JAPAN

My trip to Japan was, unfortunately, just a glorified stopover as I was only actually there for two days. However I still managed to squeeze in a day trip to Tokyo and the most exciting hotel experience of my life!

The Capsule Hotel

    Arriving in Japan completely alone and late at night is overwhelming to say the least – it is so different to any country I had ever visited. And so for that reason I decided to stay at a hotel at the airport called the 9H Narita Hotel. I cannot recommend this capsule hotel experience enough! Everyone got their own “pod” where you got an electricity plug and dials to control the lighting and even the sounds within your own little bubble. Maybe it was the fact that I was coming straight from hostels in Australia, but I absolutely loved this place…you got your own little space and it was clean and friendly.

Tokyo

My visit to Tokyo was pretty exciting. I caught a train into the centre of Tokyo and then used the underground for the rest of the day where it was actually surprisingly easy to get around as most signs were repeated in english underneath. I managed to visit two temples including Senso – Ji, Tokyo’s oldest temple which was pretty cool. However this area was very touristy and I actually preferred visiting the first temple which I just stumbled upon as I walked around a park.

     During the rest of the day I visited the “Electric Town” which was cool to see and then headed over to “Shibuya”, one of the large shopping districts. There was a great mix of shops here and I spent most of the afternoon wondering around and waiting for it to get dark so all of the famous lights would turn on. As I was waiting I thought I would try some sushi to fulfil my wish of “eating sushi in Japan”! Unfortunately I’ve never even been into a sushi bar in England let alone Japan and so I had no idea what to do. I had to give up once the waiters attempts to help me in Japanese became too much, and I ran across the road and bought some sushi from the supermarket!

When the lights did eventually come on they were absolutely worth the wait. It was a bit like Times Square in New York with all the TV screens and flashing signs. Definitely a great end to my day in Tokyo before I caught the train back to spend another night in my pod.