Monday 23 March 2026

After breakfast we conquered the washing machine before catching the Yukimone to the Hama-rikyu Gardens. The gardens are an oasis of tranquility in the middle of the chaos of modern Tokyo. We enjoyed an hour or so there before walking to the Art Aquarium which took a bit of finding as it is located on the 9th floor of an upmarket department store. After checking out the beautiful aquariums it was time to tackle the subway and make our way to Shibuya Crossing, the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. Every few minutes about 3,000 people enter the crossing like Gladiators in an attempt to get to the other side before the lights change. We found a great spot to view the carnage from a bar on the 3rd floor of a building overlooking the crossing. For $50 we had prime seats for an hour with all the beer and snacks you could consume. Great value.
After that we had a failed attempt at finding a roof top garden on top of a department store before realising that our dinner walking tour started in Shijuku and not Shibuya. My bad. So it was back to the subway. Once we got to Shijuku we asked a young guy for help to find the meeting point and he went out of his way to walk with us to the meeting point conversing with the help of Google Translate.
The tour was a mix of Irish, Swedish, American and Dutch plus a couple of ancient and tired Kiwis. We had a great time trying 15 different dishes at 2 restaurants before walking around the area taking in all the sights. To start with we walked down an amazing little ancient street about 2 metres wide which hasn't changed in centuries. Off each side there are little restaurants and bars which only seat about 10 people. The owner cooks in front of you and the air is filled with the smokey fragrance of food cooking over charcoal. Originally the alley was full of bars and was known as drunkards alley or piss alley for obvoius reasons. We also stopped for a couple of interesting snacks along the way.
The tour finished up about 9.30 and then it was back to the subway station at Shijuku which is the busiest in the world. Fortunately it was a lot quieter than when we had arrived at 5pm. We had to get off and change lines at a station on the way home and while we were standing on the platform discussing which side we needed to be on to head for our hotel a guy in front of us rang his wife who speaks English and gives the phone to me so she could send us in the right direction. Luckily she told us we needed to be on the opposite side of the platform to the one we thought and we were back at the hotel about 10.30pm. A big day but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Love the food, love the people and love the transport system. With all of our travels since arriving at the airport we have spent about $20 each on transport.Read more