Comparing Tokyo to London ...

It's no secret that I consider myself to be from London. Although only living there for the first 12 years of my life, I have drawn my strengths from the life experiences that I gained in those first important years. I also love cities, any cities. This visit to Tokyo is the first time that I have ever been surprised by a city. I thought that I had seen just about anything that a city could present to me ... but this one stumped me !

It's not that Tokyo is so clean, it's probably a little better than average, but no great shakes. The thing that knocked me over was the respect ... for life, for property, for personal space ... just about everything is given absolute respect in Tokyo.

As my case in point I present to you this picture of a lovely classical staircase, located a little outside of jazz club area in Tokyo. The picture is nice, but only becomes amazing when I tell you that it is secluded and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 24 hours, without coverage from a CCTV !

In London this would have been spray painted long ago and now be covered by 24hour security to prevent the homeless from building a cardboard living room in it.

This is not weird ... It's the way things should be !

Smoking in Tokyo ... Becoming a thing of the past

Tokyo has strict rules regarding smoking in public places. There does seem to be an acceptance that people will want to smoke out in the open, so to cater for this there are designated smoking areas all around the heavily congested city zones.

Restaurants have their own rules. Some will be all non-smoking, others will have non-smoking areas. Our experience is that most restaurants that allow smoking will send non-smokers away smelling like a fireplace. So if you want a smoke free experience, the more expensive restaurants will be for you.

Jazz Clubs in Tokyo - My Recommendation. IMHO the Best Jazz Club in Tokyo with Online Booking and Directions to find it.

Tokyo is a big city. It can be difficult for an outsider to find those warm and welcoming atmospheric surrounding from which to really experience the Japanese spirit. Viewing Japanese entertainment can be a very successful way to get closer to the heart of Japan.

You may be a seasoned Jazz fan or it may be your first time, but visiting a quality Jazz Club in Tokyo is a must for anyone wanting to expand their holiday experience.

We would recommend this Jazz Club to anyone visiting Tokyo from the West. It is a wonderful 'Basement' style club with both tables and bench bar seating. The audience is small enough to really interact with the stage and the locals are very friendly and will make you feel at home.

B-Flat Jazz Club.
6-6-4, Sakae Bldg B1,
Akasaka, Minato-ku.

Tel: 03-5563-2563 for Details
Web: http://bflat.biz/ - Use Google Chrome for a Good Translation

The website has a projected schedule for the month ahead and it is very easy to book your seat online, using the email address supplied on the site. You simply write to them asking if it would be possible to reserve a number of seats (You could mention that "Colin Hall San" had recommended the Bflat Club to you) and they will respond with a reservation confirmation ... You pay at the door, depending on the particular tarif for the occasion ... It's very easy.

Finding the Bflat club can be a bit tricky, as it is not on the main road, but tucked back on a minor road. Use these coordinates on Google Earth and you will be able to visualise where to look for this superb jazz club in Tokyo (  35°40'13.31"N  -  139°44'15.07"E )

Arrived home safely today. Very Long Flight from Tokyo to Amsterdam (No Magic Mushrooms this time) and on to Heathrow.

Arrived home safely today. Very Long Flight from Tokyo to Amsterdam (No Magic Mushrooms this time) and on to Heathrow. Greg very kindly picked us up from the airport, braving the M25 and waiting an hour while we fought our way through Customs and Baggage Collection. A nice journey home discussing our experiences and a stop for Burgers and Hot Chocolate. Thanks Greg ;-)

We are going to develop this blog into an overall guide to Tokyo, based upon our first hand experiences and info from many sources. Any questions will be gratefully received and replied to quickly.

Many thanks for reading ;-)

New Years Day in Tokyo City

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

Our final day for getting out and about - so we just went wherever luck took us.  Year 2011 - the year of the Rabbit.... this one was a store window size cut out, just one paper fold down the middle of the sheet; every window had a different style of paper cut out - a fabulous display of craftwork.

Another amazing paper cutout - thought this might be a nice touch for weddings; instead of the usual flowered archway, the bridge and groom could burst through something similar to this?

A New Years celebratory dragon

The queue for equivalent of our  'Currys' store - it wove all around the building and back towards the next building block! 

And the queue at the front for the checkouts was just about the same..

A masked statue in front of the National Theatre

The entrance to the TOEI cinema in Shibuya where we watched our second Japanese film; the cinema was on floor 7, the rest of the floors consisted of shops, food chains, amusement arcades, offices, etc.

