One Year – Five Continents

In all these years it has been the first time, that I have spent more than two consecutive days in Tokyo.

When I applied for my scholarship it was always clear that I did not want to live in Tokyo. For one, the next big earthquake after 1923 was to be expected (which then ironically happened in Kansai 1995, a year after I went home) and at the time it was nearly unaffordable to find a place to live.

Another reason was the book utsukushisa to kanashisa by Kawabata Yasunari which is a different story to tell.

This time I just decided I am going to spend a week at the place. Not really sure what I wanted to do. Tokyo is full of options and a week obviously far too short.

Though, is it?

My aversion to large tourist crowds shouldn’t be a secret anymore but how to avoid them and still getting a feel for the place?

First of all, there is no way that you can avoid the crowds if you want to see some of the more famous landmarks. But I tried to choose a balance and as it tuned out the place I stayed at was a real catch.

I decided not to spend an enormous amount of money in order to be in the midst of everything. Instead I found a lovely little apartment for less than 100 Euros a night on the opposite side of Sumida river. About a 15 min walk from different train stations and close to the Skytree.

The big question is Skytree or not? I decided in the spur of the moment to do it one evening, because it was in walking distance and the weather amazing. In terms of views I was not disappointed at all. But obviously I was not the only one who had the idea….

Also a bus to Ueno station was a two minute walk away. It was great because the neighborhood was quiet and really lovely. It took me a day or two to realize that there was a beautiful walk towards one of the train stations.

And here is one thing that people might underestimate, there is actually a lot of green in Tokyo, but you will not find it in the middle of Shinjuku station.

Talking of which, could someone please explain to me what the fuss is about of getting lost in Shinjuku station? Either I did something wrong or people who post these preposterous videos are just really stupid (and of course it generates clicks, I do get that…)

After having hiked for five weeks I was really missing and yearning for some nature and when you hear Tokyo you might think that I am illusional trying to find such places but actually Tokyo is, in a way, full of them. For one there are major parks like the Ueno Park, the Palace grounds, the surroundings of Meiji Jingu and a few more. But even though the sidewalks are tiny to non existent, quite often you will find flower pots in front of a house.

From my base camp I did a range of things. I made it to Asakusa Shrine and regretted it profoundly, as I did in Kamakura but it was a try.

The rest of the week I decided avoid the mega attractions and plan maximum two things per day. The rest was enjoying the Tokyo flow and roaming the streets to get a feel for the place.

For me that worked very well. Also I did not plan ahead what to do but started with an idea the evening before and then, depending on the weather and my energy level, what I wanted to do. Sometimes I would also walk by a poster for an exhibition and then decided to see it.

One day I took a train to a temple outside Tokyo that has a mini henro and a nice hour long walk on a little hill.

This way I was able to profoundly enjoy my week in Tokyo. I might not have seen the hot spots, which, let’s be honest, look better on instagram anyways.

To sum it up, you can easily get the bling bling and crowded places if that is what you came for, but it is worth to go “off -road” and just go with the flow. Even if you do not speak Japanese, there is no way that you can get lost, not even in Shinjuku station, except you want to.