Like most people, I’m partial to a bit of travelling as often as my wallet allows. I’ve been all around the world satisfying my curiosity, from the panoramic views atop Chicago’s Willis Tower, to the crumbling city blocks of Pripyat and Chernobyl, but never have I set foot in Asia. It’s no wonder given how far away it is from the UK, but given my fascination with Japan and its rich culture, it was only a matter of time before I touched down in the land of the rising sun. This blog post is all about my time in Tokyo back in June, meeting so many new people and sampling so much hospitality on my first ever venture into the world of solo travel. I’ve got far too much to write about for just one post, so I’ll split it up over the course of the next week or so.
Getting to Tokyo meant a whopping 14 hours of travel time- a daunting prospect to even the most seasoned of travellers. First flying from Manchester airport to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle, and then on to Haneda made the journey somewhat less arduous, but still not something many look forward to. I arrive at baggage drop off late in the morning of the 17th June, a welcome change from the 5am arrivals I’ve become accustomed to. After sending my luggage over to be inspected I send it on its way to be hauled on the almost 6000 mile journey I too will be embarking on. I glide through an uncharacteristically quiet security checkpoint with my pride intact and my hair clay un-confiscated. I have just over an hour to kill in departures, meaning it’s time for an overpriced pint (it’s never too early when you’re on holiday, right?), and an opportunity to cram in as many free samples as is reasonably possible. Time flies by and before I know it I’m boarding the first flight with a belly full of lager and smelling like a Year 11 prom. Just over an hour later I’m touching down in Paris, feeling a little miffed the inflight snack we were promised didn’t amount to anything. I navigate through a few more security checkpoints and do a little more windowless window shopping before boarding the second leg of the journey; the 11 hour stint being eased slightly by bagging an exit row seat with a little more leg room.
Taking off for the second time proved just as uneventful as the first, though being in the middle of a wide-body aircraft like the Boeing 777 meant I wasn’t able to see the little towns and villages go by below like I could on the flight in. With it still being the afternoon when we departed, I opted to not get any shut eye yet, despite the 8 hour time difference awaiting me in Tokyo. Instead I make the most of the inflight entertainment, and catch up on a few films I’ve been meaning to watch- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse– two drastically different films but still films I’ve been meaning to watch nonetheless. I’m no film critic so I won’t go into the details but I thoroughly enjoyed them both, and would happily watch them again. I’d been informed by a friend to go for the Hindu meal option for a rather delicious inflight meal, but I think Air France had yet to get that memo. While I was first delighted to be served before everyone else, the food left much to be desired. Perhaps the people in charge of Air France’s special meals need to learn a thing or two about proper seasoning… The rest of the flight was rather uneventful, I slept for a few hours before waking up somewhere over Russia. I filled in my customs form and prepared to land in Asia for the first time, it was a warm June afternoon in Tokyo. After navigating the miles and miles of Haneda airport’s corridors, I make my way through customs and meander through to arrivals.
I spend the next hour or so traipsing up and down the terminal with my newly-reunited hold luggage, in search of the best way to get into the city. While the metro system was the cheaper (and marginally quicker) option, I wasn’t yet comfortable with the prospect of lugging my bags through public transport. After getting the essentials to survive the next couple of hours (and becoming a little too acquainted with the toilet situation in Japan), I made the decision to take the airport coach service to Shibuya, which was were I was staying, and making the rest of the journey on foot. On the coach ride in I got a great view of the city, crossing the iconic Rainbow Bridge before weaving through the bustling streets of the world’s largest city. We make a few stops periodically to let people off, before I myself depart at Shibuya’s Mark City, a place I would soon learn to be a shopping centre. Once finally out of there, I took a short stroll to The Millennials Shibuya, a trendy capsule hotel that would serve as my base of operations for the next 10 days. Its modern stylings and spacious capsule interiors were a welcome sight after spending the past 14 hours cooped up in the delights of economy class air travel. I had a quick nap before heading over to the burger joint on the first floor of the building the hotel was in, the American diner themed J.S. Burger Cafe. After a pretty tasty chicken karaage burger I retreated back to my bed, ready to catch up with a whole continent’s worth of sleep.
I think a combination of the language barrier, and it being my first time travelling alone in a foreign country really made me feel quite intimidated on the first night in Toyko. Such a drastic change of scenery for me really took me out of my comfort zone, and the social stigma around doing things like dining at restaurants alone really got to me at first, but I soldiered on and fought past the anxiety in no time thankfully. In part 2 of this trip, I’ll go into more detail about the first full day in Tokyo, as well as getting by once the initial jitters pass. There’s plenty of sights to see and coffee shops to review, so stick around, okay? It’ll be fun I promise!
If you’ve been to Japan before, what was your biggest challenge when you first arrived? If not, what do you think is the greatest difference about daily life in Japan compared to back home?
Baristas & Breakpoints 