Tokyo

We left Shanghai at 6am on the morning of the 23 April, for a 9am flight to Tokyo, being taken to the airport by On the Go.

The flight time was just over 2.5 hours and once we landed it was relatively easy to buy rail tickets and we were pleasantly surprised that we could get a direct train to Tokyo's Ikebukuro station, where our hotel was. This journey was just over 1.5 hours and the hotel was situated within walking distance of the station. Our room was small, but suitable for our needs.

We went to the local 7-Eleven supermarket to stock up on 'provisions' and as we were getting into the lift back at the hotel, we heard a querying voice say 'Dave?', and much to Dave's surprise the voice belonged to Harpreet, a chap he worked with in Reading a few years ago. There was then spent a few minutes of them catching up and also arrangements made to meet Harpreet for dinner the next evening. Amazing to meet someone you know halfway round the world!

After the surprise of this meeting and settling in to our room, we went to one of the restaurants, where Dave went for the buffet option and I had a pizza.

On our first day we went to Sunshine City (a large shopping centre), and we went up the Sunshine 60 Tower to the 60th floor observatory. This gave us a magnificent view of Tokyo, which again is a very large city, and with very few green spaces to be seen.

One of the problems we have, surprisingly, encountered in Japan is the total lack of free wi-fi in hotel rooms or lobbies. This has proved frustrating, particularly for Dave, so while out in Tokyo we decided to find an electrical shop to see if we could find a wireless router for access to the Internet and Skype wherever we stay in Japan. The first place we went to did not have what was needed, but walking further down the street we came to a shop called Lab1, a very large electrical store, so in we went.

Dave spent a lot of time looking in the relevant section (to be honest I did not have a clue what to look for!) but what was there was either too expensive or too large. However, when it seemed that we would not be able to get anything, I suggested to Dave that we look in the next aisle just in case they were any routers there and luckily there were and for the relatively small sum of £20. Dave was very pleased.

Back to hotel to set up our new gizmo and it has been working a treat; I have to say I am very pleased to have internet access too. We rang my Mum on Skype and the connection was brilliant, the same when we rang Dave's parents. We also rang Robert and Louise from Kyoto and did the video link, which was also great, so all in all £20 well spent.

In the evening, as arranged, we met up with Harpreet and went to the restaurant on the 25th floor of hotel, which offered stunning views of the city at night. Both Harpreet and myself had pasta and Dave had steak. Dave and Harpreet reminisced about their time working together and Harpreet also gave us his views and experiences on what to see and where to visit in Japan; he was travelling back to the UK the following morning after having been in Japan for 17 days. A very pleasant evening.

On our second day we set out for the Imperial Palace gardens, a short metro ride away. The Imperial Palace is only open twice a year, one of which is the Emperor's birthday. However, it was a warm sunny day and the East Gardens turned out to be a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. After this we went back to the metro and as Dave was hungry, we went into a food hall and he brought some sushi.

We went back to the hotel and in the evening found an Italian restaurant next to the hotel, which was a bit expensive for basically two bowls of pasta and a couple glasses of wine, but enjoyable nevertheless.

The next day dawned overcast and damp, but we decided to go to the Meiji-Jingu shrine, a short metro journey away. This shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken and after their deaths in 1912 and 1914, the people wanted to commemorate their memories, so 100,000 trees were donated from Japan and overseas to create the forest where the shrine sits.

The shrine itself was large and very tranquil, as have most of the shrines we have visited, a pity the weather was not nicer, but it was a nice place to spend a couple of hours.

We went to the restaurant in the park where Dave had a sushi lunchbox - I just watched! Then we made our way back to the hotel.

In evening we found an 'Italian Cafe' where we both had pasta dishes which were lovely and a lot cheaper than the previous Italian meal.

My overall impression of Tokyo is of a too big a city, lacking in green open spaces and too many people. However, saying that, it has been been an amazing experience that I would not have missed for the world.