Day 49

To catch up on some of the lost sleep we had, we didn't get out of bed until close to 11. We could have kept going but since today was our only full day in Japan, it was time to get up.

Unlike most other cities, the Tokyo public transport is run by a few different companies. So this means that you can't just buy a ticket, you have to buy a ticket for a particular transport system. You can by inter-company-all-day passes, but they were more expensive. So we had to make a choice. We went with the JR lines. For no other reason than that their station map highlighted monuments etc to look at, and which stations to get off at to see them.

Our first stop was Ueno Park. This was basically a park with park-type things. It had things like merry-go-rounds, food shops, paddle boats and a zoo. While walking around the water area, we saw these massive fish. Like pigeons, they sensed when humans were around and flocked. Also like pigeons, they did this because they get fed. Amongst these massive fish was a random turtle as well.

Our next stop was a Sensoji temple in Asakusa. Aparently this is one of the big tourist attractions. People from all over Japan come here to get a photo taken. So this was the perfect spot for my handstand picture!
As for the temple itself, it's was cool enough. Outside they had heaps of 'fortune' based things. A pretty clever way to make some cash at a place like this I'd expect.

Sandra's stomach still wasn't feeling too good while we were walking around. Luckily, Japan seemed to have a decent number of well-kept public toilets (that you didn't have to pay to use). Fantastic! The only downside was that I would have to wait for her outside. The waiting I had no problem with. It was the fact that I waited outside so many toilets that I started to feel like some kind of serial toilet stalker.

Next we made our way to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. As famous as the Tokyo tower is, the tourist centre says that you can get just as good a view from the towers in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building for free. Win!

From the train station, it was a small walk to the government building. But luckily a lot of the way had travelators! The view was pretty cool at the top of the towers. Although it was really just looking down on a city.

One thing we noticed while walking around Japan was that they tended to lack 2 things. Bins and Seats. For something that you would think were pretty common (and are common enough in most other places), they really didn't have many of these. We guessed that it might be to do with the fact that Japanese people don't like to 'eat on the run' like us westerners. If it's one way to discourage loitering, it's to not put bins and seats outside your building. The big thing for me was the lack of bins at the train stations. If it's one place they should let you throw stuff away it would be there. Although later we were talking to this white guy, and he said that he thinks the lack of bins in the stations was due to making it harder for terrorists to blow stations up due to some summit that Tokyo was hosting.

Our next stop was Harajuku. Sadly, our time in Japan didn't allow us to see this place during the weekend (and therefore not see all the crazy fashions), but it was worth a stop anyway. There were still heaps of 'trendy' clothes stores, and 'trendy' people wearing the clothes.

We then made our way to Tokyo Dome. On our way here, we experienced our first majorly packed train ride. It was so packed that Sandra didn't fit in the doors at first, and we had to squish in a little tighter to get her in. Hmmm cozy.

Tokyo Dome is a massive sports stadium that is encapsulated within a dome. This was ok enough to see, but the real attraction here was the amusement park! As expected, they had the regular assortment of rides. For me, the highlight was the Thunder Dolphin roller coaster! You know how almost all roller coasters start with that first drop? Well this one seemed to be the longest drop I'd ever been on. Looking at Wikipedia, aparently this is the 6th tallest roller coaster in the world. Explains why.

After all the run with rides, we got some food there, then headed off back to the hotel. As with the night before, I couldn't get to sleep. So again, we went for a midnight run to the shop. The hotel gave us pyjamas to wear. They looked too much like nighties for me but Sandra gave them a go. So when we went down to the store Sandra decided to just keep her nighty on. I wasn't convinced, but she did it anyway. On our way back to the room, we saw another Japanese guy walking round in the same nighty. Maybe it's more accepted than I thought...

We shared the elevator back up with a drunk japanese guy who was looking a bit worse for wear and a bit ashamed of himself. It was pretty amusing though as he wandered out of the elevator bowing and mumbling apologies to us. Japanese people are so polite.