Tokyo First Impressions

We landed into a clear and unusually warm September day, into Tokyo. The flight was less than 2 hours, giving us glorious views across Japan. Especially outstanding was the view of Mt. Fuji sticking through the thin cloud cover surrounding it.

Once landed and through immigation, we caught the Skyliner from the airport into Tokyo itself. The journey was around an hour, we were both tired and dozed on and off through the trip. I tried to stay awake, so I could soak in the atmosphere of the real Tokyo, the suburban sprawl that goes on for mile after mile. New squashed tight against old, tiny houses sandwiched between low-rise apartments. Buildings gradually started to reach for the sky, as we got deeper and deeper into the heart of the city.

Apart from the expected, huge billboards, and a general abundance of advertising everywhere, my first impressions of what I saw were as follows: The buildings, some only seemingly a few feet wide are crammed together so tight, that you could probably cross a whole district from rooftop to rooftop, without once pausing to cross a gap that maybe to wide for you to leap across. The subway system often when above ground runs across the self same rooftop. Literally the tracks sit on the roof of houses and shops. The ground shaking ever so slightly whenever a train thunders by.

There is the courtesy in Japan that you hear about. Unlike South Korea, the cars stop at intersections, and give priority to pedestrians. They even drive on the "right" side of the road, like us Brits. The many bicycles weaving through the pedestrian traffic takes a little getting used to, but you quickly learn to up your sensory awareness on such matters. Also despite the areas we have seem so far being old, Tokyo is a very old and in places tired looking city. Or should I say it looks "lived in", comfortable like an old slightly thread-bear armchair. Tokyo is clean. Not clinically clean, but unscrupiously tidy.

Well it's our second day now, and the day we get to see most of the city. Once we've sorted out our accommodation. We've got to shift over to another hostel this morning. No big hassle, just a minor pain-in-the-arse. After that, it's breakfast at Denny's, which the American's among our party seemed to get all excited about when they saw it. After being fed and watered, then temples, parks, weird Japanese customed tribes of teenagers, neon, sleaze, high-rise skyscrapers, technology beyond imagination, strangeness, cultural quirks, huge cross-walks (the worlds biggest and the worlds busiest here in Tokyo), and many many other photo opporunities to bore everyone ridged with.

Right I'm off, going to find a vending machine. Shouldn't be so hard, there is 1 for every 20 people here, so many to choose from. They have them on every street corner, selling everything you could ever imagine that you could fill such a machine with so that it maybe despensed at your convenience. Except after closing time! Yes some vending machines shut down at certian times, we found out late last night. Oh, well another quirk of those quirky Japanese.