Tokyo is a town I couldn’t wait to visit and my journey in the Japanese capital city really exceeded all my expectations. People were nice and polite and thoughtful. Food was good and varied and surprising. All the things I could see and visit blew my mind. Below is a short video of some moments I really enjoyed spending in Tokyo.
Stand-Up Restaurant
At the beginning of the video, I take you to a fast-food restaurant in Ueno, right at the exit of the subway station. Basically, I entered the place because of the promotional jumping noodles and the large screen on the sidewalk. This was the first time I was eating in a stand-up restaurant, which actually a place where people do not seat (or very quickly, on high stools). You order your meal from a machine and the chef serves you a great plate with noodles and a bowl of rice for no more than 5€ in no more than 5 minutes. Really cool experience!
Arcade Gallery
Still in Ueno, in reality, in the very street next to the stand-up restaurant, I entered an arcade gallery but was surprised no to find video games. It was more of the kind of games that we usually find in carnivals and theme parks… you know those horribly addictive games where you put a coin to catch a plush with a hook that never grab anything. Yes, that kind of game! Except in this place you could play for chocolate bars, video games, action figures and many other eccentric toys. I did go to a “real” arcade gallery and had a chance to play Mario Kart with an actual wheel and it was tons of fun! But I have no pics of this epic moment, sorry for this one…
Odaiba
Odaiba is a polder or an artificial island if you prefer, that has been build in Tokyo’s bay to extend the surface of available land in the city. You get there thanks to the Rainbow Bridge, a nice suspension bridge that looks like a white version of the Golden Gate in San Francisco. The overhead subway takes you there and you can admire the Japanese Stature of Liberty, a big wheel and many malls with tons of shops and even a cinema. There are also some warehouses and Mega Web, a kind of theme park all about Toyota. really cool if you want to test drive the latest models of the brand (with international driver license only!).
Sushi Restaurant
When I was taken by my friend Thomas to practice Katana I met with two of his friends, including Pierre, who had been in Japan for roughly twenty years. As I really wanted to eat some authentic Japanese sushi I asked him where I could get some at an affordable price. So, he indicated me a nice place in Shibuya that had been awarded the title of best sushi restaurant in Tokyo several times in a raw. And it was really amazing: I could eat eel, scallop, tuna steak, shrimps, salmon, oyster, crab… 13 dishes at about 1€ per plate and I can tell you it had nothing to do with what I had eaten in the past. This experience changed my perception of raw fish.
Shibuya Crossing
Beside Tokyo Tower – this red and white tower that looks like our beloved French Eiffel Tower – Shibuya maybe the most representative place of Tokyo and I am quite sure you have already seen tons of pictures of this area… You know, this crossroads where crosswalks are diagonally on the road. In the video, I am showing what it is like to walk in the most crowded place in the most crowded city!
I hope you enjoyed this short guided tour of Tokyo with only a couple of faces of this wonderful city. If you want more, stay tuned, next week I will share my pictures with you. And I have plenty of them!
A bientôt.Share and Enjoy:
