Toast and jam for breakfast. Destination today: to re-visit the Harajuku and Shibuya district and delve deeper into the backstreets. We have both agreed that our favorite places to visit in Tokyo so far were the fish market and Harajuku. The fish market is so different from anything we have ever seen or had the pleasure to document, you could spend a whole week there, if your stomach can handle it! You really get to know the local tradesmen and atmosphere that goes with such a busy market place. Harajuku in contrast offers current trends in fashion and art. There are some great little backstreets to explore and plenty of coffee-shops where you can watch the passers-by. In search of a cafe recommended in the Lonely Planet we found that the Bape cafe is not longer around! Not to be disappointed we settled for the Freshness Burger Company, Dave had a good ole cheese burger whilst I opted for a veggie one. You can’t eat Japanese food everyday…can you?

Following lunch we found one place that really stands out for us s a highlight so far; the Design Festa Gallery quietly positioned away from the main hustle and bustle of the Harajuku area. An artist’s studio complex, something that looks like it should belong in Berlin. Graffitied walls, personalised art studios, illustrations that spill onto the stairways and lovely white spaces with which to exhibit your work. We love these kind of places, somewhere that really gave a real feeling of what is happening in the Tokyo art and design scene.

Moving on from the Design Festa we walked down to Shibuya crossed the famous Shibuya crossing (several times) just so we could get loads of photographs of people crossing, it’s a pretty cool experience actually (photography geeks!) Deciding that we’d had enough of the pizazz going on in this area we once again resided to the friendly Sakura Hotel before going out in search of Sushi. With so many food choices it’s really difficult deciding on somewhere to eat that we know will offer the food we like and at a good price. Noodle bars, Japanese pubs, conveyor-belt style, street vendors and so on. We can safely say that we haven’t always made the best choices in this department with a 50/50 success rate! Settling on an underground sushi restaurant we were faced with food that we would never encounter back in the UK and tasted a few things we would not want to go through again! Helen’s stomach was turned upside down and Dave almost gagged! All part of the experience.

Tomorrow we are leaving the Tokyo metropolis behind to seek out a slightly more peaceful guesthouse based in the Mt Fuji area.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Woke up to a constant drizzle today and read in the hotel that the bike tours for the Imperial Palace are on Sundays only and aren’t on when it rains either! You can hire bikes there without a tour but again not when it’s raining. So with waterproofs on, we walked along with all the other umbrellas to the Palace grounds in search of the Museum of Contemporary art. We’re based only a 10 minute walk from the Palace moat and main entrance, it would have been great to have witnessed this area on a clear and sunny day, it however it was still impressive in the drizzle. Upon arrival at the museum we discovered no thanks to any signage that it is closed for the entire week!

Hmmm we chose this museum as it is free entry and on our doorstep, the back up plan was to walk to a Lonely Planet recommended coffee spot. We’re still not getting our food choices right here, although the images definitely sell the food, after a few mouthfuls we’ve kind of thought not sure if this was the best choice! It’s all part of the fun we thinks! So after a slightly less appetising lunch we went in search of the @home cafe. Akihabara is like an up-market Blackpool on speed! There are young girls approaching people in the street dressed in maid outfits trying to entice you into the well known Tokyo maid cafe’s. We soon realised that the @home cafe was going to be along the same line. What an experience… With a 700yen per person sitting fee we still thought ‘yeah go-on then let’s give it a go’. We had our own maid who’s name was Michel…? She tried with poor English (although better than any attempt whatsoever we could make at Japanese!!) to entertain us, we only wish we had an interpreter with us as they refer to the men as “Master” and the ladies as “Mistress”, sing songs and play games with the guests. There were mostly young men in the cafe but a few couples with a few older men and women. It’s a little like a culture for the lonely as the maids become your best friend once you have paid the entrance fee.

After the surreal experience of Akiharaba we set off to the more fashion conscious areas of Harajuku and Shibuya. In extreme contrast here we have high-end designer shops and quirky artsy backstreets offering a taste of local fashion design, art and culture. Again we hit the after work, school-leaving crowd who love to shop! We passed through the international gymnastics centre, where Japan fashion week events are taking place and eventually found ourselves in the even more trendy Shibuya. Moving from area to area you really get the sense that places are broken up into clear districts, building-types and genres of shopping . We decided that we would come back here tomorrow to get a further taste of the area.

