I had an opportunity to visit Japan – first time in my life :) - for me it was meeting with completely different culture. New experience – totally different than visit to the US or any European country I saw. It is very tough to describe Japan – I was impressed by cleanliness around me, and politeness of people.
First place in Japan was Narita International Airport in Tokyo.
Tokyo – 8 500km from Warsaw, capital city of Japan, the largest city of Japan with mainly 9 millions people living there.
During this trip to Japan I took some photos, but honestly speaking March is not preferred month for this – you could feel the spring around the corner, but mainly was cloudy and rainy. April, with cherry blossom (sakura) is better time to visit this beautiful country.
First day in Tokyo was rainy, time difference (8 hours) caused I was totally exhausted and felt sleepy and instead of visiting Tokyo I went to bed. Btw - I had beautiful view from my hotel’s windows.
The evening dinner was at Gompachi Nishi-Azabu restaurant, which is rumored to have inspired Quentin Tarantino for the scenes in the Kill Bill 1 movie. The food was very good – mainly shrimps and grilled see food.
I had an opportunity to visit Odawara Castle, which is located in Kanagawa Prefecture.
First contact with shinkansen - also known as the "Bullet Train". Marvellous – trains capable of up to 320 km/h, based on reports average arrival time is within six seconds of the scheduled time, during a year shinkansen has 35 s delay. To enable high-speed operation, shinkansen uses advanced technologies compared with conventional rail, and it achieved not only high speed but also a high standard of safety and comfort. It’s fast and very comfortable way of travelling. Chairs in the car are heated – it’s normal, the Japanese like warmth. Compared with air transport, the shinkansen has some advantages - scheduling frequency, flexibility, punctual operation, comfortable seats and convenient city-center terminals.
The shinkansen system and airlines often compete with each other for the business of city-to-city domestic travelers. If the shinkansen connects two cities in less than three hours, most passengers choose the shinkansen, but if it takes more than four hours the majority choose traveling by plane.
Sightseeing of Tokyo. I went to Asakusa and Akhiabara districts. Asakusa is known for Sensō-ji an ancient Buddhist temple. It is Tokyo's oldest temple, and one of its most significant. The temple is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon, also known as Guan Yin or the Goddess of Mercy.
The Nakamise-dōri is a street leading to the temple. The length of the street is approximately 250 meters and contains around 100 shops with different staffs.
Pilgrims and tourists before temple – number of photo cameras per square meter is one of the highest in the world.
Akihabara, also known as Akihabara Electric Town, is a major shopping area for electronic and computers. Definitely, Japan is not cheap country – what surprise me even photo cameras (Canon, Nikon etc.) produced in Japan are very expensive compared to other countries.
Evening dinner in Roppongi Kaguwa (www.kaguwa.com) – entertainment show restaurant. For many reasons it is an interesting place and worth seeing. Why ? Hmm…Japanese culture and food, but not only :)
Fish market in Tokyo – commonly know as Tsukiji Market - is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. The market is the busiest between 5:30 and 8:00 a.m., and the activity declines significantly afterward. Many shops start to close around 11:00 a.m., and the market closes for cleaning around 1:00 p.m. The most exciting moment is the tuna auctions at 5.00 am – unfortunately due to restrictions and limits for visitors I didn’t participate in auction. All Tokyo’s restaurants are supplied here with fresh and raw fish.
