Konnichiwa from Shinjuku Tokyo August 18 Day 1

 Konnichiwa! We have arrived! 

Our 10 hour flight from Auckland was very comfortable. The Air New Zealand premium economy seat was spacious and the food was really good. After a recent purchase to upgrade my ‘air fly’, a device to connect my Bluetooth headphones to the movie screen, I found that this up-to-date plane connects to your headphones automatically! 

Customs was a doddle, and I recommend completing your customs declaration online before you leave home on Japan Web. This preparation made the process much easier and looking around we noticed that most passengers had failed to take advantage of this. 

We were met by a lovely young English speaking (phew) guy who directed us to wait for our transfer to the hotel, and were joined by another kiwi couple from Queenstown who were to be dropped off on the way. By then it was dark and they didn’t notice that they had left their backpack on the seat when they left, and fortunately his boarding pass had fallen onto the floor. So I managed to stalk him through Facebook, send a message, and reassure him that his bag was safe and once he gave me his number the company could contact him and return the errant bag. He messaged at around 10pm to say the bag was safely in their possession. Great start to their 6 weeks away!

Hotel Groove is smack bang in the middle of Shinjuku, and our room on the 26th floor is compact but has all the mod cons and looks out across the city. On the 2nd floor there is a food hall and as we were tired and it was late we nipped down there for some gyoza.

Lance in the provided ‘pyjama’

Last night when I looked out the window I spotted our neighbouring hotel, The Gracery, and recalled that this hotel harboured the mighty Godzilla! Eagerly I looked around and noticed a menacing shadow on the building. And there he was, right below us. We haven’t been in residence when he lights up and roars, but may catch him before we leave.

About a month ago we booked a one day personalised tour with ‘Tours by Locals’ so after a hearty hotel breakfast we met Sachimi in our lobby on the 18th floor and off we went. The plan for the day had been mapped out by Sachimi after she received our request for a variety of locations.We also wanted to familiarise ourselves with navigating our way through train stations etc. 

Before leaving New Zealand we had downloaded the Suica app. Money can be easily loaded onto the app and the digital card can be used for public transport and in some shops. One fly in the ointment is that yesterday morning when we loaded our cards I used my credit card and the money instantly arrived on my Suica card. Lance used his Wises currency card and the money has come out of the Wises card but is still pending and 24 hours has not hit his Suica card. So my future travellers, our advice it to use your credit card to load your Suica card.

Leaving the hotel in Shinjuku at 9:30 we grabbed a taxi and headed to Tsujiki fish market. The original market has relocated and deals in a more retail and wholesale business. The market today is lined with small stalls and all kids of sea food is on display. You can buy fresh seafood and also have a selected item cooked in front of you. There was a lot of familiar food and also some weird things that I don’t think I could possibly try. 

The market was clean, friendly and buzzing. Fortunately it was not too crowded and we wandered through with ease.

We did however sample some wagyu Kobe beef, and it was divine!

Back on the train we headed for Ueno, The Ueno street market, also known as Ameyoko, had more food and small items were offered for us to try. Beans, peas and nuts with tasty coating were consumed and again, the market was a lovely place to be. The temperature had been predicted to rise to 31degrees celsius and by now was about 28. The lanes became more crowded and even though we are used to humidity the air felt like you needed to strain it through your teeth to pull in some oxygen. In saying that, it was not unpleasant at all and we enjoyed looking at the array of food on offer. I stopped to try some candied strawberries on a stick. 

They took me straight back to being a kid at the school fair biting into a toffee apple. However, instead of the disappointment of a floury old apple under the crack of toffee these strawberries were a delight! They took me toffee was very thin and cracked like a fine wineglass, and the strawberry emerged sweet and full of flavour. We will definitely be on the lookout for more of these as we travel through Japan.

Another short train trip took us to Akakusa. This is a really lovely area with some beautiful shrines and small shops. We entered through the Kaminarimon Gate known as the Thunder Gate where we bowed to show our respect. The gate leads to the Sensō-ji Temple which is the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan. Sachimi led us through the procedure as we washed and sipped from the water fountain, discovered our fortune at the omikuji (fortune-telling sticks) and then paid our respects and made a wish at the Temple. 

The temple was really beautiful and I felt quite humbled as I made my wish, mind you the monk who was behind the initial decorated area vacuuming with a cordless vacuum sort of took the mystery away Sachimi asked us what we would like for lunch and Lance’s answer was “Anything with airconditioning.” The temperature had hit 32 and we were feeling it! 

All the way through the temple grounds and market there were young women in kimono. Some were traditional and others were a mix of kimono and Lolita. Lolita fashion is where girls dress like dolls with very short frilly dresses. Lots of lace and bows, and pony tails and thick beautifully applied makeup. Some have incorporated a steam punk look. They must have been melting!

Sachimi took us to a tempura restaurant that was nice and cool and the food was great. And an obligatory Asahi beer was had!

Another train ride took us back to Ueno where we wandered through the large Ueno Park. It was very easy to image how beautiful the lanes would be in spring time when the cherry blossom tree, of which many were more than100 years old, would be in full bloom.

We only saw a fraction of the park which also has a zoo! And after visiting the Samarai Shine Sachimi took us back to the train station and delivered us to our hotel. 

We highly recommend having a guide for a day.

After a shower, a spot of handwashing clothes for me and a rest we headed out for dinner.

Not far from our hotel is Omoide Yokocho (Memory Lane). Tokyo is buzzing all day, but when nightfalls it really comes alive. We were bombarded with lights, loud music or movie sound tracks, and hoards of people who are mainly young bustling in all directions. Five steps into an alley we were suddenly transported to a different time and place. A narrow alley for foot traffic only beckoned us with lamps and tantalising aromas.

