Arrived in Tokyo

We arrived in Tokyo yesterday, after a slightly draining 2.5 flight from Shanghai on NWA airlines (which we were kind of hoping was run by Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, but that theory now seems unlikely).

Tokyo Narita airport, like so many airports is no where near Tokyo – and so a 40 minute wait followed by a 2hr coach ride to our hotel in Shibuya ensued before we got to take a nap in a warm, cosy bed.

The tropical storm that’s occurring to the East of Japan has meant the weather here is rather wet. On the way to hotel I couldn’t help noticing how reminiscent the grey and overcast sky, the damp air and the left-hand traffic was to Britain. Even the country side foliage seemed similar.

Our room at the hotel (which I will name after the trip) is simply superb. We have a corner room on the 32nd floor of the hotel. Ok, it’s not quite as high as the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai but the views of Tokyo are amazing.

We took a short trip out to local Shibuya to enjoy our now frighteningly frequent habit of enjoying a Starbucks immediately upon arrival at a new place (however foreign, exotic or remote). Hey – I need the caffeine!

Fortunately the main Starbucks in Shibuya overlooks the famous view of the crossing, and so as we sipped our soya cappuccinos (me) and iced chocolates (Sofia) we were able to watch the world go by and take in a little bit of our surroundings.

We also had a walk around the place, checking out the shops along the way. We were also pleasantly pleased to discover the enormous wealth of restaurants and choice on offer (a far cry from where we were staying in Shanghai).

So far Tokyo is cool, and we are pleasantly surprised by the amount of English people do speak. Having been warned “no one speaks English in Tokyo”, I’m of the opinion that even fewer people spoke English in Shanghai – yet we still managed to get on and around just fine.

More soon.