The day began with an extremely long and uncomfortable flight from London Heathrow which was met with teary goodbyes from the other volunteers and especially my parents who were desperately trying to hold back theirs until they had left the terminal. I wont forget me waving to them for the last time before finally departing on my own into the world. As for the flight, I can't say our seats were very luxurious at all. We were given the basics and a simple in flight entertainment system which actually contained very up to date films and was pretty good when it worked. The food was actually quite good as well, something that is not often said of an airline flight. We were fed Japanese style beef with rice and a single carrot, yes.. a single sliced carrot piece :') I had to battle my way against the chopsticks which were determined to starve me to death and to this present hour they still continue to try and thwart any attempt at eating.
We landed early in the morning in Haneda Airport, international terminal which was amazing. Downstairs it looks like your simple run of the mill airport terminal with clean white mental institution like walls but upstairs, wow... everything had changed. It took a lot of convincing to drag the other volunteers upstairs and out of the seats as they were tired and jet lagged whereas I was completely fine and very lively and desperate to explore and seek out the wonders of Tokyo. Oh, how I wasn't disappointed with what we found. We boarded the lift to go to the top floor where I'd located some shops and we were met with the following site:
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I've never seen an airport shop like this. It stood out so much against the normal airport architecture and upon heading up the stairs I was even more astonished at the layout of the shops and how pretty they looked and this was just the airport, my mind could only imagine what the rest of the city was like.
It wasn't until around 11:45am until we were met by our lovely representative: Yuki-san. She helped us send off our bags and presented us with the news that we would be in Tokyo for 4 days as opposed to 2 which while was brilliant news, it did mean we had to transfer some items from our suitcases to our hand luggage very quickly. I grabbed what I could get a hold of but annoyingly there are some items I forgot to transfer, including my gifts but still, Tokyo for 4 days! Our first experience of Tokyo was the train from the airport to a place called Asukusa-bashi which is the area we're staying.
We arrived at a small youth hostel near the river bridge which is surrounded by tall buildings and the odd shrine here or there. Overall there's not too much in Asukusa-bashi but it's an amazing atmosphere no matter where you are in the city, though my god is it hot... you do not stop sweating in this city, even during the rain which came later that night. Lunch consisted of going to the local convenience store known as 7-11, and let me tell you, they are everywhere. I think there are 4 within 5 minutes of walking in either direction. There selection is pretty amazing and I am growing to quickly love these shops as they are very useful and quite cheap as well. For lunch I had a simple sandwich and drink with some crisps as I wanted a simple lunch rather than diving straight into the Japanese cuisine.
After lunch we were met by two Japanese students from Showa Womens University in Tokyo. Kaneko-san and Chiho-san. They took us out to a huge temple in Asukusa which was very crowded and against the now darkened sky it was lit up and illuminated the area beautifully. The temple sits at the end of a long row of market stalls surrounded by side streets selling everything from food and sweets, to gifts and clothing. I know for certain I was grinning like an idiot the entire time we were walking around. I spoke a lot with Chiho-san trying to learn everything I could about what I was seeing as well as exchanging translations in both Japanese and English for certain things. Communicating with the natives is fun because you have to get creative in how you want to describe something. Miming and using hand gestures is the best way by no doubt though you do look a little like a fool.
For dinner we went to a small Japanese restaurant in Asukusa which was cosy and a little cramped with my long legs but the food.... karaage is the greatest thing to ever be served in Japan. In short it is fried chicken and rice. It's unhealthy but it is delicious and I have heard that it tastes even better up on Hokkaido which means I will most likely come back very fat. During dinner my partner actually passed out and fell asleep on the table which was quite amusing to watch. Chiho-san loved watching me fail at using my chopsticks as well as I was desperately trying to eat as I was starving.
Afterwards we had a debate about what to do now and unfortunately as I was the only one who wasn't tired or jet lagged, we ended up being taken back to the hostel at around 8pm. I couldn't for the life of me stay in the hostel in the middle of Tokyo, fully awake so I decided to explore on my own. The first thing that will strike anyone is how safe the city is at night. I was walking on my own with a video camera in night, going down several side streets and into dark shrines, all in the rain. I got back in after exploring at around 11:30 and went to bed, extremely happy and giddy from finally arriving in what is now to be my favourite place in the world! Obviously, I did take a lot of pictures but most of it is in the form of a video so I will be uploading another vLog as soon asspossible.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!
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