Spent the day out in the Asakusa precinct northeast of Tokyo central about 15 mins on the subway. We are getting the hang of the subway slowly only because of the language issues but we are getting there. First stop was the Tokyo Skytree, the biggest building in Japan approx 330m tall. There are excellent observation decks and if you pay the extra $8 or so, you can get in a priority line to get up quicker as opposed to the 2-hour regular queue waiting time. The view is awesome and they have all sorts of interesting stuff up the top including massive computer screens that have the view on them, and when you touch the screen it goes “macro” so you can drill down to a particular area of the city.

Lynda’s been using the phrase, “They’ve thought of everything” and it pretty much sums up the Japanese approach to everything really. Whether it’s toilets,  wrapping food individually, coat hooks that are just in the right spot when you think, “Jeez I was I had somewhere to hang my coat”, moistened serviettes wrapped in plastic so it works the first time as opposed to America where they throw the equivalent of a Tasmanian old growth forest in serviettes at you, the top of a disposable cup containing a hot drink that has a special top that allows you to cover the hole when you’re not drinking and keeps the drink hot, in the hotel a plastic wrapped bath sponge 1mm thick that expands to an inch thick luxury, and a section of the bathroom mirror that never fogs up despite there being no ventilation. Brilliant!

Anyway, we experimented with some local cuisine at breakfast and lunch. I had some seaweed and pickled something or other with my bacon and toast and it was excellent. In a packed food hall under the Skytree, I had these amazing squid balls with green onion. Watching them being made was part of the fun and they were so tasty. I can’t believe there aren’t any fat people around so they must show enormous self-control unless you’re a Sumo of course. What is so noticeable is that the Japanese are so patient and quiet. They line up discreetly in queues and are so mindful of others whether it’s on the train or just walking towards you. I said to Lynda today as we were walking amongst a shopping crowd of a few thousand people, what would happen if I suddenly screamed, “Go you mighty Sainters!!” I didn’t get a reply surprisingly, but you get the feeling they would calmly retreat in silence and let the psychotic western man pass!

Bicycles. There are thousands of bikes parked everywhere and guess what?..none have a lock on them! Correct! Could you imagine doing that in Melbourne, Footscray, Preston, Morwell et all! How much trust do these people have? It takes the restoration of human nature to another level don’t you think? A bike in Australia, in a city, left alone anywhere would be gorrrrn in 2 seconds flat! Is it just me, or is that extraordinary?

The shopping here is overwhelming. Spectacular merchandising in window fronts that suck you right in whether it’s food, fashion, art or stationary. The Japanese are still keen on pen and paper which my girls love and I picked up a couple of things for them today. We spent an hour at least just looking at stationary related products. Just ingenious little things that blew us away. To my boss Drew, it doesn’t matter how many Charles Tyrwhitts we buy, we will never look as good as the Japanese guys. They are so understated and classic and we even met Johnny Depp in one store (see photo). Nice bloke.

From the startling ingenuity of the Skytree to 5 mins down the subway and you are in the ancient part of Asakusa and the temple of Sensoji built in 645AD. The skinny streets around the temple house markets and hundreds of tiny bars, cafes and vendors. Didn’t know where to look and it was beautiful. The temple itself had 2 big troughs covered in pieces of angle iron to prevent people getting in, but allowing money to get in. Everyone and I mean 30 million visitors a year, throw heaps of coins in there out of respect so one can only imagine how much Buddha and his mates score a week! There was a big incense fire which everyone goes to and inhales the fumes, but I couldn’t help but notice there was an insignia on the side of the fire pit and on the incense that looked remarkably like a swastika! Very odd, so then we saw people at a fountain pouring water over their hands so I did that as I’m up for any sort of good luck. Finally, there was a section in the temple that had a hundred or so tiny drawers. There was a steel canister with sticks in it that you selected at random and on the stick was a number that corresponded to a number on the drawers. Once we asked a local what the number was, we chose our respective drawers and selected a delicate piece of paper with a proverb on it. Mine was full of good luck, but Lynda’s spelled imminent disaster so she folded it over and tied it to a metal rail which we think was there for such a purpose, leaving bad luck behind. From there we witnessed a monkey doing tricks whilst intermittently scratching his tummy bored out of his mind..not unlike my good self.

Anyway off to experiment with some more local tucker. Took some photos today so hope you can get a feel for this place. All the best, Willow & Lynda.