For our first full day in Tokyo I decided to employee the services of a private tour guide through Get your guide. I had been researching for weeks and just couldn’t get my head around the city. It has many many layers; ground level, subway level, road tunnels, train tunnels, rivers and waterways, not to mention an endless number of skyscrapers. There is a subway, many different trains, buses, taxis and Ubers. I was overwhelmed and confused.
This turned out to be a fabulous decision. Taka our guide was in contact from the moment I booked him to plan an itinerary to suit our family. He advised us to purchase a Suica card that would allow us to travel by public transport (these cards also have other functions such as paying for shopping in convenience stores and restaurants). We were able to do this from Australia and pop the cards in our apple wallets ready. Big time saver and very easy to use.
At 9am Taka met us at our hotel, checked we were happy with his itinerary and we set off. From the moment we met him he was warm and friendly, funny and entertaining. His best quality though was his ability to engage all of us, he took note of what everyone was enjoying and added more of it!
We started at Asakusa Sensoji Temple. This is the largest temple in Tokyo and a great place to learn about some Buddhist rituals. It was entertaining to watch the fortune telling outside the temple and worshippers and tourists fanning smoke from a large incense burner over their (and our) heads. Apparently the smoke makes you smarter and can cure ailments! With year 12 upon him Master 16 was ready to jump on in!
We wandered around the temple, pagoda, Japanese garden and Koi pond before walking the local streets trying matcha tea, sweet treats and meeting lovely locals! Quite taken by our 6 foot 4 giant and our ‘beautiful’ daughter an elderly lady stopped us in the street to give her food recommendations. Having travelled to Australia, she was quite intrigued by us and us by her!
From here Taka led us to Ueno park best known for its cherry blossoms in spring and it’s zoo housing a giant panda. Although completely out of season, we were all surprised to find a small tree in bloom. It was a different species to the most famous tree but it was good enough for us!!
It was at this point Taka asked Master 16 if he was hungry, from then on they were firm friends! He led us to Tsukiji fish market to his favourite sushi restaurant. Here we sat infront of a master sushi chef while he prepared us the best sushi we’ve ever tasted. We went with Taka’s recommendations and although some of us were dubious about certain fish (such as eel, abalone and salmon fish eggs) there honestly was not one thing we didn’t like (yes all four of us). It was melt in your mouth delicious. My only regret was that I didn’t take any sushi photos. Taka snapped one of us gobbling it down though!
Realising the way to Charlie’s heart, Taka’s tour adapted to take in all the best food spots as we walked through the city and into Ginza shopping precinct. The food hall under Mitsukoshi department store was astonishing with everything from bento boxes, sushi, wagyu beef to delicate cakes and English scones with clotted cream!! All at reasonable prices.
One of Taka’s departing introductions was to an electrical store Bic Camera to help us find a power adapter. This was a nine story shop that had Master 16 captive. When we found what we needed we moved on to check out Tokyo Station where Taka left us to head home.
Sad to see him go, we bid him farewell with many thanks before splitting into pairs. The boys went back to Bic Camera for 3 hours!! Master 16 determined to check out every level, while the girls checked out the character shops (Hello Kitty, Pokémon, Miffy etc), more food shops and had dinner in Ramen Street.
As I lie in bed tonight my step count is at 19720! I think it is safe to say; we squeezed a lot in. We are very grateful for Taka’s guidance, without him we wouldn’t have managed half of it.
TTB
P.S Inner city Tokyo is not a concrete jungle but a shiny place full of glass, tiles, electronic billboards and lights. Exactly as you imagine.
The Travel Bee 