Day 4: Rain and Tokyo Station


We were going to look around the grounds of the Imperial Palace and visit Akususa but heavy rain put paid to that idea.  It was in tropical proportions and was not fun to be in so we went to Tokyo Station to get tickets for the Shinkansen to Kyoto and for a train to Hakone.  All this on our JRpass.  I also found a fast train between Shinjuku Station and Tokyo Station, which was great as it took about 15 minutes off the trip.  The most difficult part of using the transport system is navigating ones way from the Oeio Line to the JR station and then finding the right line and platform such is the scale of the rail system.  Then it was a 15 minute or so trip to Tokyo Station with same issue of finding where we were to go to get out tickets.  Such are the challenges of travelling in a new city.

The crowds were something to behold.  The previous three days we thought were busy but with people back at work all the trains were crowded.  Thus with having to follow the indistinct signs it had its challenges.  I gather having the signs in English is a recent development so it must have been a nightmare without them for intrepid travellers. 

No  doubt I will eventually learn my way around what can be a bit of a maze.  Although every time I think I have sorted out the route from the JR line to the Oeio Line which we use every day I find that that the route seems to change, probably because we keep coming at it from different directions. 

After getting our tickets,  food again beckoned and I discovered that some of the best food in Tokyo can be had in restaurants that are part of the network of tunnels under Tokyo s
Station.  Tokyo Station is the busiest in the country and it is vast.  Bev was not confident I would find anything but a kilometre later I found one of the food areas called Kitchen Street where we randomly chose a restaurant.  We had ramen noodles which were absolutely beautiful.  It was spicy and mine had tofu, shellfish and vegetable in the broth.  Light but filling. 

When we had finished our late lunch we popped our head outside to see if it had stopped raining but it hadn’t so we headed for Shinjuku with the aim of looking around there.  It is an interesting place with lots of narrow pedestrianised streets.  I was looking for a street which was mentioned in Lonely Planet for food but couldn’t find it.  Street names are hard to find especially in English and it was getting dark.  It was quite dark by the time we were walking around in the rain but with colourful lights it was rather pretty. 
 A rainy evening in Shinjuku

Being very wet we decided that we would go back to one of the local restaurants  and try other things on the menu.  We are really enjoying the Japanese food. 

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