Japan Holiday

Flight to #Japan and first day in #shinjukucity #tokyo

The only thing we weren't looking forward to was the seven hour flight then a two hour layover before a ten hour flight. On arriving at Manchester airport we soon found out there was a delay on our flight and this meant there was no rest in-between flights as we boarded straight away at Abu Dhabi.
Arriving at Tokyo's Narita airport, we were surprised by the long queue to get through customs (first tip- Pay for fast track there). Because of this, the taxi we had booked decided not to wait and we had to find a new one, which added an extra delay. It was an hour long drive to our hotel, so by the time we arrived, we had gone through our tiredness and decided to explore the area before an early night.
Our hotel was situated in the Shinjuku district which is in the western part of Tokyo. Rooms in Tokyo's hotels are small and our was no exception! However, we soon settled down and slept very well.

Rising just in time for breakfast, we looked out of the widow and our spirits were immediately lifted with the view.
Deciding to go for a walk to the government building, we took the free lift to the top and had a stunning view of the city where, apart from a brief glimpse, Fuji successfully hid 

Exploring further, Tokyo proved to be everything we hoped for with brightly lit streets and a range of interesting areas to explore. The youth seemed to have a unique style sense unmatched in our travels elsewhere, even though subtle colours were mainly the fashion.

Sitting for a snack on a row of benches, I captured my first image that I could sketch on my iPad, a local worker relaxing next to us.
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After a while, we had our first Japanese meal before returning to the hotel for a rest as we were heading out to meet one of Sue's friends who lives in Tokyo, later that evening for a meal.

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Setting off to meet him, we used Google maps. Unfortunately, we did get a little lost and it didn't help that half way there it changed from English to Japanese. We were looking for the Godzilla head, which, when found, was not hard to miss if you looked upwards. With her friend living here it was nice to get a locals view of the area and helped us feel more confident.
​He had booked a meal for us and being quite plain eaters this was a little worrying. We were soon impressed by the restaurant although it took a little getting used to when they shouted a loud welcome to every one who came in.
The main courses were meat dishes cooked on the table with sauces to dip into. These were varied but proved very enjoyable. 

​After the meal, we explored a little more around the area, taking in the sights and sounds, before a final drink in a pub. We returned to our hotel, tired but looking forward to exploring  more of Shinjuku the next day.