Day Seventeen - Arigatou Gozaimasu and Genki de Japan

Today was our final day in Japan and sitting here at Haneda International Airport waiting for our flight out of Tokyo on All Nippon Airways flight NH879. 

After our feverish packing until midnight last night, we set the alarm for 0730h, giving us time to shower, get breakfast, do a brief tidy up and walk out the door before our compulsory departure time of 1000h. I did a brief walk through the apartment taking photos. For the record, the apartment was awesome. I'd be happy to pass on the details if anyone is interested. It sleeps up to seven.

After we headed out, we went straight to Tokyo Station so that we could put our luggage in storage for the day. 

Farewell Akihabara Station

Getting there with our luggage was no easy feat, thankfully it being Sunday meant that the trains weren't crowded, but the walking gaps on some of the Station escalators was thinner than some of our luggage (perhaps because the luggage was bulging). The price for storage of the luggage was 600 yen (about AUD$6.70) per suitcase and we had eight.

Putting the suitcases into storage. This was probably the cheapest option.

We then walked out of the station towards Ginza. 

A brief team meeting at Tokyo Station

Is this the cleanest Cement Truck you have ever seen?

The Ginza District is a high-end shopping area in the heart of Tokyo, and is really quite pretty. We probably walked about four to five kilometres. It was interesting to see that they shut down the main street to traffic on Sunday between 1200h and 1700h; this is called Hokōsha Tengoku or Hokoten for short, literally meaning 'pedestrian heaven'. 

So we had a leisurely stroll down the middle of the road, alongside thousands of other people. We also stopped for lunch, visited a department chain called BIC Camera, which sells far more than just cameras and takes up six stories on a city block. We also had a brief visit to the Tokyo Police Museum which had a snazzy old Mazda RX-8 Police Car parked outside.

Afterwards we walked back to Tokyo Station and collected our luggage. 

Farewell Shinkansen. This was the last time I saw you (this time around)

We then caught the train to   Hamamatsucho Station before boarding the Monorail directly to Haneda International Airport. 

The Qantas aircraft sits forlorn at Haneda. The Qantas flight home was cancelled. I suspect that the aircraft has gone US.

On arrival we reweighed our luggage with the check-in scales and realised that we needed a major redistribution for just about every bag. It took us some time to finally get all of our bags and carry-on to within acceptable levels. Afterwards we checked in our bags and got ticketed for the flight. 

ANA Check-in

We then walked up for a short time to the Observation Deck, as the Sun had just set, and I tried my luck at some night shots. 

What a surprise to see the Star Wars R2D2-schemed ANA Boeing B787-9

We also did some airport shopping for some time. We then decided to head through Departures, clearing customs and security, and are now settled at Gate 110. We've managed to get some food and we are resting up, ready for our flight home.

I've convinced everyone that they need to watch "I want to eat you Pancreas" on the flight home. I'll compile one last blog when we get home, and I think we are all ready to get home. I am especially keen to have a medical professional check my back and let me know what's wrong with it. Since the Tuesday before last, this holiday has been quite a struggle, but I have refused to let it stop us from doing what we had planned. I think my back needs a well-earned rest.

Our flight departs at 2200h Japan Time and gets into Australia at around 0930h tomorrow morning.

Day Sixteen - The Penultimate Heights

This morning we decided to again do our own thing for the day. Maybe it's a sign that we are starting to become tired of each other, maybe not. Nonetheless, today is our penultimate day and our last full day in Japan as we will be flying out at around 2100h tomorrow night. After our usual sleep-in, Maureen, Sky and I headed out first, but we split up at Akihabara Station with Maureen and I walking around one kilometre to Ameya Yokocho which was the indoor-outdoor market that Maureen, Sky and Jen visited yesterday. I think that she was keen to show me some of the 'bargains' that she missed buying yesterday.

The walk from Akihabara to Ameya Yokocho

We love these little fish pastry things, sweet crust filled with hot custard

Afterwards, we headed off to Shinjuku (remember that place with the busiest Railway Station in the World), but this time we wanted to visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Why, you ask? Because the building contains two scenic Observation Decks which are free of charge to the public and offer awesome views across Tokyo. Both are on the 45th Floor. We visited the South Tower and caught some really awesome views from just about every angle.

The Tokyo Tower dwarfed by the buildings around it

The Tokyo Skytree, the tallest structure in Japan

Apparently, Mount Fuji is in those clouds somewhere

People in the Northern Observation Tower

After we headed back down we visited a local Flea Market in a little park adjacent to the Building. It was interesting to see the sorts of items for sale at these markets in foreign places. 

With our visit to the market done, we headed back to Shinjuku and then on to Tokyo Station for a Recce of the Baggage Storage Area, which we will be needing to rely upon tomorrow. We then headed back to the apartment in time for our prearranged meeting time of 1600h.

Shinjuku Station, busiest in the World

In the meantime, Sky spent his day feverishly investigating every nook and cranny of Akihabara. If there's a bargain to be had, Sky will sniff it out.

Kyle and Jen left the apartment last and first walked to Ameya Yokocho, visiting the Sporting Goods shops. They had Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancakes) and Yaki Soba (Noodles) for lunch at a large Shopping Mall in Uema. Afterwards they walked back to the apartment.

Having all met up at the apartment at 1600h, we all headed off to see the Tokyo Sky Tree. You may recall that we had planned to visit this place yesterday, but the weather was dodgy; however, today was a completely different story with beautiful blue skies the whole day long. Even though it's not very far from where we are (about four kilometres), it's a pretty complex train ride to get there including arriving at one station and walking next door to another run by a different company.

Topping up the Suica Cards

These crowded trains

Standing at 634 metres, the Tokyo Skytree is the tallest structure in Japan. It is also the tallest tower in the world and the second tallest structure in the world after the Burj Khalifa. An interesting fact about it's height of 634 metres is that it was designed specifically to be that height because the figures six (mu), three (sa) and four (shi) stand for 'Musashi', an old name of the region where the Tokyo Skytree now stands.

As for our visit, it was really crowded with people up there, but the view (at night was amazing). Not the easiest place to take photos, but we persevered nonetheless. We also paid a little extra to get fast track access as the regular queue had a waiting time of between 45 minutes and one hour. 

The Tokyo Tower

Afterwards, we had dinner at a Food Court in the Skytree Shopping district before heading home.

The next task was to start packing as we have to vacate the apartment at 1000h tomorrow morning. It's quite a task to sort the bags to ensure they are under 23 kilograms and we are allowed two bags per person.

Whew! what a penultimate day.