Konnichiwa!

Tokyo has been the secret highlight of the trip.  Of all the places we have been to, I am adamant that I will be coming back here again.  4 days has not been enough.  And that's mainly because none of us slept on the plane when we should have.  We tried, and failed.

So arriving in Tokyo, with jet lag, and no sleep, we attempt to navigate the transport system.  Having been all around Europe, we have a vague idea, but in reality those systems are simple compared to the complex interwoven underground subways of Tokyo.  Oh and being in Japanese just adds to the complication factor.

Thankfully most of the transportation and tourist areas have a combination of Japanese, English, and maybe 2 other languages but I can’t quite tell.  The ticket machines are a minefield in themselves.  There are so many different ones for different transport companies.  Half of our frustration in using the transport was not finding what we needed, only to realise we were using the wrong machines.  On the positive, the ticket machines, when you find the right one, display in 8 different languages, that's next level tourism.

So proud that we made it to the hotel, we dropped our bags off as we still have half a day before we can check in.  And whilst we have experienced hotter temps in Europe, they didn’t come with humidity.  

Tired but excited to be in Tokyo, we want to tick eating Sushi off the list.  About 3 doors down we find a decent priced Sushi place with lovely hosts.  I laugh now thinking about the sushi we have in NZ and thinking it would be exactly the same as the Japanese eat.  All the sushi is raw fish, and while Kaia and I are loving the meal, Zach looks green (but doing his best to eat the salmon and tuna as he doesn’t want to offend the chef) and Gareth won’t give me a thank you for eating raw fish at this time of the morning apparently.  Makes me laugh when I think about it, Gareth trying to eat the raw octopus and conceding defeat, and Zach trying to extend his taste buds while we were in Bari by trying raw prawns and vomiting it back up.  Such picky eaters.

Trying to contend with the hot and humid conditions, we make our way to midtown mall in Roppongi to have a look around, and like mindless drones we sit down and watch the world go by in the air con.  We literally move from cafe to cafe eating and drinking like zombies until the hotel lets us check in a little earlier.  

At 4.30pm, Gareth is telling us all, we must stay up until at least 7 or 8 pm to adjust to the time zone or we will have issues for the rest of our stay.  At 5pm it's a losing battle so he goes down the road to get fatty burgers for dinner while I try to keep the kids and myself awake by having a rave in the hotel room.  The kids with devices in hand were fine, but the minute they ate the burgers, they were gonners.  At 6pm we were all in bed, by probably 6.05pm we were all asleep.  On the plus side we get pajamas supplied by the hotel which are pretty cool.  Seeing as they only just fit me, Gareth refused my request to just try them on so I could see how giant he is in them.

I somehow had the brains to set an alarm just in case, and at 8am it woke us all except Zach from our sleep.  14 hours had passed, I think that's a new record.  Zach, already full of beans, was ready to go.  We had our weird “infusion” breakfast, and took off for Shibuya for shopping.  

Shibuya is cool.  We came out of the station and straight into the scramble crossing, and unless you want to run across it, I don’t suggest you start walking when the green man is flashing.  I would have liked to have gotten some photos or video from up high, but I couldn’t bring myself to order something from Starbucks on the second floor to make it happen.  Kaia and I crossed it a couple of times for shits and giggles, but mostly because I got lost looking for the right station entrance.

The shops to start with are overwhelming, you can’t really tell what they are, and even when you get into the shop, realising it has 7 floors and not knowing what is on the next floor is daunting.  Now we know why they have QR codes for the floors and map layouts.  I can see why our nephews have a thing for Japan.  It's just crazy cool and so is the vibe.

Gareth and Zach leave for their appointment at the hospital for a new cast while Kaia and i navigate the subway home.  I’m grateful to the Japanese lady who approached me to help even though I was swearing at the ticket machine (picked the wrong f*&king one again) so we could get our tickets.

Zach has a new cast and his hand is now straight and feels much lighter.  Had the Rolls Royce service apparently, it turns out it's a private hospital and is greeted at the door and everything taken care of.  Good luck to our NZ doctor for the checkup of medical notes in Austrian, Czech and now Japanese.

At the end of this trip I'm not even sure I'll get the right ticket machine to get to Narita at this rate.