There comes a time in every girls life when she thinks, it’s time to make a financial spreadsheet. For me, that was Boxing Day 2016. I assessed my finances and realised that if I am ever to become a real life grown up, I needed to start acting like one. That meant no unnecessary spending and unfortunately, no more holidays. It was a time of real reflection. But do you want to know the best thing about financial spreadsheets? You can delete them and pretend they never existed! I might live with my parents for the rest of my life but who cares because I’m going to Japan! Sayonara Adult Responsibilities. Konnichiwa excessive spending in one of the most expensive countries in the world!
Thankfully Rory and I are on the same wavelength and it took all of thirty seconds to convince him to use up his yearly holiday allocation two months in to the calendar year. And so, after a few weeks of planning we have begun our journey to Japan. This involved planes, trains and automobiles but let’s skip to the most important part – the arrival!
We touched down, sailed through security and made a beeline for our baggage. As we passed through customs something entirely unexpected happened – there was an earthquake! It wasn’t a massive event but feeling the earth move is quite a surreal experience and I think its a sign of things to come – our trip will either be earth shatteringly epic or else a complete and utter disaster!
To be fair, after the minor hiccup that was a real life earthquake, things couldn’t have gone any smoother. We picked up our Japan Rail tickets and within minutes were on a train headed to Shinjuku, the busiest station in the world. Having lived in China we know a thing or two about busy and to be honest, I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. It might be busier during the day but we found it relativley easy to navigate and soon we were on the streets of Tokyo. The first thing I noticed was the noise. Not from people or a sea of traffic but from advertisements. I have been to Time Square and seen the billboards but in Japan, they aren’t just pretty pictures, they are full on TV adverts - sound included - but on a thirty foot screen!
With help from TripAdvisor we found our hotel, dropped off our bags, freshened up and then set off in search of food! We explored the Shinjuku area and ended up in the Golden Gai area. The six narrow alleys are connected by narrow passageways and are home to around 200 bars, clubs and eateries. An example of what Tokyo was like before the ‘economic miracle’ of the late 20th century, the small buildings are only a few feet wide and can accommodate a handful of people. Rory and I really enjoyed exploring the area – it reminded us of certain areas in China and I imagine we’ll be back over the next few days!
We spent the rest of the evening exploring Shinjuku and trying to find somewhere to grab dinner. Eventually we settled on a small restaurant that was full of locals and had a picture menu. After lots of pointing and smiling we had our first meal in Japan. Pork and rice for Rory and gyoza and miso ramen for me. We’re in one of the most expensive cities in the world and we got this absolute mountain of delicious food for £10! Rory was in such a state of shock that he didn’t even protest when I dragged him in to 7/11 and made him buy an excessive amount of chocolate. And the best part? Rory fell asleep about thirty seconds after we got back to the hotel which meant that I didn’t have to share my niceys. What a man!
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