Part 2: A Round-the-World Trip with Anita | Tokyo
In my previous blogs, I already introduced you to our ‘round the world’ where we successively visited Japan, Hawaii, and Vancouver. You can also read here that I am quick to continue with Kyoto which it will be about, namely Tokyo. Subsequently, I will write about:
Tokyo: a city that will blow your mind
Tokyo, actually, I could write endlessly about it! This is a city where you'll be constantly amazed. There is so much to discover, see, and experience.
In a nutshell, I'll take you to the world city of Tokyo. Here too, even though it's an enormous city, everything is very well organised and every square metre is utilised. After all, land is scarce in Japan. You can see that reflected in the numerous high-rise buildings. But even stronger, there's almost a second city underground in some places.
An extra underground layer in Tokyo
When you go down an escalator somewhere, or press the ‘minus 1’ button in your hotel, you enter a second world, but underground. You can walk for kilometres underground and feel as though you are in a large modern shopping mall, with all the amenities, air conditioning (outside it was 40 degrees during our visit), thousands of restaurants and bars, good signage and easy access to public transport. You might think that it would feel claustrophobic, but that is certainly not the case. So in Tokyo, you can not only shop endlessly above ground, but also certainly below ground.
The Ascott Marunouchi Tokyo
We stayed at the Ascott Maranouchi hotel in Tokyo. A wonderfully centrally located hotel, with the reception and rooms on the highest floors, so a view is guaranteed!
Tokyo is so large that you always have to travel a bit to see certain things. This can be done very easily by public transport, but taxis in the city are also not really expensive.
The world of robots
It's the world of robots! What we discovered is too much to list. Among other things, we saw neat rows of young people waiting to get their hands on a particular gadget, beautiful shops, magnificent temples, and not least, the fantastic fish market.
Tokyo with a Dutch-speaking guide
Together with our regular contact, a Dutchman who has been living in Tokyo for 20 years, we visited interesting parts of Tokyo, companies, and therefore also the fish market, for future trips. Our guide speaks fluent Dutch, as well as Japanese. Very useful, and he arranges all appointments with companies and institutions for all the trade missions and inspiration trips that we organise for clients. Someone we are therefore happy to work with and who has already meant a lot for our clients. Now he was ready for us to show my two boys all the nice places in Tokyo, and in between, we also discussed some business matters.
Fish market in Tokyo
The fish market was one of the highlights for them, alongside the shopping. But even though they are boys, they had to do some shopping here in Tokyo too. It's also a sport for them to stock up on clothes that you can't get in the Netherlands. You'll find the best shopping opportunities in the Ginza Street Area, Asakusa Area, Takeshita Street, and Akihabara.
Furthermore, a tip for a very cosy and special restaurant with a fantastic atmosphere and food, namely Gonpachi Nishiazabu. Guaranteed a super cosy evening and famous for the filming of Kill Bill which took place here!
Furthermore, the Japanese Nobu chain is one of our favourite chains for fantastic Japanese food. Our boys are also absolutely mad about Nobu. And when you're in Japan, you simply have to go there. Nobu has branches in many major cities and we've already had the pleasure of visiting several, (we're lucky, I realise that often) such as in London, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Ibiza and many more to come, including Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne!
In the afternoons, Rob and I visited a few more hotels that we would like to include in our Japan itineraries, while the boys happily dived into the swimming pool. This is how we effectively combine our work and holiday, mixing business with pleasure. After Tokyo, we fly on to Hawaii, more about which in my next blog!