First day in Tokyo

1 October - Oak Hotel, Ueno, Tokyo

Lucky it was Sunday for our first day in Tokyo. By some accounts, Tokyo-Kawasaki-Yokahama is the largest city in the world. Thirty plus million people live in this tightly-packed, mega city and, while quite a few of them were out and about today, it wasn't the mayhem we had expected.

Trains and people filled most of our our day today. The whole of Japan is one big train set and Tokyo is the most dense part of the network. The stations are so large that finding your way around them is a bigger problem than working out which train to catch. We pride ourselves on our ability to navigate public transport systems and, today, we did ok for a first day. And what fun!

After a traditional Japanese breakfast of miso soup and a beef and rice dish, we headed off to Harajuku, a region of Tokyo that is the haunt of the very cool and very weird. To settle ourselves before the 'razz' of the streets of Harajuku, we took a quiet time-out in the Meiji Gardens, the site of the shrine to the Meiji Emperor who brought Japan out of isolation in the mid 19^th century. The shrine is a place of worship for many Japanese. The form this devotion is a little strange for us westerners. Families make offerings of money, paper incantations and, strangest of all, stuffed toys and traditional Japanese dolls. Even on this very average day, climate-wise, the gardens are a peaceful spot in the midst of this hectic city.

'Weirdo' spotting and people-watching are the reasons thousands flock to the narrow streets of Harajuku. The shops are crammed with almost unimaginable kitch – a 21^st century version of Carnaby Street of the 1960's. As to the weird and wonderful, it has to be said that it is very difficult sometimes to tell whether some of the outfits are fashionable, or just a reflection of the extremely unusual taste that typifies the style of many young Asian women. Wild and head-turning it certainly was, as well as a lot of fun, with hoards of young people out enjoying themselves, safely and with a strangely childlike exuberance, even amongst those in their 20's!

Back on the train, we sped off to Kagurazaka, a district of the city famous for its old, narrow streets, restaurants and markets. Leaving the station, we were confronted by a marching band which was led by a bagpipe-playing samurai, accompanied by several characters dressed as cats. Further down the crowded main street, a New Orleans-style Jazz Band of rather nervous, but technically competent young musicians, was entertaining an equally stiff crowd of locals. Not a tapping foot in sight beyond ours! Very restrained, the Japanese. No doubt they were appreciating the performance, they just aren't very expressive.

Not the end of the day for us. Ueno is the home of a cluster of museums, so we hit them as well. No disrespect intended, but Asian art doesn't rock our boat, so we managed five of them in a couple of hours.

Back in our caravan-sized room, we are cooling off with a couple of Asahi beers before dinner. Lucky for us, our super bargain Tokyo hotel is no problem. We have just spent a month in our caravan, on the road and that was off the back of a motorhome trip around the UK. Being able to turn the TV off with your toe before you go to sleep is normal for us!