Japan...We Have Arrived
Ahh Hong Kong you were good to us, you struck the perfect balance. Not too sanitised, sterilised, and gentrified. Nor too crazy, grimey, and slummy... if that's a word.
After a short flight that included a short nap, we arrive in Tokyo feeling spoilt — the business class tickets only partly responsible. Thanks again Hong Kong, we land with high hopes for our time in Japan.
Our first stop at Tokyo airport is to get our Japan Rail Pass... oh the places this pass will take us. They don't come cheap, but offer a nearly all-you-can-eat-adventure on Japan Rail company's network. The queue to redeem our Rail Pass extends outside the store, an island of people living in limbo... estimated wait time, 90 minutes. Our adventures can wait, just. Though this feels grossly inefficient with each passing minute given the fast moving current of people passing our island.
On the train from the airport we have time, 1.5 hours to be exact, to think about all the great things ahead. We hope all the trains are as sparkly as this Airport Express. Ahh destination future.
On arrival at Tokyo Station, we get a peek at how Tokyo-ites, Tokyo-ians... the locals move. The station is a kaleidoscope of entry and exit points, a city under a city. Offering a smorgasbord of options — to eat, drink, shop, and choo-choo-choo on a train to somewhere above ground. I read somewhere 3.5 million pass through this station every day, however inaccurate my reading may be, it certainly feels true.
Choo-choo-choo. Our passes have provided us safe entry into Meguro, a suburb south-east of the city. Our home in Tokyo, a short distance away from the hustle and bustle, another small but perfectly formed AirBnb. Suitably Japanese, an upstairs loft space with a mattress on the floor, a toilet from the future, with electronic wizardly that needed us to consult Google Translate to flush. Perhaps it can fly us to the moon, but it's early days and our Japanese lessons in home economics need wait as we have dinner plans.
A quick change and a short taxi later, in the hands of our white-gloved driver, a very patient gentleman, who translated our wildly inaccurate pronunciations into Japanese, we arrive in the nearby suburb of Roppongi. Dinner tonight is at Fukuzushi, not to be confused with Fuk-u-sushi. Downstairs, not upstairs. Have we mentioned everything is Japanese to us?
At dinner we are joined by Theresa, formerly a friend at LKOZ and now a friendly-face travelling in a foreign land. Here we are Japan! What's our first meal together? Sushi of course. Cliche, but deliciously so.
After dinner, a night cap is in order and Roopongi is home to some fine establishments. We sample just a few — a hole in the wall serving Japanese whiskey and a drop in the ocean, serving up various liquids with a side of aquarium.
Here's to mermaids and mermen in Japan.
