PERU-BOLIVIA: Just arrived in Tokyo

After a 9 hour flight from Dubai just arrived in Tokyo. Approaching Narita airport in the sunset over the rice fields was calm and relaxed, but I was already expecting the culture shock hitting my head. Its an experience you need to be prepared for to be able to "survive" without panic.

Just after leaving the airport it was there. I had to figure out, which is the right train and direction to go. You can not really expect any help from the people around, since they do not really speak English. At that point you freeze and going circles for hours or get excited and find your way.

Arriving at the hotel is already a success in a city with 15 million inhabitants or 35 million in its larger metro area, having 28 metro and rail lines. The original name of Tokyo was Edo and was a fishing village for long centuries. It started to grow first in the 15th century and topped one million in the 18th century. At that time it was already on of the world's largest cities.

Tokyo is composed of several cities. One of them is Asakusa home to one of the most visited temples in Tokyo and the highest building of Japan the Tokyo sky tree.
Senso-Ji, the temple was founded in 645 CE, which makes it the oldest temple in Tokyo. It was destroyed in world war II and rebuilt shortly after.

The Nakamise-dōri (仲見世通り) is a street on the approach to the temple. It is said to have come about in the early 18th century, when neighbors of Sensō-ji were granted permission to set up shops on the approach to the temple.

The Tokyo skytree on the other side of the river in Asakusa opened gates in 2012 and at 635 metres is the second highest building after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It s built as a combination of a central reinforced concrete core and a steel skeleton outside connected to each other from the height of 130 metres all the way to the obseravtion decks at 300 and 450 metres.

An other main temple in Tokyo is the Meiji shrine located in a huge park in Shibuya. Meiji Shrine is located in a forest that covers an area of 70 hectares. This area is covered by an evergreen forest that consists of 120,000 trees of 365 different species, which were donated by people from all parts of Japan when the shrine was established.

Entering the complex via a huge Torii gate made of 1000 year old tree.

The sake barrels in the background are also donations of breweries from every corners of Japan.

Going on north from Meiji the next neighborhood is Shinjuku, one of the office districts of Tokyo. There are the twin towers of the Metropolitan Governement building and also the Park Hyatt Hotel hosting a scene for a Hollywood movie; Lost in translation with Bill Murray.

The twin towers are some 245m high and offer free access to their observation decks.

The bar of the Park Hyatt on the 45th floor.

View of office buildings around Shinjuku.

Going out in the evening the Akihabara neighborhood is a promising destination. It is home to several electric stores and the Anime scene of Tokyo.