Japan - Tokyo

Friday Oct. 3 / Saturday Oct. 4, and Sunday Oct. 5, 2008:

We left Vancouver 2 o'clock Friday afternoon October 3rd, and after a 9 hour 48 minute flight, landed in Tokyo at 4 o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday October 4th!! (we lost a day with the 16 hour time change).

After catching the Keisei Skyliner Express train from Narita Airport to Ueno Station (the station closest to our hotel), we got settled in our room at Hotel Edoya. After walking around the neighbor hood of our hotel, we headed to be at 7:30 pm and slept until 6:00 am.

Our futon beds at Hotel Edoya

The 'living area' of our room

Our first full day in Japan we spent the morning walking around Ueno Park, until 10:00 am when the JR (Japan Rail) office opened so we could activate our JR pass. After activating our rail pass we took the train (basically like a subway network) to Tokyo Station, where we walked to the Imperial Palace and the gardens there.

We then took the train to Shinjuku station, which is the busiest station in the world - something like 1.000,000 people pass through every day. The area surrounding this station is crazy busy too. After Shinjuku we took the train to Suidobashi station and walked to the Tokyo Dome (big baseball stadium) and also had a look at the Kodokan Judo Institute building (some where my Grandfather suggested we check out).

We took the train back to a station close to our hotel (Okachimachi) where we found a small place to eat and ordered our meal by pointing at a photo of something that looked good. We still aren't sure of part of what we ate - it was kinda rubbery, maybe octopus??? We were in bed early again, after doctoring up our blistered feet.

A man hole cover in Ueno Park - in the spring there is a lot of Cherry Blossoms

One of the walls of the Imperial PalaceScott reading the Lonely Planet Guide to Japan - figuring out where and what we were going nextThe shopping area surrounding the Shinjuku stationThe main door for the Kodoan Judo Institute Building