Day 14 - Tokyo

Distance Walked: 13.5km

Slept in, because I could.  No rush to get anywhere/do anything today.  Packed everything, after first taking everything out.  It all fitted in easily this time.  Checked out, leaving my suitcase at the hotel then went in search of breakfast.  Went to a Cafe Doutor for coffee and sandwiches.  The sandwiches were made of the whitest of white sandwich bread with the crusts cut off.  There is a serious lack of fibre in the Japanese diet.

After breakfast I headed out to Ueno Park.  The itinerary for today is to amble around the park, sit & chill or read in the sunshine and visit the odd museum.  I'm enjoying Tokyo today.  I went down a minor street, parallel to the main drag,  to get to the metro station today.  Went past half a dozen places where I could have gotten a reasonably priced dinner last night.  Still, being a solo diner on a busy Saturday night is often not fun.

I entered Ueno Park at the southern end and visited a beautiful temple.  Still can't figure out if it is Shinto or Buddhist.  Paid 100 yen to get an English language fortune.  It didn't tell me what I wanted to hear but I guess you can't ask for your money back.

The temple was on an island and the bridge to it was lined with food stalls.  I could have bought breakfast from there, but most seemed to be fish-based so perhaps not.

I ambled about the lake surrounding the temple.  I came across a small museum about the Tokyo entertainment area.  It has a recreation of a traditional house.  I was tempted to go in but it would have required removing my hiking boots and I couldn't be bothered.  I could always visit it later (but I didn't of course).

Back in front of the temple there was a flea market set up.  I looked for presents for Mary & Jim but couldn't find anything.  Instead, for myself, I bought a tiny statue of a Chinese dragon for my lararium and the most amazing padlock in the shape of a carp.  You push aside on the of the fins to get to the keyhole and press one of his eyes to release the hasp.  I unintentionally haggled with the stallholder.  His original price for the padlock was 3200 Y but he couldn't get it to unlock at first so he dropped the price to 2000Y.  Eventually, he managed it and put the price back up to 3000Y.  I agreed provided he threw in the dragon statuette too - these were priced at 800Y, which he agreed to.  Jim would have been proud of me.

Flush with success I ambled about the park some before reading a little of my little of my latest book.  The Story Bundle collection of paranormal romances are mostly crap but I finally landed on one that was readable - no love interest.

Afterwards I went back to the metro station to grab some lunch.  I'm getting seriously short on cash and don't want to have to get anymore out of an ATM.  I went to a soba noodle joint where I was the only non-local and there was no English.  Thanks to Tom's guidance on the hike I know what to do.  The only awkward moment was they gave you a numbered token and called out your number when your meal was ready.  I cannot count in Japanese but I was the last to order from a clump of diners so I was able to work out when my order was ready.

After lunch I went back to the park and bought a ticket to a special exhibition on the human body in the Science Museum.  This was a disappointment as it was insanely busy and very little of the signs were in English.  It was all the more disappointing because it looked as if it would have been fascinating if I only knew what it was all about.  The museum shop saved the day as I was able to buy some cute presents for Jim & Mary.

I then went and sat outside a Starbucks to use their WiFi to checkin.  The seating configuration is 2-3-2.  I had picked an aisle seat on one side but the window seat was vacant so I got to sit by the window and still have easy access to the loos.  Score.

I started ambling back to the museum I had seen earlier but stopped to watch an insane busker, who was juggling and doing incredible acrobatic tricks.  He stacked piles of chairs at unstable angles and then climbed up and did handstands.  He looked like a weedy guy but was obviously very strong.

I gave up on the museum and went back to the metro station to wander around the pedestrian shopping mall/streets nearby.  I am still looking for a decent black leather belt but no luck.  I did buy 4 strawberries on a stick from one stall.  This cost the grand sum of 200Y but they tasted divine.  Fruit may be expensive here but it is so worth it.

It was time to head back so I took a different metro line back to my hotel - just because, and picked up my suitcase.  I walked to Tokyo Central Station as I wasn't in any rush.  I then spent 30 minutes wandering around the enormous station trying to find where to get the Narita express train to the airport.  Thank goodness I wasn't in a hurry to catch a plane.  I was getting flustered enough as it was.  Eventually I worked out I needed to buy a ticket for the express from the JR station office and this would get me into the main body of the station, instead of leaving me wandering around the periphery.  Obvious in hindsight.

I got to Narita about 6:30pm and checked into the capsule hotel.  I got a locker key and a bag with 2 towels, sleeping gown and, of course, a toothbrush and slippers.  I dumped my suitcase in my locker and headed out to the terminal for dinner.  I went to a tonkatsu place - no more fish!  It wasn't outrageously expensive which was a pleasant surprise for an airport terminal.   I had a fried, breaded pork cutlet (of course), shredded cabbage, pickles, rice & miso soup.  The only thing I didn't like was the miso soup as it had baby clams in it and they were a little gritty.

After dinner I browsed in the groundside shops.  I bought some seriously cool five "fingered" socks with all sorts of hi-tech features such as arch support and grippy toes to help you exercise.  I hope they fit.  Socks here are sold based on the length of your foot and I've never bothered to measure mine.

I then went back to the capsule hotel.  I took a shower and changed into my sleepwear before getting into my capsule.  There were two layers with about 30 capsules each.  Mine was on the bottom row which was a disappointment.  It was all so futuristic.  I really liked it. 

The capsule was a decent size.  I could stretch out fully.  I could also touch both walls and the roof if I made an effort.  They had a noise generator that made the sound of waves to help drown out surrounding noises.  it didn't do that very well but it was soothing.  There was only a canvas blind to pull down at the end of each pop, which did nothing to block out noise.  You could hear every cough, sneeze, snore and mobile phone ringt.  However, people were generally pretty good about keeping quiet.

I had a decent night's sleep but woke earlier than planned - 6:30am rather than 7:30am, as too many people were getting up.  I gave up by 7am and got up too.  I took another shower and headed out.  The holiday is over now.   I'm not sure if I'll visit Japan again, at least not on my own, but I'd definitely use a capsule hotel if I did.