One Night in Tokyo

Tokyo, aside from its insane prices and its extremely complicated subway system is amazing. Everyone is really friendly and contrary to what you may think, most of them speak English, well!

After an 8 hour flight in which I probably watched 10,000 BC and Vantage Point about 3 times...each, I arrived at Narita.
A friend of mine who used to work at Artigiano lives in Tokyo so I could not think of a better guide. Hisako gave me detailed instructions on how to get to her in Tokyo station...but she failed to realize just how overwhelming a Japanese subway system is to a foreigner.

Luckily, Im sure the Japanese tourism office knows too since they have a special office for foreigners to book tickets.

The lady at the office was very helpful and helping me organize my trip into Tokyo. For a small price of only 2900yen (only $30 to a ride a train....) I was on my way to Tokyo via the Narita Express, an express train that gets you to Tokyo in a little over an hour and a half.

Arriving in Tokyo Station Hisako took me on a brief tour of the Imperial Palace. It was 6pm so the Palace was closed to visitors but we walked along the outside, in the pouring rain. We decided indoors was best so we walked along the extensive underground network of stations which are pretty cool. Dinner was the best. Up high on the 35th floor Hisako treated me to a dinner that I can:t remember the name of, but was declicious...only 16,000yen....good thing I get paid so much at Artigiano...

After dinner Hisako showed me the cheaper alternative to get back to my hotel. Sacrificing a comfortable express train seat for a standard subway system seat and taking on transfer to a different train ride, I made it back to my hotel Nikko in the same amount of time for only 1,200 yen. Thank God for for Hisako!

That all for now. I definitely want to come back to Tokyo, but for more than just an evening this time!

Ps. Did I mentioned they have beer in vending machines? what a country!