As we negotiated the cobbled lane past narrow shop fronts we were invited into the tiny restaurants which seats not much more than a dozen people. Some had small aircon units pumping out cold air to try and lure you in and others just smiled and gestured to enter their wee establishment.

We chose a place that had skewered meat cooking on a gas grill. Perched on wooden stools at the counter we ordered from the laminated menu and watched her prepare our dinner whilst supping on cold beers. No veges were harmed in the process as we ate only meat!

From our hotel room we look down on a roof top bar and we were determined to try that next.

When ‘roof top bar’ is mentioned I imagine fine cocktails and comfortable outdoor furniture. Nup! It wasn’t to be. As we looked at the sign outside a rundown looking entrance to the elevators a man invited us in and graciously took us up in the lift. alighting we were guided through a small area that looked like the back of the kitchen whilst he explained that he was from Nepal. Out into the open area it was packed with people enjoying the humid evening eating and drinking merrily. The food looked good but we were already stuffed full of meat so Lance ordered a Heineken and myself a G & T. The beer was warm and the G & T came in a beer mug. We decided that this would be a good place to come with a crowd but was not for us that evening. So we took our selves back to our hotel and settled into a lovely bar that we had spotted earlier and enjoyed a champagne for me and an espresso martini for Lance and a delectable chocolate fondue desert, and no we didn’t share, we had one each which was lucky because it was so delicious there would have been a fight if we only had one between us!

It has taken several days to get this posted due to Blogger not talking to Google. Finally after much searching, consulting and bad language and spending $30 to subscribe to a blogging app I have managed to upload my photos.  

August 19 2026 Tokyo Day 2

 Today we were on our own, and we thought that a trip up one of the towering buildings would be a good thing to do. Our choice was the Shibuya Sky which towers over Shibuya Scramble Square and the famous Shibuya crossing. At peak times up to 3000 people cross at one time. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately it wasn’t too busy when we were there. As we sat under a tree to watch the shenanigans a young chap with a professional looking camera asked if he could film me. I had to drink from my water bottle and he said it would be on the news! Not sure what news, or what the topic was. Maybe “Elderly woman lathered in sweat takes a water break at Shibuya.”

The tower was well worth the 2500 yen (approx $25NZD) and we inadvertently arrived just before it opened and beat the crowds. The whole place was very upmarket and it looked like they had large events on the roof top. It was blistering hot and puffs of cool steam floated out of large poles and the security guards had air conditioned jackets! I just thought they were a bit pudgy until I saw the motorised fans in the back of the jacket. 

Descending from the ‘Sky Stage’ on the 47th floor we decided to seek some relief from the heat in the nearby department store. ‘109’ has several floors, all for women! Not what you think, I didn’t spend a penny, or yen; the whole place was for very young women, mainly Lolita style garb and tiny ruffled skirts with stretchy socks above the knee are not for me! But we did enjoy observing the clientele some of which were completely transformed from human form. Some cute and some a bit scary!

Shibuya crossing is right by the Shibuya train station and it was a breeze to navigate our way to the correct platform. Trains are so frequent that you don’t even look to see when one is scheduled.

Back in Shinjuku we wandered in a different direction and paid a visit to Uniqlo, but almost every thing was too small for me, even extra large!  I will just have to wait until I am next in Australia as we don’t have Uniqlo in NZ.

Realising that it was way past feeding time we found a place to eat. This time Lance’s requirement was ‘air-con and a chair with a back on it’ as many of the places we have been have only stools. We had no idea what the food was to be and the guy at the front desk just pointed to a laminated menu and we said yes. At the table he spoke rapidly in Japanese and when we expressed our confusion he grabbed an English speaking waiter and it worked out that we had 90 minutes to eat all that we wanted. We still had no idea how much it was but it was not a salubrious establishment so we felt comfortable that all would be okay.

The food was a mixture of Thai and Japanese and was all buffet, but really great. I gave the deserts a miss as they all looked a bit jellyish.

Fed and watered we made our way back to the hotel. There is a large square out the front of the main entry to Kabukicho Tower where our hotel is located. On our first morning there was a movie being filmed there and this evening there was a sort of dance off thing happening. There are queues of people waiting to enter the building for a variety of shows. Our hotel lobby is unlike any the we have been to, the desk is a large circle inn the centre and the reception staff are on the outer, on our side, of the circle. Check in is done on an iPad by the customer with staff close by to assist. Robots are sitting in their stations to do something? But we never quite worked out what they did. We would definitely stay here again.

I had spied a small bar through the glass wall of the elevator, it was just around the corner, so after a rest and a shower we found it and sat with a beer and a mojito listening to some old school music. 

And then moved further up the road and found a nice sushi restaurant. A young staff member introduced himself and proceeded to ask where we were from. “Ahhhh, I lived for a year in New Zealand.” It transpires that he spent a year in Te Puke on a high school exchange, and his sister is currently studying English in Auckland. The sushimi, and tempura were delicious. I had tempura sweetcorn and Lance tempura prawns, although here they call them shrimp even though they are large.

After dinner we found our way to Golden Gai, another serious of tiny alleys, this time filled with tiny bars. As it was early in the evening it was easy to wander through until we found a nice little gin bar.

Our young lady serving in the bar told us it was quite a large bar for Golden Gai as she could fit 12 people sitting. And will not take standing patrons. She lured me into a lovely Japanese gin, that I will likely never be able to experience again. Lance some Japanese beer that he said was good. We had a lovely time chatting to her, her English was great and we asked how she became such a good speaker of English. “Working here,” was her reply. “That’s why I work here.” It was early in the evening, perhaps 8pm? And she would have the bar open until 5am! 

Arriving back at our hotel we felt that it would be rude not to experience the delicious chocolate fondant desert one last time, and a beer and wine. Tomorrow we would be departing for Kyoto.