BIG sleep last night. No mosquito bites, comfy futon... We eventually woke at about 10am and got ready for our first day in Tokyo.
We caught the train into Shinjuku - supposedly the place where cheap cameras can be bought (ha!) but also the location for the beautiful Shinjuku Gyoen where I'm writing this. It's amazing to think that amid all the skyscrapers and technological marvels you can find something as simple, natural and well laid out as this park. It obviously finds a great deal of favour with harried locals too since it was packed out when we visited in the middle of the day.
We then proceeded in a westerly direction, y'honour, to the TMGB (Tokyo Municipal Government Building) which is one piece up to about the twentieth floor then splits in two towers which rise a further 28. We got into the lift to take us to the observation deck on the 45th floor. The lift took just 55s to go from the ground all the way there - 220m straight up. The view over Tokyo was incredible but you can understand why the city fathers want to reduce pollution - the sky over Tokyo is pretty smoggy.
We walked back to the west side of Shinjuku station where a couple of very keen and helpful information clerks helped us find a cinema. We wandered around for a while admiring the prostitutes (well, admiring their low-key approach - not!) until it was time to go in for the film. The cinema in Tokyo is anything but cheap at more than a tenner a head but the cinema was pretty full anyway. Since this is a holiday diary I'm not going sidetrack into a full movie review so here's the short version:
Back at the hotel now, slightly footsore after walking all day, but looking forward to Nagano tomorrow.
We caught the train into Shinjuku - supposedly the place where cheap cameras can be bought (ha!) but also the location for the beautiful Shinjuku Gyoen where I'm writing this. It's amazing to think that amid all the skyscrapers and technological marvels you can find something as simple, natural and well laid out as this park. It obviously finds a great deal of favour with harried locals too since it was packed out when we visited in the middle of the day.
We then proceeded in a westerly direction, y'honour, to the TMGB (Tokyo Municipal Government Building) which is one piece up to about the twentieth floor then splits in two towers which rise a further 28. We got into the lift to take us to the observation deck on the 45th floor. The lift took just 55s to go from the ground all the way there - 220m straight up. The view over Tokyo was incredible but you can understand why the city fathers want to reduce pollution - the sky over Tokyo is pretty smoggy.
We walked back to the west side of Shinjuku station where a couple of very keen and helpful information clerks helped us find a cinema. We wandered around for a while admiring the prostitutes (well, admiring their low-key approach - not!) until it was time to go in for the film. The cinema in Tokyo is anything but cheap at more than a tenner a head but the cinema was pretty full anyway. Since this is a holiday diary I'm not going sidetrack into a full movie review so here's the short version:
Deep Blue Sea (di-pu buru-)
Pretty jumpy in places. Not that predictable as to whom will get eaten, but extremely cheesy dialogue and plot-by-numbers approach. Mechanical shark effects excellent, CG less so. ***
Back at the hotel now, slightly footsore after walking all day, but looking forward to Nagano tomorrow.
Onto: 991012 - Nagano
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