A Week in Tokyo

A Week in Tokyo

We just returned from a wonderful 9 days trip to Tokyo. We had very good time and enjoyed the trip  because of  pre-planning and tips  that we obtained from  forums prior to our tour. We were three friends we enjoyed there a lot. So I thought I'd  share our detailed rout information and tips for other Japan travelers. Firstly, I was worried about doing this trip  since we do not talk with Japanese because the Japanese people are not well versed in English. Before talking about our trip let me explain briefly about the Tokyo. The Tokyo is the capital  of Japan City Tokyo is  the biggest and most popular cities of the world. An exciting and dynamic place to visit The city Tokyo is one of the world's most costly cities. A great holiday destination for people this city include historical landmarks and attractions that make  prefect holiday gateway. Some famous places to visit in Tokyo. Tokyo has been described as one of the three "command centers" for the world economy along with New York City and London. We started our journey from Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. We left the Mumbai airport at 11:30 pm according to Indian time zone. We arrived in Tokyo International Airport around 8am according to the Japanese time zone. Tokyo is 3:30 hour ahead then Mumbai. We took a cab and move towards the hotel. We got fresh and had breakfast and we relaxed for two or three hour in hotel after the tedious journey. We went out from hotel around 11:30 am and plan to visit the city but my suggestion would be about the sites including the sights and hotels where you can  visit and stay and if you misplace pointing to those sites and asking "doko" they can point you correct direction. We actually did it. Day 1&2 we travel from TX to Narita airport. We arrived there around 1:30PM. The airport is very far from the centre of the city so  have to either take  bus or train. We picked up the Narita Express to Shinagawa station from airport. We had booked 2 nights at three star Hotel which is located at  the street of Shinagawa station. The site was very beautiful because it was easy to  subway and JR rail system. The room which we booked was a twin room  which was too small. But the site was good and  price was not too expensive  hotel in Japan. Here we didn't spend much time in the room . Then we picked up the JR Yamamote line to Harajuku station and visited the Meiji Jingu Shrine. The shrine is in the  Shibuya area which is popular for shopping and restaurants. We planned to awake early and visited the Tsukiji Fish Market for  morning sushi but  it is closed due to Sundays. Our first visit for the day was Hama Rikyu which was just 10-15 minute walk from JR Shimbashi Station on the Yamamote line . The garden was very beautiful and it is worth going to. You can board a ferry from the garden's pier with departures every hour between 10:35am and 4:15pm. If you want to go on a vacations and the weather is awesome you will see the people quite silly picnics on the sidewalks by the pier. Silly picnics including portable stoves where they are cooking . We also visited the Edo Tokyo museum and the Tokyo imperial palace east gardens we clicked so many pics. Next day we woke up at 7 am got fresh had breakfast and decided to visit the Asakusa. Asakusais is very marshy area where poor people of Tokyo lived it can be used as the city's licensed pleasure quarter. When you are in Tokyo Asakusa must be visited . There are so many temples like the "Sensoji Temple" "The Five Storied Pagoda" "Asakusa-Kannon Temple" and popular Nakamise shopping arcade. It was a very beautiful place to visit if you are in Tokyo. Everyone has been extremely helpful and polite particularly when we were trying to navigate around the train system for the first time. Not only will people give you directions they will actually walk you to where you need to go. The next attraction that we visit after lunch that was the Tokyo Tower. This is one of the most popular sight in Tokyo . It is about 333 meters high and one more thing is this tower is taller than Eiffel Tower by 13 meters. It is considered as world's highest self-supporting iron-structure the Tokyo Tower is lighted up with 164 lights everyday silver lights in the summer and orange lights in the winter season. It is relay tower which is used for 9 TV channels and 5 radio stations earthquake/seismic detection system are also set up in the Tower. There are two main attractive galleries one at 150 meters high and the other at 250 meters high. Inside the tower there were some more attractions like an aquarium which contains around 50, 000 fish. That was the amazing experience of my life to visit the tower like this. We clicked here so many pictures and enjoy here a lot. In evening we backed to hotel had dinner and enjoy a Hollywood movie on TV in our room.   Next morning it was the last day of our in Tokyo we woke up at 6 am and got fresh had our breakfast and plan to visit the some calculated places in Tokyo like Meiji Shrine Ginza and Tokyo Disneyland. First of all we went to The Meiji Shrine. It was developed in 1920 in the honor of Emperor Meiji and his beloved Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji was the first emperor of modern Japan he had played an instrumental role in westernizing the country. It was almost destroyed during World War II the shrine was later reanimated to its former glory. This is one of the most popular places of worship in the city. After visiting that wonderful place we went to the Tokyo Disneyland. Tokyo Disneyland has been spread across 114 acres and the park is simulated after its American counterpart. World Bazaar is the central area and other areas include Western land Adventure land Tomorrow land and Fantasy land are other aspects of this place. We enjoyed here a lot and clicked here some pics and had some food. In evening we went to the Ginza the most famous shopping and dining district in Japan. This area was most expensive areas of city. This area is famous all around the world for exclusive designer shops and bright lights. This place(Zinga) is point of attraction on Saturday and Sunday afternoons when great rush of pedestrian is there in Chuo Street. We did here little shopping and had some foods and backed to the hotel, had dinner and packed our luggage and took a return flight to India.