Sayonara Japan, It's Been Great Fun and Happy Halloween From Tokyo.



Black Burger at McDonalds for Halloween.

What a wonderful trip this has been for my daughter and myself, a good and fun bonding experience.  In just under four weeks in Japan,  we have experienced some local and touristy activities and sights whilst trying to also consume as much Japanese food as possible! I hope you have enjoyed my Japanese adventure blog these last few weeks.

We have, by now,  managed to fill a few suitcases with all sorts of offbeat (like roasted tea kit kats) items and again, thank you very much to the Japanese for inventing the luggage forwarding service.  We did not pick up or carry a large suitcase the whole trip, even if we did end up with 4 large plus two small suitcases! You just mention it to the front desk of your hotel, they pick up the luggage from your room and voila! It's in your next hotel room the next day. Wonderful service and a great excuse for retail therapy.

From Hakone (last blog entry), where we had some very futile attempts to see Mt. Fuji, we were hoping to see it from the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo but no luck again!  We decided to go up the Tokyo Skytree to try again, which has the most amazing views, on a clear day. It is the tallest tower in the world, approximately twice the height of the Eiffel Tower. No luck with Mt Fuji but breathtaking views nonetheless.





No one should leave Tokyo without going to the famous fish market, where all the restaurants go for tuna auctions at half five in the morning.  Queueing starts at 3 am for the tourist who wants to try and go see the auctions.  Numbers are very limited.





If you do, however, just want to walk around the market, you can do so after nine a.m., and eat possibly the freshest sushi you have ever eaten at very reasonable prices in any one of the stalls.  It was absolutely delicious and memorable. We went to the restaurant that was packed with Japanese.  Always follow the locals where food is concerned.

We were also lucky to bump into some good friends from London (and Verbier) who were holidaying with their family. Mark was born in Japan and also lived there, so speaks like a local and introduced us to some of the nightlife and of course, the famous club the Bauhaus, which is in Roppongi.  I still find it amazing that you have Japanese singers that don't understand a word of English and sing a large collection of rock anthems by memorising the phonetics.  The veteran Japanese lead guitarist and singer at the Bauhaus is hysterical, enthusiastic and very endearing.





We had to do the touristy 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku is where they shot "Lost in Translation".  It has some very nice views and a live band.  Just be aware there is a 2200 yen cover charge which does not include a drink. After that, it's normal European top club pricing.



We tried to go see more museums.  After a few hours of trying to find the Metropolitan Museum of Photography, we found out it was shut for a month or two, which was a disappointment .  Instead, I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, which houses a small but interesting collection.






My daughter was very keen to see Harajuku and if you like vintage shopping, this is the place to go. There are also a lot of offbeat small stores that sell Japanese interpretations of preppie Americana or English toff, or just strange ones like the Barbie store which had adult sized Barbie clothing. One thing about Japanese shopping, once you've been to a few railway stations (huge numbers of small stores) and department stores, you realise that the Japanese like to buy things that everyone else has.  So if you want a certain type of coat that seems to be very popular this season, you will find this particular coat in almost every fashionable store, large or small, with tiny variations.  Even when they want to look different, they need to do it all together! In my opinion, most the Japanese are very comfortable and happy conforming to what the majority wants.




Speaking about uniforms, do you realise that children wear their uniforms every day once term starts? This includes Sundays, weddings and funerals.  I guess it does simplify life and keeps the expense low, having your children have a uniform 7 days a week.  It just does seem like quite a unique practice!

We found time to go to the fish and eat restaurant, where you catch what you eat, which is quite fun but obviously famous, since even One Direction has their signatures on the wall!



Finally, you cannot leave Japan without doing Karaoke.  Of course, no one gets embarrassed by bad singing after a few pints or shots, but the Japanese sure practice "their piece".  As in the supposedly random but obviously rehearsed would be guitarist businessman that joins in with the band in the Bauhaus, any Japanese who takes the mike in Karaoke will have spent many an hour rehearsing and just wonders how you can allow yourself to make such a fool or yourself.
  Still, it's great fun!



In the end, we did see Mt Fuji from the airplane! We were very pleased since that was a great end to a wonderful holiday.  I hope you have enjoyed this blog.  My next one will be in April, when I will go to Nepal to trek the wonderful Everest up to Kala Patthar.

I will close by adding again some interesting signs we encountered towards the last days of our trip.
Sayonara and we are definitely coming back to this wonderful (and amazingly clean and odourless) country with great people and food!






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