SAY KONICHIWA TO THE CAPITAL
Japan’s sprawling, supercharged capital, TOKYO is buzzing, confusing, compelling and good fun, and an apt place to start discovering this incredible country. Most overnight flights from London touch down in the morning, while flights from the US tend to arrive around mid-afternoon or early evening. It’ll take you a good couple of hours to get out of the airport, into Tokyo and across town to your hotel, so by the time you’ve settled in, it’s probably a good idea to keep any explorations on your first day in Japan to the local vicinity, so your kids are feeling refreshed and recharged when you start hitting the big sights tomorrow. Even on just a short wander, though, you’re likely to stumble across old wooden houses, a neighbourhood Shinto shrine (listen for the ringing of bells as passers-by wake the spirits before they pray), little restaurants with half-curtains in their doorways and models of plastic food instead of menus, and kanji signs lit up in neon. Complete your quick introduction to the sensory wonders of Tokyo by ducking into one of the city’s ramen joints, where you order your meal from a vending machine at the entrance and slurp up your noodle soup at the steam-shrouded counter.
TOP TIP The most convenient way of travelling around Tokyo is with a prepaid contactless IC CARD, which saves you from having to buy tickets all the time (particularly tricky when transferring between two lines run by different companies) and gives you slightly cheaper fares to boot. The PASMO Passport covers all public transport in Tokyo and can also be used at corner shops and for vending machines and coin lockers. You can buy them at Narita and Haneda airports and in stations across Tokyo [¥2000, which includes a ¥500 issuing fee]; you’ll need to show your children’s passports as proof of age in order to buy a Child PASMO [available for under-12s]. To use them, just touch the card on the reader at the start of your journey and then touch out at the end. PASMO Passports are accepted across Japan, including on the transport systems in Osaka, Hiroshima and Kyoto.
THE LIJOMA LOWDOWN
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