So today is our last full day in Japan and we decided that we would explore the Odaiba district, this is the most modern part of Tokyo and has a number of shopping malls and leisure parks as well as museums and the conference centre which is called the Tokyo big sight! To get there we decided to take the monorail that isn’t actually called a monorail although it does look like one they call it the new line, we also found out that we have been walking a long way round to get from the hotel to the train line as we found an entrance that takes us directly to the station. So we jumped on the monorail that isn’t and went across to the manmade island. The ride was really good where we go across the Sumida river (the main one across Tokyo) on the Rainbow bridge you actually go across alongside the cars and get a fantastic view of both sides of the city. We got off at Kokusai-Tenijo-Seimon station which is actually directly opposite the Big Sight building – this slightly strangely named building is actually the conference centre, it is shaped a bit like the samurai hat that is upside down although they say that it looks like two upside down pyramids! the guide book had a walk round the area which we decided to do although it didn’t start well as we actually set off in the wrong direction however we realised this early and soon recovered the situation. A lot of the walk was just around the area which as I said is full of shopping arcades and museums, we walked past the National Museum of Emerging Schieve and and Innovation which is actually home of Asimo the robot that can walk up and down stairs. We didn’t go into the museum and resisted the temptation of buying games from the shop that all seemed to be solar powered! We then walked back down to the waterfront and decided to jump back on the monorail to go to the end of the line then come back to Shinbashi station. The train was a lot less busy than in the morning so we had a really good view, and on the journey back we actually got the front seats so that we could watch where we were going, this was great as it gave you fantastic views of the Tokyo skyline. We arrived back at Shinbashi station and decided to go and find something to eat, although we had our normal Raman with Pork this time it came in a slightly creamy sauce which made a nice change. After lunch we walked round the streets of Shinbashi which looked like they may be a little bit seedy at night but during the day just looked very busy and interesting. We then decided to jump on the JR line to head over to Shibuya which is where the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world is. This was actually a bit disappointing but I think all the years of working in London have had their affect on us, it wasn’t that busy, but they do say that during rush hour the people crossing could fill a football stadium, each signal change they estimate 2,500 people cross but to be honest it is quite structured and didn’t have some of the diagonal crossings I expected. We had planned to go and get a coffee and watch the crossing but we decided against it as it wasn’t that impressive, however while we were watching people cross I had a very nice conversation with a Japanese man who has never been to England but has been through Heathrow and was happy that we hadn’t just come to Japan to see Tokyo, he wished us a pleasant trip and hoped that we would return in winter to see the bathing monkeys although he had never actually seen them – I can still attract strangers talking to me in random places although at least this time it wasn’t someone weird! We were then at a bit of a loss of what to do so decided we would walk back to the Hotel which was only about 1.5 hours and would hopefully show us a bit more of Tokyo than we would naturally see so we loaded google maps and started navigating our way back. The walk had its high points as we ended up walking through the ‘electric district’ that has all the cartoon characters and also somehow ended up in the embassy district which as it is in most countries is very nice, quiet roads and lots of parks and gardens, we then decided to make a detour to the Fujitsu Head Quarters as Chris had invested so much of his life working for them and it was quite a disappointment as they are part of a large office building but there is no visible sign of the office on the outside, once we went in we did see a Fujitsu sign and a very subdued reception where you were given a pass to go up in the lift to the 33rd to 43rd floor which we assumed was their offices but to be honest you wouldn’t know unless you really looked for them. By this time it was 5pm so we went back to the hotel for a drink and Chris did the ironing while I had a relax! then it was time to head off for something to eat on our final night in Japan.
