Tokyo

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Traveler Japan 2023
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- Oct 23, 2023
- ☀️ 22 °C
- Altitude: 46 ft
- Japan Tokyo Chiyoda Nihombashi-Edobashi Tokyo 35.688262, 139.76379435°41’18” N 139°45’50” E
Day 45
Tokyo
October 23, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
The final buffet breakfast at the Blossom Hotel where Elgar's Salut D' Amour was one of the violin duets played as background music.
I checked out of the hotel and took the JR Yamamote to Ueno, and then the Ginza Line to Asakusa Station from where it was a short walk to the Gracery Hotel to leave my bags.
I took the metro back to Ueno Park and started the walk outlined in the Lonely Planet. Unfortunately, the museums were closed on Mondays so I walked past the former sake warehouse and bath-house to the enormous cemetery at Yanaka-rein where there were lots of crows.
I had a snack at a cafe before proceeding to the Tennoji Temple which had a large seated Buddha. There were lots of shrines and temples in this district.
Yanaka Ginza was an old-style shopping street where I stopped for a small pastry before continuing to the Sudo-koen, a small garden near Sendagi which was a busy district with cafes and quiet side-streets. Nearby was Nezu-jinga, a shrine with a corridor of red Torri gates and small children being photographed in their traditional Japanese costumes; maybe a birthday?
I walked back past the zoo entrance into Ueno Park to Ueno Tosho-gu, a shrine dedicated to the Tokugawa who unified Japan. Nearby was the Autumn Dahlia Garden.
I had an ice-cream dessert at a cafe in the Park before returning to Ueno Station to take the Ginza line back to Asakusa and the Gracery Hotel where I checked in.
The joining meeting for Inside Japan's Northern Soul tour was at 19.00, followed by dinner at a local restaurant. The leader was Steve Parker, an Englishman who lived on the outskirts of Tokyo. Forming the group were Steve and Kim from Connecticut; Nick and Chrissy from Malta; Pat and Maggie from Yorkshire; Pete and Jenny from Truro; Judith and Keith from Edinburgh; Kevin from Leeds; Catherine from Newcastle, and Vera from London.Read more
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Traveler Japan 2023
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- Oct 24, 2023
- ☀️ 23 °C
- Altitude: 62 ft
- Japan Tokyo Chiyoda Nihombashi-Edobashi Tokyo 35.686882, 139.76791435°41’13” N 139°46’4” E
Day 46
Tokyo
October 24, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
After a buffet breakfast at the hotel, we went to the 8th floor of the Tourist Information Office in Asakusa to take photos of the Sky Tree and the Senso-ji Temple. Then we took the metro to Shinbashi and, on the way to the Hamarikyu Garden, we saw an amazing clock. We went to the tea-house in the Garden for a matcha tea and a small sweet to take away the bitter taste.
There were some lovely flower beds in the Garden besides the landscaped gardens.
We took the metro to Akihabara to visit one of the shops with different computer games and electrical goods., and then dispersed to have lunch in one of the local cafes.
We took the metro to Harajuku to visit the Meiji Shrine but I'd been there in September so I left the group and followed a walk outlined in Lonely Planet down the posh shopping street called Omote Sando. with its distinctive architecture of the last 20 years. I had a coffee on the 7th floor roof garden of Starbucks in Tokyo Plaza, and then continued down the street passing upmarket shops such as Boss and Prada.
I took the metro back to Asakusa and had a haircut before returning to the hotel. I had dinner at Dennys with two sisters in the group.Read more
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Traveler Japan 2023
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- Nov 5, 2023
- ☁️ 24 °C
- Altitude: 56 ft
- Japan Tokyo Chiyoda Nihombashi-Edobashi Tokyo 35.685473, 139.76585435°41’8” N 139°45’57” E
Day 58
Back to Tokyo
November 5, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
After having my last Japanese set breakfast, we returned by ferry in a 1st class lounge rather than by hydrofoil to Niigata, and then by my final Shinkansen to a station on the outskirts of Tokyo, and then by a local train to Shinjuku Station from where we walked to the JR Blossom Hotel.
I went to Hands, a large department store, to buy thirty Japanese Christmas cards, Y440 each (about £2.50), which had been made in China. Returning with my passport, I was able to purchase them duty-free and save 10%. Some of my friends and relatives thanked me for the cards although I think few used Google Translate to read the greetings in English.
On the journey, I had my final dorayaki, a red bean, cream and sponge tart,
The final group dinner was upstairs in an izakaya in Omoide Yokocho where there was lots of food. Afterwards, we walked the streets in Shinjuku seeing the neon lights and especially the 3-D cat.
Back at the hotel, I said farewell to the group since I'd be having an early start in the morning.Read more
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Traveler Japan 2023
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- Nov 6, 2023
- 🌬 23 °C
- Altitude: 79 ft
- Japan Tokyo Chiyoda Nihombashi-Edobashi Tokyo 35.683522, 139.76482435°41’1” N 139°45’53” E
Day 59
Return to London
November 6, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌬 23 °C
There was a spectacular sunrise over Tokyo as Vera and myself left the hotel at 6am in a Green Onions taxi bound for Haneda Airport.
Having said goodbye to Vera who was on a BA flight, I checked my bag in for the coach-share Japan Airlines flight although booked through BA. There was a long queue at the security gate, but it kept moving and I was through everything in an hour.
The reason I'd booked this flight was because it was leaving at a reasonable time, 11,30, and would be a daytime flight flying from east to west with the clock.. However, I'd received an email some months before saying that the flight had been brought forward 100 minutes, presumably due to the inability to fly over Russia and the Ukraine.
The Boeing 777 took off 30 minutes late at 10.20 and flew east before reaching the International Date Lane when it was 22.00 on both sides although one day apart. The plane turned north and flew through the Bering Straits before turning east over North Alaska and Canada, reaching 80 degrees north and maybe even further north at one stage. The daytime flight had turned into a night-time flight. After overflying Greenland, the flight continued south-east, reaching London Heathrow after 14 hours at 15.30 still on the 6th, 9 hours behind the time in Tokyo. The flight had covered 7000 miles at c500 miles-per-hour, and covered 225 degrees of longitude which, together with 135 degrees on the outward flight, meant that I had circumnavigated the world.
On the flight, I'd listened to Rubinstein play Chopin, and Klemperer conduct Schumann's Rhenish Symphony. The silver service and food was very good.
The temperature at Heathrow was 11C, about 10C cooler than Tokyo.
I took the Elizabeth Line for the first time from Heathrow and then the Northern Line to Waterloo, arriving home soon after 17.00, 58 days after leaving the flat on this great journey.

Approximate distances covered: 1st Part - Intrepid - 1660 km
2nd Part - Intrepid - 2660km
3rd Part - On my own - 830km
4th Part - Inside Japan - 1250 km
Total Journey - 6400 km = 4000 miles.
Nights in 19 hotels: 38.
Nights in 11 ryokans and minshukus: 17
Nights in temple inn: 1
Total nights in Japan: 56.

Japanese set breakfasts; 11
Japanese set dinners: 14Read more
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