Dear diary...
Japan here we come!
Thursday morning: Train+tube to Heathrow, met David (HotWire) in terminal 1, we were both early and suffering from the same combination of nerves, disbelief and excitement. Whilst we were getting our currency changed over we heard a rumour amongst airport staff that Michael Jackson was on site at Heathrow. We checked in successfully and were soon on the plane where we adjusted our watches to Tokyo time straight away. The plan was to get as much sleep as possible, a plan that failed miserably despite David's rather hilarious efforts which involved covering himself entirely with his BA-issue blanket! Several lengthy conversations, two meals, an inflight movie or two and a touch of ipod and we were in Tokyo's Narita airport: local time 11am (Friday).
Was that who I thought it was?
Still in disbelief that the trip was actually happening we got through passport and customs without a hitch and stepped into the airport and found the 'airport limousine' that would take us to the hotel easily and booked a space on the next bus. We had about twenty minutes to wait so had a quick look around - there were plenty of CROWN taxis around along with a few J-only cars from hatchbacks to people carriers...I was excited already. Back inside the airport we sat down and chilled while we waited for the bus. The whole 'weekend in Japan' thing was surreal enough already, but things got freakier still when Michael Jackson strolled past complete with an entourage of burly bouncers and even his mini-Michaels in tow - complete with the customary masks.
The only conclusion is that the king of pop himself must have been on our plane - are we jet-set or what?
On the road
The limousine bus (don't be fooled by the name, it's just a normal coach) came on time (as we came to expect in Japan) and soon we were on the 70km journey into central Tokyo. The other people on the bus must of thought we were insane: while they were checking their guide books and hotel details we were excitedly pointing at nearly everything on the road - CROWN and Cedric taxis (love those seat covers!), VIP Centuries, dropped Previas and chrome-laden delivery trucks were common sightings. In no time at all we were pulling up outside our hotel - the Ginza Tobu, our home for the next three nights. We decided that a couple of hours sleep should take the edge of our tiredness and got our heads down for a power nap before heading out at 4pm.
Ginza, Shibuya and Dom
Time to explore! Feeling refreshed after our brief kip we ventured onto the streets of Tokyo, still pointing at various vehicles and sporadically stopping to pinch ourselves to check this wasn't a dream.
Vans like this are commonplace on the Tokyo streets - this one was down the side of our hotel
We checked out a few shops - the SONY building, the NISSAN gallery (no classics unfortunately - it's just a glorified showroom with just two cars on display) and the APPLE store: we couldn't see any of the electrical bargains that we'd heard about - prices seemed equal with the same products in the UK. We found a bookshop and David bought a copy of 'Nostalgic Hero' for us to peruse later. We'd already loosely arranged to meet Dom (savannarx3) our Tokyo-residing Australian guide for the night before we left on R-R and the Australian Ausrotary forum so after a quick final arrangement via a public phone (our lesser-technology mobiles don't work in Japan) we met him outside the NISSAN gallery. After initial introductions we decided to head for Shibuya, a trendy area of the city (like Covent Garden or Carnaby Street in London). Having Dom as a guide was invaluable, he showed us the basics of the underground system most importantly the automated ticket machines. The trains are clean and reliable and the locals didn't seem to find us too interesting as we went about our respective business. There was a nine-piece female Jazz/Ska group playing just outside the station, we watched them for one song before the police turned up to move them on resulting in a humourously peaceful stand-off between the two parties before the packed up and left. We went to the 'busiest crossing in the world' that seems to be mandatorily included in any film or program set in Tokyo. Never has the phrase 'organised chaos' been so apt. Cars, taxis and buses weave in and out over the labyrinth of diagonal and criss-crossing zebra stripes before the lights stop them all - moments later tidal waves of people fill the crossing like a pitch invasion at an FA Cup final, before the lights change and the whole process starts again.
We viewed the whole thing from street level and then again from the Starbucks that looks over the square (on the left in the pics above) before going upstairs in the same building where Dom had told us about a good bookshop where we loaded up with j-mags. This highlights one of the more interesting things about Tokyo, it's the norm for a building to contain a number of unrelated restaurants or shops on different floors. This theory was proven to great effect when Dom led us into a building containing a shop that looked and sounded like a cross between a pound shop and an amusement arcade only to walk in a lift whick took us to a really cool and lavishly decorated restaurant/bar that couldn't have looked any further removed from the equivalent space downstairs that we had witnessed on the way in. We grabbed a bite to eat (some of us were more proficient in the use of chopsticks than others ;D) before taking another look at the streets of Shibuya. There were lots of different groups of people - long-socked schoolgirls (calm down boys!) , full on Hip-Hoppers and groups of sharp-suited twenty-something office boys all jostled for position on the crowded pavements.
Sweet Sunny truck in Shibuya
We found a Sunny pick up (above), a smattering of lowrider/chopper bikes, loads of recliner city bikes in various states of modification and retro-styled two-wheeed transport as well as the obligatory left-hand-drive Euro fodder (Mercedes, BMW, Rolls Royce, Porsche etc - all the top would-be Gangster/Yakusa choices!) amongst the various liveried taxis.
Blingin' BMW
'rodded J bobber was the epitomy of cool
Our thanks go to Dom for showing us around and answering all our questions. The basic information that we gleaned set us up for the rest of the trip.
Coming soon(ish): the Hotwire shop and Autobacs!
