Day Two

Central Tokyo (Ginza & the Imperial Palace)

Bright & early 8am start, quick shower & ready for the day ahead. Getting anything other than noodles or rice for breakfast was going to prove to be a challenge.

We entered a mini supermarket called Family Mart to see if we could source some breakfast, after about 10 mins of trying to understand packets we grabbed some extremely small sandwiches (that had no crusts) a carton of milk & headed for the till. Unsure of whether standing on a street corner was an acceptable to eat we decided to give it a go - several stares later the sandwiches were gone as you only get the equivalent of 2 bites & with our greedy mouths they were demolished. The milk was like a carton of cheese though (yuk!) so not recommended unlike the sandwiches which were small but adequate. Trying to find rubbish bins in Tokyo in order to dump the cheese drink was impossible but it's crazy how the streets are so clean without bins.

Heading for the train station & inside it became apparent how quick we have learnt the train systems & how to purchase tickets. Tickets bought & bums on train seats we headed for the Imperial Palace & Ginza.

I think Tokyo is the only place where you get off a subway train and in the station there is a huge designer department store, we nosed around for 2 minutes before asking how to get to the street. Once in the street and armed with our map we headed down a massive street with enormous skyscrapers and designer shops - there was everything from Gucci, Prada etc to exclusive jewellery shops. It was now obvious that we was in the rich part of the city.

Unsure of which direction we was heading in, we decided to ask a local. Why Andy has to pick the oldest looking Japanese fella is beyond me, the poor man probably couldn't tell you how to wipe his own bum, but anyways we asked and as stood for 15 minutes trying to get away whilst the old man kept grabbing the map and then mumbling more stuff to us with slight hand gestures.

Walking past what seemed to be the business district we wandered in to a park like area which had an ancient Japanese warrior statue. After being completely focused on the statue it was to our surprise that when we turned around to walk on we noticed more & more hobos asleep under trees - it really makes you feel sad.

Crossing the streets to get from one side to the other is rather strange & the place is full of zebra crossings on a lights system by where you wait for 20 minutes for the lights to change before attempting to walk across, even if there is no traffic - nobody walks across! The rule of walking in Tokyo is that you must always keep to the left, bizarre but makes things work quickly & just makes more sense.

There was a big stone wall which appeared to stretch for miles, around the wall was a moat like river with lots of cool funky massive bonsai trees & big massive carp. We decided to take a walk around the wall and oh my gosh did we walk. 5 hours later & with aching sore feet & bones we decided to head back for the train station.

In the 5 hours we seen the whole of the Imperial Palace which is just tranquil. It's extremely hard to believe that such a beautiful place is hidden amongst all the skyscrapers. We passed the National Japanese Theatre, the British Embassy, the Tokyo museum for Arts & many other wonderful places & buildings. You can't get the feel for how enormous the structures are unless you see it for yourself.

Walking around the Palace we seen lots of runners & cyclists. They all ran & cycled in the same direction & on the left hand! We seen one man in the smallest shorts ever & in the 5 hours of walking the Palace loop we swear to have seen him at least 12 times. We also seen a lot of traffic wardens but not normal traffic wardens. These are dressed funny, they have whistles & little batons. There jobs are to wave to usher the traffic even though there is traffic lights. It seems like a no nonsense job to us & if we hear another whistle ever again it will be too soon!

The most fabulous place we saw today was the Palace gardens which enclosed many other small gardens that where landscaped & kept beautifully. Whilst walking around you could not hear the traffic or the noise of the busy lives being lived in the busiest part of the city! All the trees (mainly bonsai) where sculptured & the traditional buildings kept in remarkable condition. A magnificent place to enjoy the highlights & wonders that makes tokyo so unique.

Heading back for our train we decided to pop in to an electrical shop to see if we could buy a spare camera battery. Absolutely madness, there was at least 8 floors in this shop possibly the size of the Trafford Centre just full of all your electrical desires - note that this is just one shop! Off the train & back in our hostel area - yeah it was KFC for tea for us & a long awaited kip.

Mount Fuji possibly tomorrow.......