Tokyo 🇯🇵

Quite unexpectedly and never planned, I ended up in Japan as my sixth country on the world trip. As big as my doubts were at the beginning, I quickly fell in love with this country and couldn't be happier to be here! I arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo at 3am with mixed feelings. Then I slept in the arrivals hall for a few hours until it got light - yes, backpacking is fun. In the morning I found my way through the subway to the hostel. When I came out of the metro station my first thought within seconds was “Wow, the air is fresh here!”. That put a smile on my face for the rest of the day and was probably the moment I knew that I would love this country. I never realized how much I missed this air in the last few months in Asia until this moment. I started my 5 days in Tokyo at one of the most tourist attractions, the Senso-ji Temple. Because of all the people there, I only stayed there for a short time. To my surprise, in addition to countless tourists, there were of course also a lot of locals. The women are all dressed in traditional kimonos. Afterwards I looked around the district, Asakusa, a bit before I went on to Ueno Park. There I saw the first really large tree in its full cherry blossom glory. But even there it was quite difficult to find a small spot for a photo. I then spent the afternoon in Ueno Park, where the Tokyo Art Museum is. In the evening we had a really good ramen and then just went to bed. The next day I dedicated myself to the hippie and indie districts of the city. But I started again in a park to have breakfast there and watch the Japanese ride swan pedal boats. Afterwards I strolled from second-hand shop to second-hand shop. And I actually spent some time there just looking and enjoying it. The next day was one of the absolute Japan highlights, Mount Fuji. In the morning we took the bus for 2 hours towards Fuji. But we also had some good views of the volcano from the bus. The first stop of the day was at a lake with a perfect view. It takes a while to realize this picture of what you have in front of you, at least for me. So I had breakfast there first and couldn't believe my luck. We made a few more stops throughout the day to check out Mt. Fuji. We stop in a local village, where most of the houses are still as they were before. There I just sat on a garden bench for 20 minutes (only then realized that it was probably a private garden) and couldn't take my eyes off this breathtaking mountain. To be honest, I have seen so many mountains in my life and while traveling, but this one particularly impressed me. After a day in nature, I spent the next few days in Tokyo exploring the city center. Watched as much as I could and really soaked up every moment. Tokyo is so huge that there would probably still be enough things to discover even after a month. But even after a week I got a good impression. And to be honest, after a week in the big city and so many impressions on every corner, I was pretty happy to be in a somewhat quieter area again afterwards. I then looked at Tokyo from above again in the evening and once during the day. In the evening it was quite an impressive experience, especially because you could see Mt. Fuji in the distance and the sun was setting right next to it and you could see it in red/orange light for quite a long time. I looked at all kinds of markets including a fish market with a tuna auction. I've been to countless shopping centers just to enjoy the view from the top floor and not have to pay anything for it. I went to pretty much every park and looked at and enjoyed the variety of blooming trees and flowers. But of course I didn't look at the largest and most populated intersection in the world, the Shibuya intersection, and I didn't just cross it once. On the last evening I thought to myself that cinema in Tokyo must be really cool and I sat down in the cinema. I have to say that I have never been to the cinema alone before and it actually took a bit of effort for me. I'm obviously not the only one who had this thought, because the cinema was full of tourists. The film itself was English with Japanese subtitles. As was the case in New Zealand back then, this film was pretty weird but, well, it was still a cool experience. Another personal highlight of mine was dinner with Elizabeth and Keith. Elizabeth and Keith are relatives of mine who live in the United States and I have therefore never been able to meet them myself. Keith's wife Juliane is Papu's sister and therefore not that distant of a relative. We really had such a lovely evening together and Elizabeth also showed me one or two Japanese sweets while Keith, of course, captured everything in pictures. These two are also the real reason why I traveled to Japan in the first place! All in all, I unexpectedly enjoyed my time in Tokyo! 🫶🏼