog about Scotland's Highlands Wildlife Park)!
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| Ｑｕｅｕｅ ｔｏ ｓｅｅ ｔｈｅ Ｇｉａｎｔ Ｐａｎｄａｓ |
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| Ｅａｒｌｙ Ｓａｋｕｒａ ｉｎ Ｕｅｎｏ Ｐａｒｋ |
I saw both pandas. There was no way not to. As Japan's oldest zoo, Ueno zoo has worryingly small enclosures. After seeing a mopey toucan in a cage less than five metres cubed, a balding bear, a seal with two weepy eyes, and a polar bear writhing on the floor in a way suggestive of a mental breakdown on this hot sunny day, I'd had enough. I'm glad I didn't contribute financially to keeping it running. It was interesting from an anthropological perspective though. I was pretty much the only 'western' tourist there, so I got good photos over everyone else's heads! The crowd oohed and ahhed every him the animal they were watching moved, like they were at a fireworks display! There was also the ubiquitous photo taking. Of animals, of selfies, of signs for animal enclosures, of selfies with signs...
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| Ｒｉｒｉ ｔｈｅ Ｐａｎｄａ， ｐｈｏｔｏｇｒａｐｈｅｄ ｏｖｅｒ ｔｈｅ ｈｅａｄｓ ｏｆ ｍｏｒｅ ｌｏｃａｌ ｇｕｅｓｔｓ |
Next stop was Asakusa, for my hostel. I chose this hostel on the basis that it won a Hostelworld 'Hoscar' as best hotel in Japan (third best in all of Asia). It's a nice hostel. Bright, large, friendly, with brilliant maps and guides for anywhere you want to go. I also collected my WiFi dongle so I can get maps online and don't need to worry about asking for directions by simply saying "konichiwa, <insert destination here>" in a pleading voice! (although it has worked marvellously so far!)
Next, on to Shibuya, the famous crossing in Tokyo's version of times square. It was a good "Wow, I'm really in Tokyo!" moment, people were walking across backwards, filming themselves on selfie sticks. J-pop was blaring out into the streets over the soundtracks of giant video billboards. I entered a shop which was a bit like HMV - only, being Japanese, half of the music was J-pop, and half of the books were manga. I went to the top to get a good view of the crossing. It was pretty impressive.
Dodging japanese girls (and women!) taking selfies with boyband posters, I then wandered to the nearby Ｙｏｙｏｇｉ park, where I had read I could spot a traditional Japanese wedding! I was out of luck, as it was early evening by the time I arrived, but I did get lucky with some very atmospheric low light shots of the Ｍｅｊｉ Ｊｉｎｇｕ temple, and I also saw a lot of fascinating ｈａｒａｊｕｋｕ ｇｉｒｌｓ！! The park had a few performers dotted around, reminding me of London's Covent garden, and unlike Ueno was a forested sanctuary. Definitely my kind of park!
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| Ａ ｖｉｅｗ ｏｆ ｍｏｄｅｒｎ ｔｏｋｙｏ ｔｈｒｏｕｇｈ ｔｈｅ Ｓｈｉｎｔｏ Ｇａｔｅ |
I followed the crowd to the metro station, and eventually returned to Asakusa in the dark, where I climbed (don't ask me why) the eight floors of stairs to the top of the Asakusa Tourist information centre. From here I got fantastic views of the Asakusa's principal attraction- the Senso-Ji temple with it's elaborate gate, and the Tokyo Skytree (Japan's tallest building)．
After that I couldn't resist a visit to the temple. It was a lot quieter and arguably more atmospheric at night, and I got some terrific photos, even though night photography has never been my strong suit.
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| Ｇｒｉｎｎｉｎｇ ｌｉｋｅ ａ ｌｏｏｎ ａｔ Ｓｅｎｓｏ－Ｊｉ ｇａｔｅ |
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| Ａ ｐｈｏｔｏ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｔｅｍｐｌｅ ｉｔｓｅｌｆ |
With all my buzzing around Tokyo, I hadn't had time to eat more than a cookie (which I had to quietly stuff info my mouth as eating in public is not accepted in Japan) but the lovely lady at the hostel gave me directions to an indian restaurant ("they always have vegetarian options") everywhere else was already closing at 8pm, but I had a delicious 'laasi' drink (it was very different to any laasi I've had before), a spinach Dahl curry and an immense naan to eat whilst I watched cringey indian music videos and tried not to inhale the second hand smoke of my fellow diners cigarettes. It was a nice place, and I would happily return if I wasn't seeking more authentic Japan.
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