Tokyo - the busiest city on earth?

So, I would still consider myself to be agoraphobic to some extent, it's just that unlike in my housebound days I now have better coping strategies. However, I was totally weirder out by my lack of terror in the busy city of Tokyo.

Visiting scramble crossing (where 3000 people are said to cross the road every minute), Tokyo station (said to be the busiest in the world), and the tiny crowded streets of Golden Gai I expected to be in tatters and was well braced for impact... but it never came. To a large extent I think the ethereal bubble created by my burst eardrum has helped as noise and sound are greatly reduced, also that I am actually fairly tall here and can see where I am going helped. However, Tokyo itself must claim some credit. Everything is so well organised and on time that no one seems in a rush, which is a relief in 35 degree heat where rushing is not really possible. The people were also so friendly to us that rather than commuters being irritated by being asked for directions by hopeless tourists they actually went beyond directions each time and took us where we needed to go - an experience I had never before encountered outside of Sheffield. This put me off asking, despite being in the process of reading Amanda Palmer's 'The Art of Asking'.

Tokyo is a city primarily of shopping and shrines - sometimes at the same time, which made me rather uncomfortable. After all, Jesus was the original Socialist.

Shrine fever sets in after about 3 so I was glad we didn't go to Kyoto! Then unless you want to break the bank on tourist attractions and theme parks Tokyo becomes pretty much a shopping Mecca. I am the first person to groan at this. However, shops in Tokyo can be surprisingly fun. We went to stationery shops across 8 floors, 100 yen shops (well, 108 with tax), the Bic Camera technology shop where several attendants tuck you into thousands of pounds worth of massage chair that they know you are never going to buy for a 20 minute rest. In Akihabara the geek shops, arcades and Manga stores are filled with places for photo ops, the bright lights of Shinjuku are like an electric theatre, and the fashion mad area of Harajuku makes installation art of clothing.
In short - 'shopping' as a past time actually seemed to have some merit.

We also visited the Edo Tokyo museum, some beautiful Japanese gardens and parks and an example of the fabled cat cafes.

Unfortunately navigating Tokyo makes no sense due to subway stations have 8 exits each and maps having random orientations so we couldn't fit as much in as we'd have liked. I would go back if I could.

Otaru - music boxes and glass

We had to put back our trip to Otaru by a day in Hokkaido as I wasn't well on top of still having no hearing in my left ear. It then chucked it down the whole day.  I have had to bin my shoes but kept s little dry thanks to the communal umbrellas that they seem to have everywhere.

Before we reached the tourist area we popped into the greatest sewing shop in the world.  I got giddy plus there was an anime shop on the same street for Andy.  He treated me to some fabric and I rewarded him by letting us have lunch at the stinkiest fish shop ever while I had a single boiled potato.

Otaru is a port town and is known for glassware and music boxes. The 'museums' were really large shops near the canal but interesting none the less, and very beautiful.  At least they were out of the rain!

We polished off the visit with a cheese ice cream at the chocolate shop and made our way back to Sapporo to the pancake shop in Asabu for tea. Happy faces and full tummies!

Nikko

Today we made it to Nikko a few hours outside of Tokyo.  Once again owing to distance, waiting for trains, Japanese maps changing orientation every time you see one and Andrew's need to eat every hour we arrived at 3.

Nikko is a palace/shrine complex which I think is where we get our images of traditional Japan. Moss covered statues and red pagoda with dragons and peacocks were everwhere. As nothing wad in English we are still fairly unclear on Shinto as a religion. It involves sticks, bells and many many gods.

Back at the hostel (with paper walls!) We ate a tea of supermarket reductions in our order to try as many different types of food as possible.  Some lads who had cycled here from the next county mimed and mixed discussion to us about Japanese culture.

We have been shocked by seeing small children take the subway alone in central Tokyo - perhaps as we get so easily lost.

Tokyo

I am now writing from the best youth hostel ever after a tiring and sometimes even tearful day getting to Tokyo.
Khaosam World Hostel has lifts, chandeliers, a spits staircase, more info than the tourist information office and is just 100% awesome. We couldn't find the place and asked at a restaurant - the chef gave us directions, explained how the street names work and caught us up a few minutes later on his bicycle as he correctly thought we might be lost at that point. This has been typical of the kindness shown to us in this high rise city of 12 million.

We got very lost in the station, went to the emporer's garden and stumbled upon Oktoberfest in July at Hibiya park. Also had hot vending machine food. Then hung out in the Manga library at the hostel. Unfortunately due to 33000 scouts descending on the city we can only stay one night and then have 3 more hoste

Flora in Furano

"It's not a proper holiday until you've been drenched by the rain" said Andrew as we hid under the corner of a kind beer seller's tent watching a parade of school children in mini yukata bravely carry on with their part in the lavender festival.

It had been another crazily hot day, which we had spent at the lavender and melon fields of Biei-Furano. Neither of us even had a jumper. Lavender is a big export of Hokkaido and most is grown here. We had fun on the hillside and Andrew got to try lavender ice cream (weird but not terrible). We also found a lost child but as white people are very rare here he was not prepared to be helped by us - or the purple clad ice cream seller we sent to watch him until someone came to claim him.

We were lucky enough to be there for the lavender festival and tried a few festival foods before feeling ill and seeking some plain crisps. The whole village turned up in yukata to sit on the car park and wait for the fireworks.  Unfortunately the rain started first.  And didn't stop.  It was still worth getting soaked for.  There were handheld firework cannons and the most impressive display of fireworks I have ever seen,  lighting up the flowers below.

A very kind man chased us when he saw we took a wrong turn and were about to miss the last train and gave us his umbrella.

It took

Chocolate wonderland

The chocolate factory we visited this afternoon was possibly the strangest I have ever visited. The factory is about 50 years old - old enough to be considered an antique on this modern island,  which has only really been part of Japan for 200 years.

The visit started out with Victoriana rooms of hot chocolate mugs and pots plus a Royal Doulton fountain and some seriously ugly cherubs.

There were rooms of displays of chocolate boxes (and a few anomalies), a history chocolate and the process.

Then after a small viewing deck for the factory itself the museum got a bit confused with toys and wedding cakes and Beatles memorabilia.  David Beckham and Princess Diana sat together and the whole thing just lost it's way.

We had a lovely ice cream in an equally crazy rose garden with giant plastic tree houses and that was that.

An unexpected day in Sapporo

The day after the onsen we were supposed to be going to Lake Toya but as much of my careful planning was thrown off by not being able to read the websites it turned out Lake Toya was much further away than we first thought.  After nearly a week away from home exhaustion was beginning to hit me so we got on a bus back to Sapporo and explored with transport to Asabu readily available.

The government building is surrounded by lily ponds and had an exhibition on of things from the settling of Hokkaido and artifacts from the war.  Unfortunately they assumed knowledge of Japan's role in the war, of which I have very little.

I was able to pick up a wifi password for city hot spots and we then watched the police jazz band along with terrible mime, majorettes and cheerleaders.

We went up posh plaza buildings to viewing points and walked miles exploring the underground shops and markets below the city.  In winter Sapporo is so deep in snow that businesses go underground.  We particularly enjoyed a rock making demonstration with lots of tasters!