Japan 2016. Day 2: Tokyo

We were beyond exhausted when we landed at Haneda airport in Tokyo at 7.15 a.m. As we stepped off the plane, we were greeted by a sea of people and the bustling energy of the city. We knew we had a long day ahead of us, but our tiredness dissipated as soon as we met Pepper, our first robot friend. 

 

We caught the Metro to our hotel from the airport. This is always so easy to do in Asia  and always problem free. We couldn’t check in till 3pm so freshened up and went to explore. It was a hot day we assumed it would be cooler. We made our way to the Hama Rikyu Teien garden for a relaxing stroll. The sculptured trees gave us much needed shade on this very hot day. The Park had three enormous ponds with a delightful tea house in the centre serving Matcha tea and traditional sweets. The skyscrapers in the background are typical of Tokyo, an ultra-crazy modern city yet full of tradition and history. The Edo era garden dates from 1654 and is a beautiful tranquil spot to explore. After surviving earthquakes, fires and air raids the 300-year-old black pine tree is still huge and spreads across the ground in its original spot.

                 

We then caught the water taxi along the Sumida River to Asakusa. It was a perfect way to see the city, but I must confess we kept nodding off a few times, we were feeling very jet lagged. We stopped for lunch/tea at a little restaurant; I had vegetable Ramen with crispy squid and Tim had chicken rice with pickles (no raw fish in sight )

After our delicious first Japanese meal we wandered over to a vast temple called Senso -Ji the lane leading towards it was lined shops and stalls selling many souvenirs. At the entrance was a huge paper lantern. The grounds around the temple were splendid, and it made a perfect end to our first day in Japan. No raw fish and super friendly helpful people.