Japan #1: Lost in translation

So, here I am in Japan.  Land of the rising sun.  I flew into Narita airport on Friday evening and was disappointed to see a rather wet, grey scene as we came into land - a far cry from the increasingly warm temperatures I'd left behind in Dubai.

I was in Tokyo for the first three nights of the trip, and I spent the vast majority of that time wandering around totally overwhelmed. This is a mad mad place, unlike anywhere I've ever been before: a full on assault on the senses. Lights, sounds, activity, just totally frenetic. People everywhere - the place just buzzes.

A trip round the Tokyo equivalent of the circle line seemed like a reasonable way to start the two full days that I had in the city, stopping off at Shinjuku and Ueno. The first was pretty full on - huge video screens broadcasting to the thousands of people milling about below, brightly coloured neon signs in Japanese advertising everything from trainers to whisky, and traffic heading every which way. Everywhere you turn there are people - there is no such thing as a quiet street in this city.

Shinjuku

Ueno was good if a little disappointing - a lot of the big park there was closed and being worked on, and the cherry blossom, for which it is famous, wasn't yet out. Still it was good to stroll around and take in the sights, and get away from the chaos of the streets for a bit.

Ueno Park

Day two saw me take in Odaiba (reclaimed land and beach area out in the Tokyo bay), Harajuku (where the hoards of Japanese indie kids hang out wearing all kinds of weird stuff every Sunday - Gothic Lolita anyone?), Roppongi Hills (Blade Runner-esque mega development), and Shibuya.  The latter was by far the highlight - more over the top shops, advertising and people craziness.  Taking a seat in Starbucks (the world's busiest apparently) above Shibuya crossing, you can watch literally thousands of people cross the road every 90 seconds or so as the lights go red.  Pretty mad.  The place lights up after dark and is no less busy - more so in fact, even though it must be close to 0 degrees centigrade. Despite the freezing evening temperatures, it is a surprise to see that most Japanese women walk around in skirts shorter than I've seen anywhere else.  Not that I've been but it could be akin to Newcastle on a Saturday night?

Shibuya crossing madness

The food is amazing too, although I gave up fairly early on trying to find somewhere with an English menu - luckily there are pictures of the dishes in most places and the point and smile method works a treat.  It's strange coming here after spending so long in Dubai - the first time I saw beer on sale in the supermarket I did a genuine double take.  They even sell it in vending machines on street corners.  The place is also spotlessly clean - I can't work out how though as there are no bins anywhere...

Shibuya at night

So Tokyo: great city, controlled chaos everywhere and totally different to anywhere else I've ever been.  From the electric toilet in my hotel room, to the terrible Japanese pop bands blaring out from every shop, I loved it.