Adventure to the land of the rising sun, Japan

So in November 2015 I went to the land of the rising sun, Japan for two weeks. It was a dream come true I have wanted to go to this country for so many years. This blog is about what I visited and what I recommend to others visiting Japan.

We flew from London Gatwick to Tokyo Narita with Turkish Airlines. Their flights are very nice you get some lovely food and travel bag with slippers, toothbrush, socks plus a pillow and blanket. Our flight was around 18 hours long, we had to change in Istanbul and wait a few hours for our connecting flight. This is my longest flight ever so far.

Once we arrived in Tokyo Narita airport we had to sort out our Japan rail pass tickets, I really recommend if you are travelling to Japan to get one of these, they are great and you can travel on all the JR Lines, and JR buses, you can even use it on certain Shinkansen's (bullet train's). After we had sorted that out we took the airport train to the city centre and made our way to our first hotel which was in Asakusa.

The hotel was called Mystays Asakusa and was about 20 minute walk from the station. It was a nice basic hotel, good value for money if you are looking for budget hotels. Because of the time different which was 9 hours ahead, it was evening in Tokyo and we was pretty jet lagged so we didn't really do much else that evening.

Day one and the adventure could now begin. The first place we set off to was Senso-ji an ancient Buddhist temple and Tokyo's oldest. It was only a short walk from our hotel and while walking along the streets of Tokyo we saw many vending machines, so I had to try them out and bought my first drink. I really like these vending machines much nicer looking than English ones.

Once we got to the temple there was many people around and it was only early morning, so if you want to go and visit here maybe go early as I'm guessing it gets busy later on in the afternoon. The outer gate is huge everyone was getting there photo taken by it. I really like the colours red and green it really makes it stand out.  As you walk through the outer gate there is a shopping street which is over 200 meters long selling all sorts of souvenirs from folding fans, Japanese snacks, keyrings, toys, yukata's and t-shirts, this is a great place to buy some gifts to take home with you. I recommend this.

As you get to the front of the temple there is the main hall and a five storied pagoda, you could pray and give some money. Lots of people were doing this. If you are into temples, photography, or history it's worth having a look at this amazing place.

You can also get here by going to Asasuka station it's only a few steps from.

Outer gate

Shops selling Japanese goods

Main hall

Main hall

Another place we visited that day was Ueno park, which is a large public park in central Tokyo. The park grounds have a few temples in it, and is famous for its museums which includes the National science museum, Tokyo National Museum, National Museum for Western Art, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. It also has the Ueno Zoo in it.
We didn't visit any of these but did have a nice walk about and had a look at some of the temples. There are many cherry blossom trees in this park but sadly since it was winter when we visited there wasn't any in bloom. These will be in bloom between late March and early April, so if you are a fan of these trees that would be the best time to visit Japan, not in the winter. The park is still nice in the winter months it has a fountain at the front of the park and still had a number of people visiting.

Fountain in Ueno Park

Temple in Ueno park

Crow in the park

One of the temples

the streets of Akihabara

After the park we walked some more and found our way to Akihabara one of the main reasons I wanted to go to Japan for. This place is an anime fans heaven, the place is full of anime and game stores, there is art work all over the shop walls, the streets are full of geek's, and there is people dressed as maids trying to get you to visit their maid cafe's which is one place we decided to check out for an experience.

So we picked the Maidreamin cafe, which seems to be the most popular one for tourists as there is quiet a lot of them in the streets of Akihabara. They give you some cat and bunny ears to wear while we enjoyed a small meal. I had omelette rice, the maids are very friendly and kind they decorate your food with cute little drawings.

I think you are meant to interact with them, we didn't really know what to do but we was watching this group of Japanese boys that had come into the cafe and they were dancing and singing with the maids. After the food they put on a little show for you, sing to you and take your photo. It's a good experience if you want to visit one of these places though it can be quiet expensive, you pay for the entertainment.

Maidreamin Cafe, omelette rice.

Animate an anime store, is another place in Akihabara I went, there is a lot of these stores about. These are amazing completely full of anime goods, you'll get a headache from looking at it all and trying to take it all in I know I did. I bought so many items in these stores I must have spent over £100. Another one of my favourite places I went and I'm so happy I looked up where this was before, is the Kotobukiya store which has on the second floor the Tales of store. If you are a Tales of series fan you will absolutely love this store. It's got so many Tales items in it from plushies, pillows, keystraps, wallscrolls, figures, books.

Well I hope you enjoyed the first part of this blog about Japan, there will be more in part 2. Thanks for reading.

Kotobukiya store, where the Tales of Store is.

Tales of store

Tales of store