Tokyo 2009 - Part 1

Tokyo, Day 1 - Tuesday 13th October.

Had an uneventful flight from Vancouver to Narita airport, and then caught the express train to Ueno. We found our hotel - the New Izu Hotel - without any problems. Here's some pictures of our room (including the very short door):

It was just after 6pm when we arrived at the hotel, so after unpacking and settling in we went for a walk around the local neighborhood, mainly exploring what goodies were to be found in the various convenience stores. Due to the time zone changes and lack of sleep on the flight we ended up going to bed not long after 9pm!

Tokyo, Day 2 - Wednesday 14th October

A combination of the uncomfortable futons and the early bedtime resulted in us being up before 7am! We decided to start our adventures by heading over to Asakusa, a "must do" on every trip to Tokyo, mainly because of the tasty food to be found at the various stalls along Nakamise dori, a shopping street that leads to Sensoji Temple. The temple itself turned out to be under some serious renovations, as it was completely covered in scaffolding.

After spending the morning exploring the shops and shrines of Asakusa, we decided to catch a train over to Ginza, a district we have never visited before. Ginza is mainly known for its many up-market and boutique stores, which made it somewhat uninteresting for us. We had heard there is a Kripsy Kreme somewhere in Ginza but since we decided to go to Ginza kind of spontaneously when we were in Asakusa, we didn't have the address written down and so we didn't manage to find it! We did manage to get some pictures of a few interesting buildings though:

We then had some lunch at the Lion Beer Hall before heading back to Ueno

We spent a fair amount of time in Yamashiroya, a 6 story toy store just near Ueno station. There is some fantastic stuff to be found in Tokyo toy stores, and a choice selection will be filling out our suitcases :)

We returned to our hotel mid-afternoon and had a bit of a nap. In the evening we went for a walk to explore the markets that can be found in the small streets along side the railway line between Ueno and Okachimachi stations. Unfortunately just before we headed out a massive storm broke over the city so it was seriously rainy and consequently almost everything in the markets was closed!