Tokyo Tower

Monday morning was the start of our official first day in Japan.  Both Sherryl and I got up early to catch our breakfast.  The breakfast was ok, it just seemed a little plain after the grand breakfast we had at the Conrad.  I ate enough, I had an omelet, mixed fruits, some meat, and a bowl of cereal.  Sherryl had something similar except she was more on the fruit side than I was.

It was already determined that we were going to see the Tokyo Tower.  We just did not know how to get there.  Luckily for us the hotel had information sheets for us to use on how to get there.  We had to walk from our hotel to Shinjuku Station.  From Shinjuku Station we had to take the Toei-Oedo line, one of the many lines from Shinjuku, and then we had to exit Akabanebashi.

As easy as the directions make it look it was still hard for Sherryl and I to find the station.  After much walking we encountered a police officer patrolling the streets.  I asked him in Japanese, "Shinjuku Eki Minami Entorii doko desu ka?", in other words "where is the south entrance of Shinjuku Station?"  The police officer advised us to go back and on the next intersection make a left, go over the bridge, and there is the entrance.

We made it to the entrance but then a traffic advisor advised us to go back and make a right since we had to take the Toei Oedo Line.  We found the line and there was an employee at the ticket station that spoke perfect english and instructed us how to buy a ticket and where.

We were able to catch our train and make it to Akabenabashi.  Once we exited the station we looked out and there was no mistaking the Tokyo Tower.  The tall massive structure was right in front of us.  Sherryl and started walking and then we had to cross an overpass, and then enter a small side street.  From the side street the Tower was right in front of us.  There was already a tour group taking photos and posing for pictures.  Sherryl and I took some photos but it was hard to get in the photo and all of Tokyo Tower.

Since we were there we decided to at least go to the top.  We went to the ticket office and bought a combo ticket for the main observatory deck and a special deck which is a lot higher.  We had to enter a special elevator and it took us to the Main Observatory.  Sherryl and I took some photos but mostly we just surveyed Tokyo from higher up.  The city is so clean, no pollution, and traffic just flows.  At least that's what we could see from the observatory.

After going around the main observatory we went to the "Special Viewing Observatory" which required Sherryl and I to climb a few feet of stairs and then get into another elevator that took us higher up.  Once we got there I started to remember my time at the top of the Statue of Liberty.  We were so high up and the space at the top was much smaller.  At the Tokyo Tower it was pretty much the same but the viewing area is much more spacious that then Statue of Liberty.

After taking a few more photos both Sherryl and I decided to go down.  We went down to the second floor to grab something to eat.  I just needed something to get me going while Sherryl seemed to be very hungry as well.  I settled on a American Favorite (McDonald's) while Sherryl ordered Pasta.

After lunch we retraced our steps back to the Akabanebashi Station and road the train back to Shinjuku.  Unfortunately we exited a different exit from where we entered and we got lost.  We did some walking around and eventually we were able to find the road that we were familiar with.  We took that same road back to our hotel.

Once back at the hotel we rested up.  After napping for a few hours we had to grab dinner.  Sherryl was craving sushi and we decided to eat at Tsukiji Sushi Ko.  I found the restaurant on the web, had high reviews, and even better was that it was walking distance from our hotel.

When we got to the restaurant we were greeted warmly, seated, and then we had to order.  We ordered a combination of Salmon based sushi dishes and rolls.  We even had miso soup which is so different from the miso soup back home.  Miso soup here has either fresh or salt water claims or fish.  Sherryl and I wanted fish but they were sold out so we settled on fresh water claims.

The sushi here in Tokyo is so good and so clean.  Back home the rolls are always slathered in teriyaki or some sort of sauce.  Over here there is no sauce.  The closest place that serves sushi the way they do here in Tokyo is Sushi Ran.  Unfortunately Sushi Ran is so far from where I live, it's located in Sausalito.

After eating we just decided to chill out at the restaurant and watch the chefs do their thing.  After a few a minutes of that we decided to call it a night and go back.  One Tokyo landmark was done and another was going to be seen the next day.