We had a very short stay in Tokyo and wanted to make the most of it but were also exhausted. I only saw a bit of it but the things we experienced gave me a sense of what Tokyo was like.
With Steve Ford and Paul Jackson-Clark
Steve is CEO and Paul is Director of Fundraising at Parkinson's UK. This week they're my travel buddies.
We landed around 7am so had a whole day ahead of us before we could check into a hotel at 3pm and have a nap.
What we did:
MASTERED THE TRAIN SYSTEM (SORT OF)
The Tokyo train system is a bit complex and had us stumped to start with but we got into a rhythm with it after a few trips.
BAG DROPPED
My bag, filled with Parkinson's UK postcards was ridiculously heavy and poor Steve and Paul had to lug it from the airport to our hotel where we thankfully were able to leave it for check-in later.
WENT TO SEE A PALACE
We looked at a guide for what to do if you had 48 hours in Tokyo and everywhere suggested this palace. It had gushing reviews. One person even said it was on their bucketlist. It was a nice, average looking Japanese building but I would politely suggest that person should get out more.
ATE A BARGAIN LUNCH
Prawns and scallops with rice and broth. For about £5. Yum.
WANDERED
We had a good slow wander and my foot cramps were behaving for once.
CHECKED IN / HAD POWER NAPS
WENT TO SEE THE NEON LIGHTS
We felt we had only seen one side of Tokyo, a calm side we possibly hadn't expected so we took ourselves off to see the busiest area in Tokyo. The minute we got off the train we could feel it getting busier. The lights were pretty spectacular, I think I had sensory overload.
TOOK A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE
Paul's son had suggested we check out Memory Lane, a narrow street with food vendors lining both sides. Our stomachs were rumbling by this point so we headed down there and were lucky enough to grab a few stools in a shack where the food smelled delicious. We had mushrooms and leeks cooked on the grill until they tasted too delicious to just be mushrooms and leeks anymore. We had pigs cheek and tongue. We had clams (or should I say we let Steve have a clam and waited to see if he got ill and wimped out even when he was fine.) Simple food and simple beer tastes so good eaten by the side of a bustling walkway.
SAW F---IT ARROWS EVERYWHERE
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