Japan here we come!
Thursday morning: Train+tube to Heathrow, met David (HotWire) in terminal 1, we were both early and suffering from the same combination of nerves, disbelief and excitement. Whilst we were getting our currency changed over we heard a rumour amongst airport staff that Michael Jackson was on site at Heathrow. We checked in successfully and were soon on the plane where we adjusted our watches to Tokyo time straight away. The plan was to get as much sleep as possible, a plan that failed miserably despite David's rather hilarious efforts which involved covering himself entirely with his BA-issue blanket! Several lengthy conversations, two meals, an inflight movie or two and a touch of ipod and we were in Tokyo's Narita airport: local time 11am (Friday).
Was that who I thought it was?
Still in disbelief that the trip was actually happening we got through passport and customs without a hitch and stepped into the airport and found the 'airport limousine' that would take us to the hotel easily and booked a space on the next bus. We had about twenty minutes to wait so had a quick look around - there were plenty of CROWN taxis around along with a few J-only cars from hatchbacks to people carriers...I was excited already. Back inside the airport we sat down and chilled while we waited for the bus. The whole 'weekend in Japan' thing was surreal enough already, but things got freakier still when Michael Jackson strolled past complete with an entourage of burly bouncers and even his mini-Michaels in tow - complete with the customary masks.
The only conclusion is that the king of pop himself must have been on our plane - are we jet-set or what?On the road
The limousine bus (don't be fooled by the name, it's just a normal coach) came on time (as we came to expect in Japan) and soon we were on the 70km journey into central Tokyo. The other people on the bus must of thought we were insane: while they were checking their guide books and hotel details we were excitedly pointing at nearly everything on the road - CROWN and Cedric taxis (love those seat covers!), VIP Centuries, dropped Previas and chrome-laden delivery trucks were common sightings. In no time at all we were pulling up outside our hotel - the Ginza Tobu, our home for the next three nights. We decided that a couple of hours sleep should take the edge of our tiredness and got our heads down for a power nap before heading out at 4pm.
Ginza, Shibuya and Dom
Time to explore! Feeling refreshed after our brief kip we ventured onto the streets of Tokyo, still pointing at various vehicles and sporadically stopping to pinch ourselves to check this wasn't a dream.
Vans like this are commonplace on the Tokyo streets - this one was down the side of our hotel
We checked out a few shops - the SONY building, the NISSAN gallery (no classics unfortunately - it's just a glorified showroom with just two cars on display) and the APPLE store: we couldn't see any of the electrical bargains that we'd heard about - prices seemed equal with the same products in the UK. We found a bookshop and David bought a copy of 'Nostalgic Hero' for us to peruse later. We'd already loosely arranged to meet Dom (savannarx3) our Tokyo-residing Australian guide for the night before we left on R-R and the Australian Ausrotary forum so after a quick final arrangement via a public phone (our lesser-technology mobiles don't work in Japan) we met him outside the NISSAN gallery. After initial introductions we decided to head for Shibuya, a trendy area of the city (like Covent Garden or Carnaby Street in London). Having Dom as a guide was invaluable, he showed us the basics of the underground system most importantly the automated ticket machines. The trains are clean and reliable and the locals didn't seem to find us too interesting as we went about our respective business. There was a nine-piece female Jazz/Ska group playing just outside the station, we watched them for one song before the police turned up to move them on resulting in a humourously peaceful stand-off between the two parties before the packed up and left. We went to the 'busiest crossing in the world' that seems to be mandatorily included in any film or program set in Tokyo. Never has the phrase 'organised chaos' been so apt. Cars, taxis and buses weave in and out over the labyrinth of diagonal and criss-crossing zebra stripes before the lights stop them all - moments later tidal waves of people fill the crossing like a pitch invasion at an FA Cup final, before the lights change and the whole process starts again.
We viewed the whole thing from street level and then again from the Starbucks that looks over the square (on the left in the pics above) before going upstairs in the same building where Dom had told us about a good bookshop where we loaded up with j-mags. This highlights one of the more interesting things about Tokyo, it's the norm for a building to contain a number of unrelated restaurants or shops on different floors. This theory was proven to great effect when Dom led us into a building containing a shop that looked and sounded like a cross between a pound shop and an amusement arcade only to walk in a lift whick took us to a really cool and lavishly decorated restaurant/bar that couldn't have looked any further removed from the equivalent space downstairs that we had witnessed on the way in. We grabbed a bite to eat (some of us were more proficient in the use of chopsticks than others ;D) before taking another look at the streets of Shibuya. There were lots of different groups of people - long-socked schoolgirls (calm down boys!) , full on Hip-Hoppers and groups of sharp-suited twenty-something office boys all jostled for position on the crowded pavements.
Sweet Sunny truck in Shibuya
We found a Sunny pick up (above), a smattering of lowrider/chopper bikes, loads of recliner city bikes in various states of modification and retro-styled two-wheeed transport as well as the obligatory left-hand-drive Euro fodder (Mercedes, BMW, Rolls Royce, Porsche etc - all the top would-be Gangster/Yakusa choices!) amongst the various liveried taxis.
Blingin' BMW
'rodded J bobber was the epitomy of cool
Our thanks go to Dom for showing us around and answering all our questions. The basic information that we gleaned set us up for the rest of the trip.
Coming soon(ish): the Hotwire shop and Autobacs!
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Eager for part two!!
