Tokyo, December 24 - 26, 2011

Angry Birds at Changi airport send us to our lovely three-week vacation in the country of friendly people, delicious food, great service, and gorgeous scenery.

Our room in hotel Sakura in Jimbocho district in Tokyo. This is probably the smallest double room we've stayed in any hotel or motel.

Japanese championships in figure skating are on tv; they are held in Osaka. At this point Osaka is still in our plans, but eventually we skip it.

It is late and we are hungry. The hotel receptionist recommends a couple of nearby restaurants. We choose Ootoya. It is a chain restaurant that has at least one location in Singapore.

We have udon noodles, a chicken rice set, and a egg and pork rice set with Kirin. Later in our trip we become quite convinced that Sapporo is the best non-craft beer coming from Japan.

Note in our hotel.

Sunday morning is sunny and the air crisp.It does not take long until we put the windbreakers on. It is winter here! Hundreds of runners are on their morning jog around the Imperial Palace East Gardens.

National Museum of Modern Art hosts an exhibition on Japanese Nudes 1880-1945.

The Crafts Gallery, The National Museum of Modern Art.

A map of the Imperial Palace and its surrounding gardens.

The foundation of a former castle tower. East gardens are located at the site where Edo castle used to be.

The moat around the palace area.

Colorful foliage makes us feel like it is Fall.

Steel grey clouds are gathering and we expect rain, but wouldn't be surprised if we get some snow.

Ginza. A shopping mall in Singapore used to be named after this Tokyo shopping district.

We visit the famous beer hall Ginza Lion for Yebisu beer. The building was built in 1934, and it took three years to finish.

We continue our exploration in the darkening evening, and soon we find ourselves in a warm bar Houblon Belgian Beer and Food.

Houblon's beer menu is huge.

Cantillon geuze and Satan Red.

Two Finnish things that Japanese like: Moomins and Marimekko.

Another sunny and crisp morning in Jimbocho. This district is known of its numerous small second-hand book stores. A good match to nice coffee shops, wine bars, and tea houses we find.

We take metro to Tokyo station, where we exchange our vouchers to JR railpasses. We also reserve seats in trains to Takayama (tomorrow) and Kyoto (on the eve of the new Year's eve).

An impressive fruit salad with ice cream at Tokyo Station.

From Tokyo station we take a train to Ueno, and experience our first "buying the wrong tickets" episode. That is easily solved by the friendly and helpful metro personnel, and we get our money back (and new tickets!).

We stroll through idyllic neighborhoods to Ueno Park.

A zoo and several national museums are located in Ueno Park; we don't visit any of them, but enjoy the clean and cool winter air.

Crows are everywhere, and they are loud.

Lanterns in the park.

They must look awesome at night.

A pond. Ueno is the first park in Japan with zoological garden and ponds, tells our guidebook.

From Ueno we take a train to Ryogoku. The plan is to visit Popeye, a bar that claims to have 40 (mostly Japanese) beers on tap. It is only 3pm., and the place opens at 5pm., so very disappointed we turn back.

We are also hungry, and stop at a nearby ramen noodle shop for lunch. Once again we are lucky to find a place with a picture menu, since English menu is a rarity even in the capital.

After a train trip with one connection, and buying wrong tickets again, we are back at the hotel to do some laundry.

We check several neighborhood restaurants for dinner, but they are all so smoky that we turn away. Eventually we are so hungry that we choose a Mexican place Sol Amigo. Not only the patrons smoke, but also the kitchen staff. The food is good, though.

We take some shortcuts when heading back to the hotel, and find a wine bar Ate on one of the alleys.

The place is small, warm, and very cosy. The Japanese hostess translates the wine list for us.

You may wonder why we keep repeating "warm", but it is winter in Japan and central heating is not as common as it is in Nordic countries. In most of the guesthouses we stay, the indoor temperature is barely +10C. Only guest rooms, not even common bathrooms, have heaters so that the temperature can be cranked up all the way to +15 - +20C. Being in cold makes us feel fresh and invigorated though; we are so used to being sluggish in the tropical heat and humidity.

We promise ourselves to have dinner at Ate when we are back in Tokyo in the end of our trip. We are going to stay in the same hotel, which is just across the street.

Next morning it is time to leave Tokyo and do some real rail travelling.

Once again we are heading to Tokyo Station.

Jimbocho is not too busy on the early Monday morning.

Breakfast at Blenz Cafe: 2 OJs, one Americano, one green tea latte, mushroom ciabatta, and ham&cheese.

We visit JR ticket office with our tickets that say Nozomi, a train that is not available for JR railpass holders. JR staff is quick to fix the problem and hand us tickets to Hikari, which actually leaves earlier than Nozomi would have, which is great since now we have a bit more time to change trains in Nagoya.

Hikari is clean, spacious, and right on time. Stewardess comes by with the cart full of drinks and snacks. When entering and leaving the car she, like the conductor, bows.

Trains' punctuality is something that makes it very comfortable and convenient to travel by train in Japan; even with a couple of minutes' connection, you are certain to make it. We did not miss a single train on our trip. And the only train that was late, was the overnighter from Tokyo to Sapporo. More on that later.