Off to a great start!!

Our trip to Japan and New Zealand has begun! We travelled approximately 5891 miles from Dublin, through Hong Kong to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Leaving at 1155 on Wednesday we arrived in Tokyo at 1355 on Thursday!

Tokyo covers 844.7 sq miles and has a population of 14.1 million people. Our first base for six days is in the west of Tokyo in Suginami City.

Our journey was good. A great run down to Dublin courtesy of Dr M, easy check-in and security process and an hour in the lounge to enjoy a glass or two of bubbles! During the flights between us we watched eight films and the first season of Downton, a few episodes of Chernobyl as well as a few other non starters!! What was more entertaining were the cameras on the top and underside of the plane which gave a great view of take off and landing and the screen showing our progress half way across the world!

We were so glad that M &T met is in Japan. There was quite a distance from Haneda Airport to our address in Tokyo and they had a good knowledge of navigating the subway! I think this little piece of plastic is going to be well used over the next couple of weeks. Like a London Oyster card, the Suica card gives access to trains, metro and buses across Japan. We bought ours preloaded before we left home and have already topped it up 7000 Yen!

Thursday evening we had our first taste of authentic Japanese food at a local sake bar – I think there is going to be a lot of food posts in this!

Friday was a special day – The Bear’s Wedding Anniversary and H’s birthday 💕 and our first opportunity to see the sights of Tokyo.

Lonely Planet in hand we headed to Musashino because P wanted to visit Blue Sky Coffee, a tiny coffee shop hidden in a wooden cottage with a state of the art coffee roaster. It did do very good coffee – and was home to a mighty crop of mosquitos who took their fill of H and T’s O- blood! I’m still scratching three days later!!

Lunch was Okonomiyaki – cabbage, egg, pancake mix, pork, chives and sauce – cooked by you on a hot plate in the table, absolutely delicious!

On our way back home we visited the nearby Ohmiya Hachimangu – Enshrined Deity here are Emperors Ojin, Chuai and Jingu. The history of the shrine dates back to the end of the Heian Era, approximately 950yrs ago and is of significance to several leaders on their way to battle. At the end of the Ashikaga period it fell in to disrepair and was later rebuilt in 1962 (significant year for mummy bear) on the occasion of the 900th anniversary.

Then it was party time…. We visited Takuan Botantei in Shinjuku for our evening meal. This is a converted house which allows diners to have private rooms. After a number of ‘starters’ we again cooked our own food and then at the end of the evening we were entertained by the owner, first in song and then dance.

Now as you know Japanese don’t want the floor to be stained by soil, sand or dust that may be attached to the soles of shoes are not worn inside. Instead, they are removed in the GENKAN ( entrance ). When one needs to go to the bathroom you can avail of a pair of slippers – if they fit!

To round off a great day the hardcore headed to a small pub for some birthday celebrations