Nagasaki and Tokyo: Day 10 and 11: Tuesday and Wednesday 4th and 5th of April

Tokyo is the world’s biggest city, and this post is probably my biggest post ever… two days’ worth of Japanese adventures to follow 🙂

I decided to post two days’ at once, not because we haven’t done much, but because I haven’t had the time!

We started Tuesday by packing our bags and leaving the lovely hotel near the station in Nagasaki. Having recce’d the bus station the night before we were confident of where we needed to go and how long it would take us. At nearly A$50 per person for a hotel buffet breakfast we decided grabbing something at the railway station on our walk to the bus station was a better idea.

And so, it finally happened, I ate McDonalds in Japan! There was not a lot of options of places open, and to be honest the idea of a bacon and egg McMuffin was quite appealing!

930 yen (about $10) was pretty good value, and it was in fact pretty tasty, and the tea was nice and hot – so it was a pretty good breakfast actually!

Our prior preparation ensured the bus trip to the airport was super simple and we arrived at the Airport after the 50-minute bus ride nearly three hours before our flight was due to leave. We found a decent little airport coffee shop with free Wi-Fi and comfortable chairs and whiled the time away reading and catching up on internet news!

Passing through security was very simple and the staff were extremely polite and helpful, even giving Dave little green slippers to replace his boots while they went through the scanner 😉

The Japan Airlines flight from Nagasaki to Tokyo takes 95 minutes. The plane was pretty much full and when we arrived at Haneda airport exactly on time we got the same announcement as we did when we arrived here a week or so ago – no gates for the plane to go in to (even though the airport has nearly 200 gates!). Haneda airport is actually Tokyo’s second airport, with Narita being even larger, but slightly further away from downtown Tokyo.

Deciding that catching three different trains was too much hassle, we went straight to the taxi rank and caught a taxi to Toyosu, a suburb of Tokyo around 10km south-east of the centre of the city. Tokyo doesn’t really have a CBD as such, and the transportation is so efficient and well organised that it seemed like a good location to stay since it was close to the TeamLab Planets where we had booked a 7pm entry that night.

TeamLab Planets is an interactive art museum. It comprises of four large immersive artwork spaces and two gardens. All visitors go barefoot (and roll up their pants – the first artwork requires wading in knee deep water!) and immerse their entire bodies in the large artworks together with others. To quote the website: “The artworks change under the presence of people, blurring the perception of boundaries between the self and the works. Other people also create change in the artworks, blurring the boundaries between themselves and the works, and creating a continuity between the self, the art, and others.” It was strange to take our shoes off and get wet in a museum but was lots of fun and as usual in Japan was extremely well organised.

WEDNESDAY 5th April 20203 (Day two of this blog)

We had nothing specific planned for Wednesday apart from ‘exploring Tokyo’ listed on our trip plan. We started by walking the short 300 metres to the Toyosu Wholesale markets since they were close by. These markets replaced the commercial part of the famous Tsukiji fish markets a few years ago when they outgrew their location. It’s not really a place where tourists visit, but apparently there are viewing spots where you can watch the very large operation, including the tuna auctions. Unfortunately, the markets are closed on Wednesday and Sundays, so we went to the nearest station and jumped on a monorail and headed towards the city.

Our first destination was the ‘Yasukuni Jinja Yushukan’ – the equivalent of our Australian War Memorial. The name “Yushukan” is taken from the Japanese readings of characters and reflects the purpose of the museum as a place to become familiar with the stories of those who sacrificed their lives for their country. It was a fascinating place – laying out the history of wars in Japan right through to what they refer to as the “Great East Asian War” (WW2). We thought we would only have a short visit here but ended up spending nearly two hours!

Next stop was Shibuya. Shibuya Crossing is one of Tokyo’s most recognizable sights, pictured in countless films, magazines and blogs. During its busiest times, an estimated 2,500 people forge their way across this intersection every two minutes! The phenomenon led to its nickname “scramble,” as pedestrians cross from all directions, and while it seemed like chaos was actually incredibly well synchronized, in typical Japanese fashion!

We had only had a simple toasted sandwich for breakfast and by now I was getting pretty hungry, so we found a restaurant specialising in Soba Noodles, since I was yet to try these on this holiday. It wasn’t my favourite meal, but the dark, slightly chewy noodles were very flavoursome, and the accompanying tempura prawns and vegetables with crisp and salty, but the broth was quite fishy and not really to my liking.

We then walked about two kilometres through shopping centres, on busy sidewalks and under tunnels to nearby Ebisu where we took the ‘Ebisu Skywalk’ (moving walkway one floor above ground level) along to the Ebisu Gardens, a tranquil and pretty area with parks and coffee shops. We enjoyed an expensive (A$12) cup of tea then took the lift to the top of Ebisu Garden Place Tower, 38 floors up. From there we got a great view over Tokyo – without the up to $20 charge there is on other high tower visits in Tokyo.

By now we were getting pretty tired, so we decided to head back to the hotel. Dave is getting extremely good at buying train tickets from ticket-vending machines and we arrived back at hotel easily after a 20-minute metro and then a 10-minute monorail ride.

I had researched ‘great restaurants Tokyo’ online and found the recommendation to visit Mark’s, a small 10-seater restaurant in Meguro. The restaurant is described as being a “Japanese-inspired modern American cuisine restaurant… Chef Mark Sekita has created a space where people can enjoy the flavours of both his childhood and his travels, highlighting seasonal ingredients of Japan”, which sounded right up my alley.

After travelling on what was the busiest train I have ever been on (no need to hang on when you are wedged between people) we arrived a little early for our 7pm booking but was nonetheless warmly greeted by Mark and taken to our table, where we could overlook Mark’s small open kitchen. The menu included five courses, degustation style and after we ordered our drinks Mark came and spoke with us more about the menu, the restaurant and why he loved living in Tokyo. He spent time cooking for and talking to each of the groups (all 10 places were taken), and I enjoyed every dish. My favourite was the scallop entree, but all were good, with Mark explaining the provenance of each ingredient as he served them to us. The old adage ‘walk lots, eat lots’ was most certainly valid today and with a total of nearly 20,000 steps I was pretty happy to eat everything that was put in front of me!

We ordered an Uber to get back to the hotel, the first time we have done this since being in Japan. It was easy enough and we were picked up a couple of minutes after I ordered it, though they are more expensive than they are in Australia. Bed was definitely calling me by the time we got to our room, and with a busy Thursday planned, I was quickly asleep!