Japan: From Tokyo to the Alps

Well! It's been eight or nine months since we returned from the big round the world trip, and I've already got itchy feet again, so here I am wishing you a happy new year from Japan!

We're only on a holiday this time, for a few weeks, but still treating it backpacker style - we booked nothing but our flights and a bed in Tokyo for new years eve and set off for a whistlestop tour around the country.

After a very long (and delayed) twelve hour flight from London to Tokyo, we arrived in the city ridiculously jetlagged at 6am our time (3pm Tokyo time) and spent a fair bit of our first day sleeping. We stayed in Asakusa which of all the areas in the city is seen as more of an 'Old Japan' style place. Handily for us it was also the site of the Asahi beer halls and brewery, and lots of fantastic sushi restaurants. Asakusa is also the site of Senso-ji one of the biggest Shinto shrines in Tokyo (probably second only to Meiji Jingu in Harajuku), which was great for us as the shrines pretty much act as a Trafalgar Square for Tokyoites, in that on New Years Eve they all flock there. So on the big night we joined the thousands and thousands and thoooousands of others who visited the temple, taking in the atmosphere and wondering what on earth was going on most of the time! It was so busy that a picture of the hoardes at the temple even made it onto the front page of the Japan Times. A brilliantly unique way to spend New Years Eve.

My first impressions of Tokyo are that it is like a well oiled chip - everything is ridiculously efficient, from the Sky Train we took from Narita airport to the metro trains that run like clockwork, and people everywhere to guide and help confused looking tourists like us! Even though my Japanese extends to a big smile and an enthusiastic 'arigato gozzzzziamaaaaaaas' and most people don't speak English here, we've managed to get by without too much trouble at all. There are also plenty of fascinating eccentricities, like Manga porn (!), traditional Kimono clad ladies alongside Harajuku girls in the world's shortest skirts, backcombed hair and knee high socks, and vending machines absolutely everywhere, selling everything from hot lemonade to cold tea (!?) and 'orange and rare cheese' flavour juice. Yes really!

On one of our first days in the city we visited Shibuya crossing, which is an iconic image of Japan, a huuuuuuuge quadruple crossing in the heart of Tokyo, which is just buzzing with millions of young Japanese stylistas. We visited Harajuku and the nearby upmarket shopping district of Omotesando, and even found a shop dedicated entirely to all different types of condoms (it's called Condomania, obviously), which (this being tokyo) contained everything form condom lollipops to Hello Kitty versions!

We also visited a sushi place in Asakusa called Tsujiki Sushi Sen, which does PROPER sushi (bought fresh from Tokyo's famous Tsujiki fish market) - you sit round and watching the chefs crafting little works of art from sashimi and nigiri, blowtorching tuna and pureeing sea urchin (which when you get over the texture tastes pretty amazing).

On our third night in the city we visited Roppongi, near Tokyo Midtown, which is the real party place in the city, and gorgeous to boot. All twinkly fairy light-embellished tree lined avenues and perfect glass buildings. We had coffee and ice cream in a little place there where everything was so pink it looked like an impossibly kitsch doll's house (which I of course loved, and thought Danny looked very cute with his little pink princess cup!) That night we headed up the Tokyo Sky Tower, 57 stories above the city (the lift whisks you up there in approximately four seconds) and walked round the building where there are enormous floor to ceiling windows offering the most fantastic panoramic view of the city, and looking down on the skyscrapers below. I'd recommend it as an absolute must for anyone visiting the city.

The next day we rose early to catch a local bus the two hours or so to Kawaguchigo, where there are five picturesque lakes, and it is also the setting of the stunning Mount Fuji. Once there we took a cable car to the highest point near the lake and sat and watched as the sun set over the snow capped mountain. It definitely rivalled watching the sunrise over the Himalayas in Darjeeling! When we got back to the city we took a wander around Shinjuku, which is pretty much the heart of Tokyo, and got to see a far less wholesome part of town...Kabukicho is Tokyo's red light district, and we spotted plenty of Yakuza (young Japanese mafia), a fair few working girls and even the odd transvestite!

Then, the next morning, we headed back to Shinjuku and jumped on a bus to Hakuba, in the Japanese Alps, where we are now. Hakuba is a stunning destination, one of the best places to ski in the country (probably second only to the resorts like Niseko in Hokkaido), and it's also the place that the 1998 winter olympic skiing events took place. The journey was about five hours (an absolute breeze compared to the thirty or so hours we're used to!) and beautifully picturesque as it got snowier and snowier as we got further in to the mountains. After we checked in to the hostel we went to get fitted for our skis, poles and boots at a ski shop in town (the hostel picked us up from the bus station and even ferried us there and back to the ski shop) and then went for dinner at Cedar House, a lovely local place run by a very friendly Japanese guy who spends his winters here and summers in Tokyo, where he is a fund manager with an offshore account on the Isle of Man! We had lots of interesting chats with him, he taught us a little bit of Japanese and even gave us some complimentary plum sake that his father had made. Certainly warmed the cockles!

We then popped into the bar at the hostel for a quick Sapporo, before heading down to the nearest Onsen at about 10pm. Japan has the most hot springs in the world, and we couldnt wait to see what they were like. Seeing as they are outside, you're obliged to go naked and it was nighttime and snowing, I was thinking it might be a bit of a painful experience. But it was BLISS. The steamy thermal pool was so so hot and as they're not mixed I had it to myself most of the time. Snow drops fell off the surrounding trees and on to my face and it was absolutely silent. Sooo relaxing, slept so well after that.

This morning we were up early to hit the slopes! I've never skiied before and oh my goodness it is harder than it looks! We started off on the nursery slopes where it was just teeny weeny Japanese kids being taught to ski by Ozzy, Canadian and British ski instructors. Unfortunately for me the kids made me look really bad, as I spent most of the first few hours on my bum/getting in a huff. Eventually Danny decided I was good enough to try a beginners run, so we caught the chair lift up to the top of the mountain and verrrrry verrrrrry slowly made our way down (personally I don't think beginners runs should have sheer drops on one side, but I don't make the rules). By lunchtime my knees were killing me from all the snow ploughing, so we had lunch and drank tea in one of the restaurants on the slopes that you can just ski up to, and then played cards (my new Backpacker game - thankyou mum! I beat Danny by the way) until we were warmed up and ready for round two. This time we took a wider but slightly steeper run, and after several demoralising falls and alot of snow in my face/up my sleeves/in my trousers, I eventually mastered turning!

We've got one more day of skiing tommorow and then we'll make our way to Kyoto, where I'm hoping to spot a real Geisha! Until then... Sayonara!