Later we stayed local to our Kanda area and went for some less-local cuisine opting for what appeared to be cosy little taverna offering Spanish food (noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner can be difficult to stomach). What we had was an overpriced, small portioned meal which kind of left a foul taste in our mouths due the sting of the cost. Lesson to be learned there. So after a spell of emails, photo-editing and tasty chai bed-time reached the height of 11.30pm!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

After a good nights sleep, all of 10hrs, we got up at 5am and thought we should use the jet-lag to our advantage. We grabbed breakfast from the hotel; toast, jam and tea, then left in search of the Tsukiji fish market via the underground. This is lesson number one of Tokyo… The underground is owned by two companies. They both own different lines and you can get either an individual or a combined ticket to travel on the whole network. We bought the wrong ticket and needed the station masters help.

Once we had sorted the underground ticket we hopped on and headed for the fish. The market is the largest seafood market in the world and has over 800 businesses all under one roof. It’s a huge place with many dangers. Very busy with not only workers, buyers and sellers but also mini trucks that move with surprising speed and agility. It was a great photo opportunity with live crabs breaded ready for the fryer, beheaded fish heads with quivering fins, and tuna the size of a small car! Industrial saws slice and dice the fresh meat with precision ready to be bought by local shops and restaurants. We had a nice chat with a friendly gent who wanted us to spend as much money as possible in Japan. We duly followed his instructions and purchased some Sashimi from the local market. It was marvelous.

We walked to Ginza which is where lesson two was learnt… In Tokyo almost all the designer / high fashion shops don’t open until 10.30 – 11.30am on a weekday. So with two hours to spare we wandered the streets looking for the Leica Ginza Salon which had a free mini photography exhibition along with a few iconic Leica cameras to make our mouths water (photography geeks). After a morning session of passing through underground shopping centers and the vast numbers of restaurants we went back to the hotel for 40 winks.

Late afternoon saw us take in Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown followed by a not so great bite to eat in a nearby food chain. Cold noodles are not Dave’s favorite dish. A trip up Tokyo tower later, based on the Eiffel Tower, gave some great night-time views across Tokyo along with school-kids, families and some quirky cosplay clad locals.

Finishing the night off with a good old Bagel and hot chocolate followed by a stint at Roppongi’s A971 bar for a cheeky beer we discussed the delights of Japanese culture.

Tomorrow promises a bike ride around the Imperial Palace and the famous Harajuku district. Two days in and we are loving it!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

On the weekend of the 16th/17th October we said our goodbyes to close family and friends, combining a lovely do at Helen’s parents house in Widnes with our youngest recruit to the Roscoe clan; Sukie-Bea (one on Tuesday – Happy Birthday!!!) to the eldest; Nana Champion (90 in November!!)

It was the first time the Rutter-Roscoe families met and it was a lovely occasion for us to celebrate our departure on the 19th. Lovely for us two but perhaps more emotional for others. We love you lots!!

So that’s the soppy part over with…here starts our travel blog for real! We flew from Manchester Airport early on Monday the 18th after a little send off from Mr & Mrs Rutter three coffees and one tea later and we left them for our departure lounge. Our first stop was a short spell in Frankfurt before boarding the new Airbus A380 along with 800 other Tokyo bound passengers. Lufthansa are going to be tough to beat on the smoothness of the flight, good selection of food and the added bonus of Toy Story 3!

After 16 hours of travel from door to door we arrived at the budget Hotel Sakura in the Kanda district of Tokyo. We thought we may be on the wrong path at one stage so followed other tourists off the train to find out where we should be going. Fortunately a helpful local man who spoke good English helped us on the right path toward our destination.

We managed to get an early check-in which meant we could finally get some sleep and a nice hot shower. Two hours later and we awoke jet-lagged but determined to get out and see some of the nearby attractions.

First stop; food at a nearby well-priced noodle bar. Second; a light stroll up to the local temple, Yasukuni-Jinja to walk off our meal, bustling with work-leavers and after-school chat, we managed an hour or so of sight seeing but after 26 hours of travel we were ready for bed.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, processed in Lightroom 3)