Hot in the City

32 degrees and 90% humidity made it tough going today. I’m not sure how we’d go in summer here.

We all started slowly today - Krissi and I were up working but even that was all half pace.

We had a mission today - get our stuff done and then Ben to Akihabara to meet his friends at 1pm.

Given we finally left the house at 9:30am, we were up against it all day and probably rushed everything a bit too much.

Started with a train ride to Hamarikyu Gardens which was worth it - saw a 300 year old pine tree. The gardens are surrounded by modern high rises and the river to the other side. This was the type of juxtaposition of nature and modern Japan we had seen in photos and YouTube - but it was even better in person.

Did a loop of the park and then rushed off to another train to the Tokyo Art Centre (did one exhibition and lunch).

Rushed this a bit as we were now behind in getting to meet Ben’s friends.

At this stage we had a 30 minute train ride and it was already nearly 1pm.

Train to Akihabara - followed by a sprint down the hill to the main shopping strip.

Then the most frustrating part of the holiday as Ben and his friends were on their phones trying to meet up in a place with tens of thousands of people moving in every direction.

I wouldn’t have cared how poorly they planned this - but we were running behind him as he went off in every direction trying to find them.

At one point of this adventure we were all in a 7 level anime shop going up the escalators floor after floor - and the statues kept getting weirder and weirder. Clare and I just kept powering up looking for Ben’s friends that we didn’t even realise that by level 7 we had entered the “adults only” floor - all the statues were naked anime women. Quickly turned around and made our way back down the lift…,. 🫣

Finally met the kids from Norwood International High School and had a chat with the teacher who was doing a great job.

Anyway after all that they only had 30 minutes before the school trip had to leave. BUT it gave Ben a huge lift and he loved it.

Akihabara had a bit of a sleezy vibe, lots of girls dressed in anime costumes inviting you into small clubs. Similar to Shinjuku, not my vibe.

Finished the day shopping in Asakusa, another visit to the Temple, Ramen with Krissi , Japanese Craft Beers then some late night shopping.

Now packing for Osaka.Leggi altro