I was staying in Tokyo which is the capital city. It is very busy and people are dashing about the place trying to get to where they want to go. The public transport is very good and you can get any where in Tokyo by using the Metro or the JR Railway Lines. As well as that there is the Shinkansen which is the Japanese Bullet Train which takes you miles very fast. I went on this when I went to Kyoto, Nagoya and Nagano.
The people in Tokyo are very friendly and often bow at you when walking round which in England is the same as nodding your head at a friend or an acquaintance. Life in Japan is very Japanese and the society is not very multi cultural or national as in England. Also if you are thinking of coming to Japan I would suggest learning a bit of Japanese as the Japanese don't speak any English at all which is understandable. As well as that dining at a Japanese restaurant is very expensive but McDonalds is just the same and I think they have more varieties than in England.
I did as I did in Helsinki and planned to travel around and not just stay in where my hotel was so when I got to Tokyo I went straight to the Railway Station to buy some tickets for other cities. I got there and went up to the desk and said which trains I wanted to book and he looked at me blankly so I went to another desk and they did the same thing, I then went to the machines and luckily enough they had an English option on them so I booked all the tickets by using the machine. I had booked to go to Yokohama, Kyoto, Nagoya and Nagano. I went to the busiest train station in the world which is the Shinjuku Station in Tokyo with over 3 million people passing through it everyday. It was like dodge ball trying to get through all the people but managed to get to the other side. I also went to the Ueno Zoo, Sony Building, Tokyo Tower and the Mori Tower.
I got to Yokohama Station Tuesday morning and got a map from a police man after it had taken me 40 minutes to demonstrate what I actually wanted. I did this by pulling a woman up and walking away with a piece of paper in her hand. Then I kept walking round in circles, I couldn't get through the station to the other side as it wouldn't let you so I gave in and took a taxi tour for 2 hours. I did this at every city I went to. Yokohama is the second biggest city in Japan so it has lots of industries and it also has the biggest port in Japan for importing and exporting goods. Also there is a beautiful garden called Sankeien Garden and in with the tour I got a guided tour around the gardens which most things were taken from Kyoto and put in the garden. Also there was a lot of tea houses.
Next was Kyoto which has some very nice buildings and great architecture. In Kyoto I went on another taxi tour around the buildings and the sights. I was interested to visit the Heian Jingu shrine which I have seen on TV a few times.
I went on the 8:45am train to Nagano, the home of the 1998 Winter Olympics. As it did then it snowed which made the whole city very picturesque which was lucky as there is not many things to go and see in Nagano. I went to a few shrines and a battlefield and that is pretty much it.
On Friday I went to Nagoya. I tried to get another taxi tour but nobody spoke English so I gave up and had my dinner in quite a posh cafe on the 52nd floor of the Nagoya Railway Station, the biggest railway station in the world. The meal was great, traditional Japanese noodles, also there was a great view and you could see all over Nagoya so I didn't really need to look around.
Next I shall be going to Hong Kong, China and I plan again to travel about. I hope to go on the 24 hour train to Beijing but that depends on availability. If thats not available then I am sure I can get 3 train tickets else where and I will let you know.
Take care.
Robert
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