The film we watched: Aibou (www.aibou-movie.jp)

Yasukuni Jinja shrine entrance; part of the queue leading up to the shrine where visitors were still patiently awaiting their New Year blessings.  These were people seriously taking part in their New Year traditions, not just tourists seeking photo opportunities - we did not try to get close to the inner shrine

One of the banners hanging on the outer shrine entrance

A view above the crowd through to the inner shrine where people take their blessings, and say their prayers.  I'm not sure of the significance, but arrows were being given by the shrine as thanks?

Just one of the many food stalls leading up to the shrine.  It seems that as well as celebrating traditional beliefs, the celebration of food runs parrallel.  The food stalls were a combination of delicacies such as 'a fish on a stick', the sweet variety of 'chocolate coated banana on a stick', noodles, fish dishes, shredded cabbage with pancacke, etc... the list just goes on.... The smell, chatter and general goings on were an absolute delight.  We did partake in a bowl of noodles (our first experience of eating alfresco with chopsticks!) - I think we've got the hang of it, just in time to be going home.  

New Year Eve Celebrations in Tokyo

Purely in the interest of journalism, we thought it might be a good exercise to travel around the different areas of Tokyo to experience the build up to the countdown to New Years. We're not particularly ones for standing around waiting for an event, so this sorted us fine ... and it certainly was an eye opener.

Our first port of call was to the world famous Roppongi crossroads at around 22:15hrs. At this time the crossroads looked quieter than it had been at 15:00 earlier that day. Everyone is tucked away in their restaurants, karaoke bars and clubs etc. Our informants report that the streets start to fill up at around 23:30. as the young and trendy pour out of the bars to welcome in the New Year. It should be noted (IMHO) that this area is good for young locals and tourists (there are lots of tourists in clicky groups)  who are in groups of more than 4. I'm assuming that for the more mature couples it will be a little bit under-whelming and they might like to try our next option.

Earlier in the day we visited Asakusa area of Tokyo and their was already a sense of excitement in the air. Because New Year is a religious celebration in Japan it is customary to get blessed at a shrine or temple before you begin your New Year Day celebrations. The Sensoji temple is a welcoming and deeper experience than the Roppongi celebrations.

Prior to the countdown we also visited the Hibiya and Ginza area's that a visitor might expect to be celebrating hard ... not a soul on the streets at 23:30.

Surprisingly, the subway was quiet, filled with those people returning home from a last minute shopping trip or from work. Everyone calm and certainly nobody showing the effects of drink.

We managed to finnish the tour by 23:50 and ended up at the Tokyo Dome / Aqua centre, which was hosting a super popular rock concert where 50000 screaming fans had battled to get in earlier this evening. A more muted New Year Celebration was happening in the City of Lights area, with the stage set with a singer and a small audience of 150 - 200 people awaiting the countdown ...

So in the end we celebrated with a KFC bargain bucket and a bottle of wine ... and the satisfied feeling that we are helping future tourists find the right New Years path for them.

Happy New Year everyone ... Our Last Day tomorrow, so we're starting to feel a bit low now :-(

Boat trip, a ndwalk around Asakusa

New Years Eve, and we've decided we need to split the day so we can fit in a nap!  Fatigue is definately starting to hit us big time...

Up, out, and took the boat trip from Tokyo Bay to Asakusa (again) - this time in daylight.  Beautiful sunshine, and just sat aboard, taking things easy - but not for long.  The views were astounding - never seen so many people do so much washing!!  News Years Eve seems to be the day when everyone traditionally cleans, and prepares to have the old year washed out, and the New Year blessed in.

Arrived in Asakusa and took a nice long walk around the area (for approx. 5 hours!).  The Asahi Beer buildings are amazing - not sure what the gold blobby shaped motif is meant to represent though.  Found the Drum Museum - same old story - CLOSED!  Then found another cinema - only Harry Potter showing within the next hour and half - far too long to wait around.  You'd think with the amount of people in the area, they'd be offering slightly more choice that just three films (one of which we'd already seen).  Ended up back in Kitchen Town area, so started to make our way back out again towards a metro.

Having walked as much as our feet would permit; with raw heels we made our way back to the hotel for an afternoon nap and to prepare ourselves for the night ahead.  People were already starting to mass in the Shibuya and Roppongi areas, so we can only imagine what absolute madness it's gonna be later tonight!