Parker Family Adventure: Tokyo!

The flight to Tokyo from Singapore was an easy (compared with 10 hours or so Auckland to Singapore!) 6.5 hours. The tricky bit was soon after we arrived at Haneda bang on time at 9.30pm…

We showed our vaccination passports to the very nice man, then hit a hall with people EVERYWHERE. There was order in the apparent chaos though. We joined the end of the queue, and it took us 2.5 hours to reach the passport control desk.

Eleanor and Leo were absolutely amazing all things considered - it was late, they were tired, in an unfamiliar location, and in an extremely long queue. I definitely handled it worse - at one point I had a strong urge to run away. Probably because I couldn’t! The people we passed repeatedly as we snaked our way up and down the room looked tired too, but everyone was patient and pretty cheerful under the circumstances. I guess we were all happy to be arriving in Japan, and this was simply the final barrier.

Our taxi driver seemed understandably unimpressed at the long wait (despite the $120 additional charge), he was efficient though and drove us fast if not a little wildly to our accommodation. We finally collapsed into bed in Shinjuku about 12.30am.

The following morning we were a bit groggy, but we were finally in Tokyo, so were both excited and determined to finally begin our Japan adventure for real. And what a place to start.

We noticed a couple of things immediately that made us Wellingtonians feel at home… people wear lots of black, and a properly chilly wind. We also saw a slightly seedier side to Shinjuku as the odd person dressed up for last night stumbled about looking very much like it had been far too fun to leave earlier! According to Leo it was a little different to the futuristic, sky-train-moving-between-huge-buildings city he’d imagined, but in a realistic way rather than a bad one.

Before we could really start exploring we needed to sort out our train passes for the remainder of our trip. On the way we checked out Godzilla emerging from the roof of a nearby hotel. Why? Why not? It is Tokyo after all!

At the station we found another slow-moving queue - fortunately we’re in practice now and it was a breeze compared with the airport. Once we had our Japan Rail and Suica (metro) passes, and had reserved seats on various trains over the next three weeks (remarkably easy once you know what you’re doing!) we set off for some lunch.

Adrian had read that Japanese department stores often have good food halls, with cheap and tasty food. That sounded like us so we headed for Isetan, a huge, and as it turns out very fancy, department store not far from the station. We grabbed our first, and most definitely not last, delicious sushi of the trip, and headed up to the roof garden to enjoy the sunshine and eat. We spent the next hour or so exploring the five shopping floors and admiring all the beautiful furniture, clothing, stationary etc. The kids picked me out a mix of beautiful, questionable and quirky outfits. The common factor being they were all completely unaffordable!

We’d read before leaving New Zealand that the cherry blossoms had come early this year, so we were hoping there’d still be a few left by the time we arrived. We dedicated our very first afternoon and evening to visiting the Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens, first by day then later all lit up after dark. They were a little past their best, but spectacular nonetheless. And when the wind blew there were little flurries of petals. We especially enjoyed sitting on the grass in the afternoon sun watching a man do a TikTok dance in front of a particularly beautiful tree. It took a serious number of takes before he was satisfied.

In Tokyo you are completely spoiled for choice when it comes to eating. It’s hard to know where to start. Luckily for me, Eleanor and Leo, Adrian was on the job (again!) and we headed for Golden Gai. In the late 1950s anti-prostitution legislation was passed, and the area began to transform into a cultural space filled with with tiny bars and restaurants frequented by artists and authors. When I say tiny, the restaurant we hd our incredibly tasty meal in would have seated seven or eight squeezed in on bar stools around the open kitchen and a handful more up the small, steep staircase. We’d love to come back and try one of the equally tiny bars one day!

From dinner it was back to the gardens to see the cherry blossoms in coloured lights. I’m glad we saw them the classic way during the day and equally glad we came back at night. It was a truly stunning.

So, that was our first day, and we hadn’t even left Shinjuku. There’s so much to see and do, we could easily spend our entire trip in Tokyo!