Land of the Rising Sun - Tokyo

First stop on Steve’s overseas adventures Tokyo, Japan.  After a smooth flight with AirNZ, the first thing to navigate was the masses of people.  Here we were, 3 hardy souls from the bottom of the South Island, competing with over 37 million people, the largest populated city in the world.  Onto the train system we went, and after a bit of toil and trouble, and a lot of patience (manawanui at its peak) we managed to get ourselves into Shinjuku where our hotel was situated.  Thank goodness all the signs are also in English!  We do need to be proud of ourselves for navigating around one of the busiest stations in the world with 3.5 million people travelling through it every day!

To get our bearings, the Hop On, Hop Off bus was a must.  This was a great way to see the main sights of Tokyo but also to get some interesting insights into the history and customs via entertaining commentary.  We only hopped off at one place, the Tokyo Tower, once the tallest building in Tokyo at 333m high.  Emulating the Eiffel Tower, we were able to get a great view of this mammoth city and help get those bearings under control.

Did we though?  Not really, still managed to get lost a bit walking around the streets of Shinjuku looking for some traditional Japanese food to try out, along with some liquids to hydrate with!  We were not disappointed with our choices of cuisine.

The next day was spent with a wee tour group, guided by a very knowledgeable guide, Aya, who also thought that I, Steve, was a carrot, to Mt Fuji and Hakone.  The weather was mainly on our side for this time of year as we got to see Mt Fuji in its entirety from the flat (where we had lunch with some Ninjas)

but when we bused halfway up to 5^th Station, the clouds were too low to get a view of any kind.  FYI Mt Fuji last erupted 300 years ago and is now considered dormant but is revered as a sacred mountain and a symbol of Japan.  According to one Japanese myth, a farmer named Visu witnessed the mountain’s sudden eruption, transforming barren land into fertile ground.  The Goddess Konohanasakuya-hime is associated with Mt Fuji and all volcanoes, symbolizing delicate earthly life and the power of nature.  If you are after a spiritual journey, climbing Mt Fuji is traditionally a pilgrimage, a path of spiritual purification and reverence for the mountain’s deities.  We didn’t have time for that but visited the shrine to say a wee prayer, remembering 2-2-1 (bow twice, clap twice, pray).

We then ventured to Owakudani via the Hakone Ropeway where another volcano was simmering away, and last erupted 10 years ago.  It reminded us of the sulphuric smells of Rotorua. 

The last bit of the tour was a leisurely cruise on a pirate ship along Lake Ashinoko where you could see the Hakone Shrine on the shores of the lake.

To get back to Tokyo was our first experience of a bullet train.  Amazing how smooth and relaxing they are considering how fast they are going – 300km/hour.  A long but entertaining tour to one of the major natural landmarks of this very interesting country.

Sunday, currently back on the bullet train on our way south to Hiroshima nervously watching the Tribe app’s scoring of the Steel vs Mystics game.  All three of us were wanting Southern Steel to have a bigger score than the Mystics but alas, it was not to be the Steel’s day!  Bad luck team!  Even just watching the score was exciting, we will look forward to watching the highlights for yet, another exhilarating game, in between our continuing adventures of this fascinating Asian country.