The morning of our journey to Tokyo does not start well. So comfortable is our brand new room in a recently revamped Chung King Mansions, that we have slept soundly through the six a.m. alarm. It's a quarter to seven and that chilled start to the day with a coffee and shower is nay going to happen, instead there is mild head butting and hair pulling between Liz and I, though amazingly, Family Leith is up and dressed, out of this tiniest of hotel rooms, down ten floors in the lift, out of the building and over the road to meet the airport bus with seconds to spare, completely on target. Everybody happy.
Nastassja's birthday outing to Ocean park,the day before, had been amazing, some of the rides insane, like The Abyss, which pulls you up to a very great height and then drops you...we stood watching this a few times as we waited our turn and nothing prepares you for this! A good time had by all. Actually, this whole few days in Hong Kong has been lots of fun, think it spun us out a bit back in September, but not now. Now we are hard, hard, hard travellers and we take all this barmy place can throw at us. Thankyou Hong Kong, you lovely, crazy place you, till next time...
Four months in South East Asia and we have forgotten that half the world is freezing around New Year. Unprepared, we enter Tokyo with chapped lips and scarves. Liz and the kids had bought some cheap jackets to conquer the chill in China, an opportunity I'd passed up, figuring we only had a few days in Tokyo coming up, that would be warmer anyway wouldn't it? Then onto lovely hot America,yea?
Tokyo is just about the most expensive place on Earth and fucking freezing with it. To buy me a jacket here, even in the winter sales, would hurt quite a bit. So It's hooded top and much grimacing for me.
On our walk to Tokyo Hostel, we stumbled upon a mobile phone which Liz took upon herself to hand into the Police. Hmm, tomorrow...
So next day we followed the sign to the Police Box(which made me moist) where Liz handed over the lost property to one of two elderly police officers, dads army, old guard, but nonetheless, carrying guns chained to their uniform belts. There dosn't seem to be a strong police presence in Tokyo, but the signs are there.
The first thing you notice here is how extremely well behaved everyone is. No one shouts, pushes or shoves. No one spits! Apparently though, they do have a bit of a problem with groping, especially in crowded situations like the tube, but I don't experience a single bit of this. All are gentle and courteous. We are all on good behaviour but still the loudest people here. Getting around on the tubes makes us break into a sweat at times, the act of purchasing a ticket proves hard work, very well organised, but only if you know how(helps if you speak Japanese too).
We're staying on the fifth floor of Tokyo Hostel; this young backpackers refuge has the biggest, deepest bath ever. During our four days here, Oskar and his dad share this huge waterhole three times. The nipper has also become my hot water bottle of a night, even though we all have our own beds here.
We visited two museums, the second being dedicated to Science, with a whole floor displaying various robots, their capabilities being demonstrated. A highlight was watching Asimo, who walked onto the museum floor to a round of applause, each step so perfect you'd swear this was a guy in a costume. We watched as he crept around, kicked a football and then sprinted after it, each and every movement so precise, so very gentle, so very Japanese!
A robotic seal responded to cuddles, but he was kept safe behind glass, just in case anyone was tempted to batter it's brains in to make some furry pants. Oh, and now you can make plastic, sellophane and petroleum substitutes from wood! A very bright chap has found a way to unravel it's basket like structure to create more products, which decompose after use, down to molecular level which can be used again and so on,getting smaller each time, eventually becoming Carbon Dioxide, returning to the atmosphere to make more trees. Big in Japan is plastic food, models of dishes on the menu at a restaurant or cafe, so you can see exactly what you're going to get served up to you. These plastic meals may well have started life in the ground.
The Sound of music, dubbed in Japanese, proved entertaining but the nicest music I heard here was on the tube one evening. A little tune, just four chords that played as we pulled into a particular station(each has it's own theme). I am writing this from the home of our friends, Danny and Mike, in Los Angeles. The nine hour plane journey from Tokyo the other day is all a bit of a weird blur, but yes, we are here!
Location:Japan
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