My husband and I have a friend who lives and works in Tokyo and he invited us to stay with him for a while. We had always wanted to visit Japan, so we jumped at the chance. Armed with our yen and a Japanese phrase book, we flew from Manchester Airport in England to Narita Airport, Tokyo. The first sight that greeted us in the terminal at Narita was airport staff wearing mouth covers. This proved not to be a cause for alarm. It’s quite common in Japan for someone who has a cold to wear one in order to avoid passing germs on to someone else. This, we found, is typical of Japanese thoughtfulness and politeness.
Our friend, Jack, met us and we took the train to Matsubaradanchi, the Tokyo suburb where he has an apartment. Apartments are small in Japan and we slept on a mattress on the tatami, (rush straw) floor in the living room. A few days in to our vacation, there was an earthquake. It was only 5 on the Richter Scale and lasted half a minute, so not too scary! We were still in bed early one morning when the glasses started to fly out of the cupboards.
We met many of Jack’s friends at the local izakaya, which is a Japanese version of a bar. The owners, affectionately called Master and Mamasan by the regulars, welcomed us warmly and served us samples of food to try. My husband became rather fond of the sake! (rice wine).
We got to know the district of Ueno well, and we shopped in the market and went to the large public park. The park is a gathering place for friends and it’s the site for national museums and for Ueno Zoo. We had timed our trip just right and the cherry blossom was in full bloom. This time symbolizes rebirth for the Japanese and they like to take photographs of the pink display and have picnics in the park. Jugglers and acrobats also frequent the park to perform for the crowds. We visited the Tokyo National Museum and the National Science Museum. Both were very impressive. We were also thrilled to see a cast of Rodin’s famous sculptural work, The Gates of Hell, at the National Museum of Western Art.
| |
StarReviews Top 3
Travel Websites |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
We received a warm welcome in Tokyo and people could not have been more helpful. People were delighted when they discovered we were English. They wanted to ask questions and practice their English on us. We wanted to practice our Japanese! They took the trouble to help us with directions, even when we hadn’t asked, but were looking puzzled in the street. Lots of signs are in English and the trains run like clockwork. Our battered copy of the Lonely Planet did prove invaluable. Don’t worry if you don’t like Japanese food (but give it a try), there’s plenty of McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets. If you can go in springtime, the cherry blossom will be waiting for you.
Tags:
travel