First Taxi in Tokyo

After a quick power nap this afternoon we got showered and headed for Shinjuku. What a crazy place.... like Soho, Leicester Square and Time Square all rolled into one, there's nothing like it. The place was buzzing and it was a Sunday night - don't these people have work in the morning. Full of young trendy things, all dolled up and hitting the town. Despite being married, Andy is loving the short skirts and long socks look! Everyone is on it!

There was a moment when we stepped out if the train station, there must have been 2 or 3 thousand people to our left and right, billboards with flashing lights, crazy music playing, trains flying overhead, and cars beeping their horns and racing by. It was then that it really struck me - holly crap, we're in Japan... Awesome! It was like a film.

After a bit of exploring we found a small Ramen restaurant that had a real buzz to it. The food was awesome, big bowls of noodles, edamame beans and tasty pork and chicken dishes. Loads of Asahi too, we left the place feeling full and well pleased with ourselves. The Japanese is coming along too, we ordered everything without a word of English, "Kampai".

We then spent the next hour or so hunting for the so called "love hill". We ended up walking in the wrong direction for miles, and even when a local asked us where we were trying to get too, we got embarrassed and said we needed the train station. Once back to the train station, we realised where we were, found ourselves in the map, and headed for the hill. To be honest, we were quite underwhelmed by the place. We were promised a place of mystery, excitement and a bit naughty. But it seemed like a row of regular cheap motels... Pay by the hour and ask no questions. We got bored quickly and left.

On the hunt for a good drink, we came across a quirky cocktail bar. The atmosphere was ok, bit old school but the bar man was a wannabe Tom cruise, and shook the cocktail jug like he was worshipping, OTT to the max! We had one drink in there and left, and were charged 500 Yen each for the pleasure... bad look!

But things turned around... Within 5 minutes we had found an awesome chill out bar on the east side of the station. Cool jazz, cool people and a great buzz to the place. We were supposed to stay for one, but that turned into 3 or 4 and we ended up missing our train home. We did however get to take our first taxi in Tokyo - a bit pricey but then it did have automatic doors...

Another great day, and can't wait for Mt. Fuji and the Bullet Train tomorrow.

Night,

Andy and Leanne