So this was never supposed to be a trip-report, but as I have not been able to travel for 18 months now, I’ve ran out of new things to write about, and rather start working my way through my old travels to conserve some of those memories 🙂
- Date of travel: September 8-10, 2019
- Flights: Hong Kong Express, Hong Kong – Narita – Hong Kong
- Aircraft types: Airbus A321
- Price: HKD 2386
- Accommodation: Private – with friends.
Japan was one of the countries I was hoping to explore a lot when arriving in Hong Kong – with direct flights to 15 different destinations there were plenty of places to travel and things to see, and in August 2019 I finally made my first booking to go there, starting with Tokyo. I am lucky enough to have a couple of really good friends living there, and they were kind enough to invite me to stay with them in their home in Shiba, and in addition be my guides while I was there.
I booked my flight with HK Express, and paid extra to get the emergency exit, and since I was flying an Airbus A321 each way, I made sure to get seat 12A in both directions, as seat 11A doesn’t exist, and I therefore get lots of leg-space 🙂
The flight was uneventful, and I arrived on schedule around 16:00. It took me about 30 minutes to clear customs and immigration (as a Norwegian passport holder I do not need a visa to visit Japan), and my friends were waiting for me at the meet and greet area of the airport.
Unfortunately typhoon Faxai was at this stage just a few kilometers off the coast of Japan, and forecasted to make landfall later that night, so we decided to start sight-seeing right away. My friends do have a car, so we first headed straight to the heart of Tokyo to the Shibuya Pedestrian crossing, as this is one of the most famous things you need to see in Tokyo (and I could grab a coffee and a snack at the Starbucks overlooking it too).
After hanging out here for a while we headed out for a drive around Tokyo, but the rain started to get heavy, so after an hour or so if light sightseeing we headed to a restaurant for some Ramen for dinner.
After dinner we headed back to my friends’ house, and had a few drinks and a chat about what to see and do the next couple of days.
Unfortunately, that night the typhoon Faxai made a direct hit on Tokyo around 5 am. This was one of the most powerful typhons to ever hit Tokyo, and the recorded wind was up to 134 mph. This meant that a large part of the public transportation network was knocked down, so the next day when we headed out for more sightseeing a lot of the MTR lines were closed. Without the help of my two guides for the day, Katy and my niece Fharina, I would not have been able to navigate at all I think – Tokyo has by far the most complicated public transportation system I have seen.
After falling in line for more than one hour, we finally started our journey into the heart of Tokyo, even though at one stage Fharina looked like she wanted to assault me for some reason 😀
Our first stop of the day was Tokyo’s oldest temple, the Sensoji temple. It was located not too far from the Tokyo Skytree, but we decided to rather do the temple and the other things that we had planned, so the Skytree will have to wait for another visit.
I must say this temple left me a little underwhelmed, having been to a lot of great temples in Thailand, Laos, Nepal, Cambodia and Indonesia this was not very impressive at all, it felt more like a local temple in a village than a famous one.
Next stop was now Robot Restaurant, as I was getting hungry, and I was under impression that it would be a hyper-modern restaurant with great food and robots serving and all that kind of high-tech stuff. We made out way back to the MTR, and after some googling what lines were still open Fharina was in a better mood and found the shortest route for us to Shinjuki where the restaurant was located.
Arriving at the Robot Restaurant we had to buy tickets to get in, as there was a show apparently as well, and the price was quite high. I did see a separate line for Klook customers, so I quickly opened the app and found tickets for less than half the price compared to buying them at the venue. We had to wait about 30 minutes before we were let in to the restaurant..
After taking our seats, I realized that this was nothing at all like what I had expected. Instead of being a hyper-modern restaurant, it was more like a mini brazilian carnival with small floats, dancers and entertainers, and looked more like it was made in the 1980’s than being modern. In addition they only offered basic drinks (softdrinks and beer), and the food was only popcorn and some deep fried chicken. Nor much of a restaurant at all if you ask me, remind me to do better research next time I go somewhere 😀 The show itself was ok, but nothing memorable to be honest.
After this it was time to see more of that Tokyo is famous for, so we headed to Shiboya City and in particular Takeshita Street for some Kawaai entertainment (Kawaai can loosely be translated as ‘cute’, ‘adorable’ or ‘loveable’, and is the culture of cuteness in Japan.)
I believe that due to the typhoon that had hit the night before quiet a lot of the places were closed, so there were not too much to see here to be honest. We then decided to head to the Monster Cafe for dinner instead, hoping that it would be really scary 😀
Considering that is was also Kawaii, I was not too surprised to find that the first thing that greeted us as we walked in was a giant Hello Kitty display:
Food choices were not to great, but we ended up trying both the Hello Kitty Chicken Curry and the Hello Kitty Burger with fries. Neither were food I am in hurry to come back to try again….
To be honest, this tasted more like vomit that they probably planned…
After this we started heading home, as evening was setting in, and we wanted to grab a few drinks and bullshit before the day was finished. I did however have to pick up a bottle of Coke on the way, which was also very cute size (not sure how many I would need if I was really thirsty….)
The next day was the final day in Tokyo, so we set off early in the morning to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, as I knew it was supposed to have some great view from there – and with almost unlimited visibility this day it did not disappoint! Tokyo feels like the largest city I have ever been to – it is not that many high-rise buildings, but just ‘normal’ buildings extending as far as you can see!
As you can see, the view was great, and I could even make out Mount Fuji in the far distance, but doesn’t really show up on the photos.
After having admired the view for a while it was time for lunch, and this time I opted for some really nice Japanese BBQ – at the Ushisuke Yakinuki restaurant in Odaiba (where there is also a replica of the Statue of Liberty in front of the water).
The food was, as you can expect, amazing, and the bill was also the highest for any meal I had in Tokyo, but worth every Yen, and definitely a place to come back to!
After this it was unfortunately time for me to head back to Hong Kong. It had been a really amazing 48 hours visit to Tokyo, and having family and friends there to show me around and take care of me was really amazing, thank you so much to all three of you, you made my holiday so enjoyable! I promise I will come back again with my kids whenever the world starts going back to normal….
Check-in at the airport was quick and easy, and I am amazed by the technology the Japanese have put into their toilets – even public toilets in the airport are fully automated, and you can was and dry whatever part of your anatomy you fancy….
I must say that even though Japan and Tokyo in general are very friendly and safe places to visit, I was very happy to have local guides helping me, in particular on a quick trip like this. There is so much to see and do, but unless you spend endless hours planning your 48 hours before you travel, you have no chance of getting much done unless someone is guiding you. I do hope that I will be lucky enough in the future to have someone as nice showing me around other places I will visit, or when re-visiting Tokyo again – I have barely seen the surface of a few things there, so there is so much more to explore!
Nice