Sayonara - for now

We are now at Prince Hotel Sunshine city, 32 .floor in a room with a view over one of the biggest cities in the world.

                                      

We started our stay at Asakura Hostel, and to make a long story short, we did not find this hostel ourselves,  but we had a great time there, meeting people from all over the world (Norway (!), Sweden,Denmark, Hong Kong, England, France, Australia, Argentina, Malaysia, USA and more)

The nice part with hostel is that is it social, you can do laundry, you have internet and the staff was extremely helpful. Location is also good, as this is in the older part of Tokyo and very close to Sensoji temple.

Everyone we met were so nice, and one man said it had been cool to meet a full family at a hostel. 

We really enjoyed our stay, and recommend it for both families and single travelers.

December 30 Daniel was 6 years old, and we wanted to go to Disneyland to celebrate him. Coming there, we learned that all the tickets were sold out...

Thanks to "Sue" and her phone calls we were able to buy the tickets after all.

We got to say hello to a few famous characters...

Ufortunately we learned that it was a reason why the tickets were sold out....it was so crowded that it took forever to try the attractions. We did a few, but next time we will try to find a day less popular (if such a day exist...)

The next day was New Years Eve, we checked out from the hostel with the suitcases...
Not so easy at the trains, but we made it.

            

                    In the evening we had dinner at the hotel, buffet with "everything"

and the kids chose what they wanted....

And eventually the ice-cream machine was empty...

Later we did celebrate a little, and with the perfect view it was a bit sad but understandable that there are no fireworks in Tokyo.

We started the new year with a visit to Harajuku, and it was actually snowing.

Anna decided to be Stich, and was really not sticking out in the street from her outfit

"Black belt in shopping"...and probably overweight on the plane again....(nothing new..)

They have sizes that fits (except pants...to short)

And I found boots, which is always a challenge....to put it this way, my kids were clapping their hands when I finally found a pair that fits..

Daniel find new "friends" everywhere...

The hotel complex in Sunshine city not only have a huge mall, but also an aquarium, planetarium and more.

So, what have I learned from being a tourist in Japan:

Number 1, I really like it here! The city is huge and have something for everyone. It must be impossible to be bored here with so much to do and see.

Crime rate is extremely low. It is very few hand guns here, prostitution is illegal, streets are clean, we have not seen any homeless or beggars in the streets, and even though you don`t see the police to much they are of course present. When you ask why the crime rate is so low, the explanation is often that they see each other as family, and that it would be very embarrassing to be caught as a criminal, and there is no way to escape (Japan is after all an island). If you read about some of the horrible crimes who did take place in Japan, you will also see that even family members of murders commit suicide in shame. 

(We also hear that the mafia here is still strong, do have guns and do deal with prostitution and more. What they don`t do is bugging average people or tourists. Also, we hear that sexual harassment is too common, and we seen part of the trains for women only).

In the street we see people busy with them selves, taking shorter steps than we are used to, and maybe its because it is so crowded everywhere?

 People are very friendly and polite, and I think it must be the most elegant population in the world. Women wear short skirts, beautiful shoes, but show nothing else. Another thing I noticed is that people are basically not wearing any jewelry. When I asked, I learned that their weddings are flooded by gold, but it is mostly used in the house (to look nice for their husbands, and when traveling abroad). 

No traffic jam (!) probably because people use the trains, and it is like a city under the city with shops and cafe`s at most stations. Trains are on time.

When it comes to religion most people are Shinto and/or Buddhist, and as far as I know neither of these religions ever started a war. 

I spoke with a Chinese worker here, who says that the working hours are very hard. It seems like people are working hard during the week, and then enjoy themselves fully in the weekend. For obvious reasons I did not check out the night life here, but Helene did, and she had fun!

The number one challenge here for tourists is the language. The trains show stations in both Japanese and English, but trying to talk with taxi drivers is from my experience a waste of time. Normally when I travel they are my number one source in every country, since they all seem to "know it all". Maybe they do here as well, but from my experience you are lucky if they understand enough english to take you to the right address after you give it to them in writing.

Anyway, we have had a great time here, and I will be very happy to come back. I would love to see more of Japan (Kyoto, Hiroshima among others), and some places we have been to now I like to see again (like Odaiba) and for sure I would love to come here with empty suitcases and fill them up with clothes....

We have had a great time here, and all that is left to say is

ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU !