Tokyo
At the beginning i didn’t plan to stay long time in Tokyo, just one or two night because i was a little scared to suffocate in the city because it is one of the biggest capital in the world. But finally after to stay one day i changed my plan to come back at the end of my trip there. Because i was so charmed so charmed by the city and everything there. So i’m stayed three/four days in Tokyo and it was too few. I just had the time to see the minimum.
To help me to find my path i had rented a pocket wifi in order to have a wifi connection everywhere… And many time it was helpful, to find again my way, thanks to the GPS with my phone.
The subway network and the circular train network are very good to move easily in the city, and it is very clear for the indications, even for a stranger. You will find the indications in English also in the center. Outside of the city it is really hard to have this kind of thing. I used mainly the circular train which makes a ring around the city, stopping in every main areas. Thanks to that i have everytime a landmark, which was the station, to never be lost. Because the stations are always indicated and easy to find.
There are many areas wich each area their specificities. I’m stayed first near Shibuya and Shinjuku. This area is the trendy area of Toktyo. There are plenty of differents shops there and it is definitely like the modern Tokyo that we can guess or see at the TV, that is to say big, modern, trendy, live. All the buildings are imposing, and we can see all the big colored screen on the wall in the street.
Therefore i wandered during an afternoon in Shibuya, and then during the evening at Shinjuku. Specially at the end of the day i was unbelievable how the streets were crowded. In fact it is on this place that we can find the biggest crossroad, with the biggest number of people crossing at the same time, and this in the world. It is also this area the ‘hot area’ with nightlife, and bar girl.
But honestly even alone wandering on the street during the night in this area, i didn’t feel unsafe. And to come back to the safety, except if never you search the problems, Tokyo and all Japan are very safe, with nice and respectful people, and this is probably for this reason that , in despite of all these people, i felt very great.
I went up the Tokyo tower one evening, i wanted to see the city during the night with all the lights in the city. Tokyo tower culminate at 333 meters. The tower’s main observatory at 150 meters is reached via elevator Thanks to the tower’s central location, the observatory offers an interesting view of the city. It found this amazing and it was during this kind of moment that i realized that this travel was amazing. I had a very particular feeling beeing there.The observatory was full of people and i understand why.
Being a fan of manga and dragon ball z when i was a child, it was a pleasure to see all these shops dedicated to that. So i went to the famous J-World Tokyo, dedicated to that. It was fun and cool. In the area of Akihabara in Tokyo, there is all a geek area, with plenty of shops about manga, with the figurines.
. Also plenty of electronics shops. We can find there all the old video games.In addition to these shops, various other animation related establishments have become popular in the area, particularly maid cafes where waitresses dress up and act like maids or anime characters. It is a strange and fun place at the same time; and this is the kind of place that you have the feeling that you are in a special country.
The last day in Tokyo i made a big mistake that i will recall for the future. In fact i forgot that i have on my account a ceiling to not overtake per day. The saturday night between the hotel and the outing, to have pleasure for my last evening there i spent to much money and my account was blocked. The tomorrow morning, after to have spent all my coins the day before, i needed to go to the airport to take my airplane to come back in France. I wanted to withdraw money to take a breakfeast and to pay for the bus. But it was again blocked.
So i didn’t have the choice i decided to link the airport walking with my big suitcase, and this under an uninterrupted rain. I didn’t have many time i had to walk very fast. More than two hours after i’m arrived to the Airport, but i was in the bad terminal. I didn’t have the time to walk again the time missed. I think that i was going to miss the airplane. Fortunately i decided to ask some help. And quickly i find a nice japanese guy, who was able to talk in English, and he accompanied me until the right station to link the right terminal and he paid to me the ticket. Thanks to this guy. At the right terminal a worker accompanied me to return my pocket wifi to the right counter and to reach the gate because i didn’t have the time to search. But at the end i took my airplane just at time, fortunately for me. It was a misadventure, the kind of misadventure that we can have. Now i won’t make the same failure with my account anymore…