We arrive in Tokyo

Wednesday 18 September

We arrive in Tokyo

We had much more leg room in this plane and were lucky enough to have a spare seat in the middle four which meant we could put our bits and pieces out of the way.  I watched a film called "Weight of Elephants" sponsored by the NZ Film Commission - supportive to the last - but it was a bit dour, didn't really get it, could have been the interruptions from the flight deck and the meal served three quarters of the way through!  Anyway time to settle down and battle for some sleep.  I decided to take a 'Sealegs' pill as they usually make me drowsy, and I slept well.  The seats slid down rather than tilt back, so it prevented the person in front coming back on to me.

These lovely cabin stewards came round bowing and offering us an early morning cup of tea, green of course, although there was some dodgy looking brown stuff, I went with the green!

We had breakfast and only had an hour to go before landing at Tokyo aIrport.

We had arranged transport from the airport to our hotel, The Shinjuku Washington, at an enormous cost (over $NZ500 return for both of us), the airport is so far out of the capital it took 2 hours to get there and that was mid afternoon when the traffic was light.  We were met by a charming and efficient young lady with our name on a board, she took our trolley with our bags and guided us through the throngs of people and out to another huge area with 'limousine' buses  pulling up every minute and taking the queues of people to their respective destinations.  We were a bit early so she suggested we have a cup of tea in the cafe, but we really wanted to get to the right bus stop and wait.  'Sit here and I will be back to get you" she said.  So we had a fascinating 20 minutes watching the limousine buses come and go and the team of 'porters' all dressed in the bus company livery, sorting out all the luggage, labelling it and putting it on the buses, they were literally running to each bus and the passengers just got on and sat down, brilliant!  It was the same at the hotel, baggage off and off we went.

It was quite a thrill to be in Tokyo, although I did find it hard at first to find something typically Japanese, big 6 lane motorways all look the same, except for the traffic signs.

 
They were all in Japanese hieroglyphs with small words underneath, how any tourist finds their way around without a Japanese 'Ken' I don't know.  

I took as many photos as I could in a speeding bus and I was left with the impression that to cope with the pressure of people they must all live in high rise apartments.

 I was also surprised at how much water there is, we seemed to be constantly driving over canals, rivers and passed lakes

Wikipedia: "Tokyo Skytree is a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. It became the tallest structure in Japan in 2010 and reached its full height of 634.0 metres in March 2011, ... "

There was a lot of countryside on the way to the city and it was covered mainly in paddy fields,

even some of the houses had rice growing in their backyard.  

But as for something Japanese looking, except for a cemetery,

I would have to be patient.

The pressure of people coming home from work, it is a sea of white shirts and black trousers, maybe an occasional blue shirt somewhere.....?

We arrived at our hotel, and I have to admit to being a bit deflated when entering the ground floor to find a little information desk, lost amongst an assortment of shops.  The nice guy checked us in and told us to get the lift to the third floor.  The third floor looked far more like a hotel lobby, very busy but we were expected and they gave us a double room on the 13th floor!  Superstitious? Me?? So we found our room and squeezed in, maybe if we had asked for twin beds we would have got a better room.  

So we moved around like waltzing together, unpacking the bare essentials and stowing our bags under the desk which was pretending to be a business centre with the tv, pad for writing and the office chair. We did at least have a small tray with a couple of cups and some sachets of green tea and sugar.  We also had the tiniest of fridges, but nothing in it of course.  I will pass on the wardrobe and bathroom except to say that the door should be closed at all times!  We did however have a small pair of plastic slippers each, with a label which said "disinfected", plus a long shoe horn and a clothes brush!  I found the hair dryer the next morning.  I did find it a little disconcerting to see a notice on the bedside table that said "Please refrain from smoking in bed".

There were two restaurants in the building, one on the 25th floor called the 'Manhattan' which was very expensive, and the 'Baron' on the ground floor which was a brasserie, also serving breakfasts.  We chose the 'Baron', a bit disappointed they didn't have Japanese food, so settled for a Pizza for David and Jambayala for me with an entree of cold cuts.

After our meal we did a little exploring, to try and get out bearings and saw this pokie 'bar' which had a privacy screen on the outside - so of course I took a photo and put it on the web!!

Up the escalator to the 3rd floor - this hotel is very much into wedding receptions!