Landing in Tokyo by night showed illuminated buildings till horizon. Luckily we arrived at the Haneda Airport next to the center of Tokyo, so the way to our hotel was not as far and expensive as it would have been from the Narita airport. First impression about Japan
or especially the Japanese people: nice, quiet, helpful and calm. It started in the lane for the passport control, were you could exactly recognize who is Japanese and stays persevered in lane or who is foreigner, tippling around nervously.
About the city itself, it is hard to describe, but it could be compared with a mixture of Berlin and New York. You have places like the Bronx, hipster and trend quarters like in Berlin, neon-districts like Times-square and historical monuments as the old and really old parts of Berlin. In Tokyo are also different city centers, each a little bit different in its looking and the places you should visit. Nor typical Japanese Parks neither Shrines, Temples and the Palace are missing.
On the first day we enjoyed a not very Japanese breakfast at “vie de france”. But at least it is a very good place, spread all over Japan where you know what you get. The sightseeing on this day was mostly at the outside attractions. Museums we wanted to go were closed (renovation or holiday) and also the royal palace had a day off. Although the walk thru some parts of Tokyo, like Ueno Parc, Akihabara (biggest electronic market and crazy colorful shops, restaurants, bars…), the Tokyo Station (btw. under renovation at that time) and luxury shopping (with the eyes) next to the station.
On the second day in Tokyo, we went to Shibuya, the famous crossroad where thousands and I mean thousands of people crossing each time the light turns green. Of course a picture of the famous dog was also made. Why famous? Even after his man died, he came every day to the station and waited to pick him up after work. Japanese like that kind of stories and made a sculpture of the dog 🙂
If you want to eat a dog in Japan, it would be quite expensive as we recognized in the petshop with enormous prices for about 5.000 € per dog. And they are small 😉 Still the Japanese like their small puppies and take them everywhere.
Some special spots and definitively worth to visit are the Cat-Street, with a lot of clothing shops from Designers. A place to do shopping for women and men. But men definitely need a credit card, they have to pay the tenth of the price the girls have to. But even though it is a great street in between skyscrapers with little houses and creative shops. Next stop: two other parks, and one Sakura (blooming cherry tree). How crazy can you be about this? Well look at the pictures. The only blooming tree in this park was surrounded by hundreds of people.
Also a place to visit and which gives you a great view over Tokyo and is in addition free of charge is the city-hall with the two towers. A great end of two first days in Japan at the biggest city.
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