I must admit that Tokyo was by far the highlight of this trip for us. It was extremely intriguing to be immersed in such a different culture, yet due to the organisation, high technological level and overall development of the country, in many ways it did not feel so different from what we know. I must admit that when we had visited China a few years ago, the culture shock there was immensely greater than we felt in Japan.

Japan is extremely civilised, cultured, refined, safe, honest and above all always so respectful and polite. So all of this tends to partially eclipse the otherwise many differences in our respective cultures.

There is so much to do and to see in Tokyo that in our four days we barely managed to scratch the surface. Most parts of it are also reasonably pedestrian friendly, so you can very comfortably walk around to discover its many facets in detail, which I always find is about the best way possible to get to know a city, from up close. There are also literally all types of sites and activities for all tastes and preferences. So we tried a bit of everything, as we usually do.

Their parks and famous Japanese style gardens are simply gorgeous and not only do they feast the mind and spirit, but they are also virtually an occasional must to get out of the maddening crowd. So I would definitely recommend any visitor there to slot in a quiet stroll through any one of the major green areas every other day or so. The detail and upkeep of these gardens is of a truly impressive level and second to none.

There are also several specific typical city sites, such as the two highest towers in Japan. One is Tokyo Tower, which looks distinctly like the Eiffel Tower and at 332.9 metres is the second tallest structure in Japan. It is a magnificent sight at night, lit up in distinctive yellow and orange lighting. Then there is the Tokyo Skytree, a broadcasting tower which at 634 metres is the tallest structure in Japan, the tallest tower in the world and the second highest structure in the world, after Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which incidentally we were standing beneath only a couple of days later. Yes I know all this nomenclature is confusing, so best to simply ignore it…

As we decided to view Tokyo from above both at night and during the day, to take in such spectacular views in its two aspects, we first chose to visit Tokyo Tower at night. However we arrived there a few minutes too late and were unable to ascend to watch the lights from high above. However admittedly the view at night from our 19th floor hotel bedroom window was so stunning that we were very well served in nocturnal panoramas anyway. So we contented ourselves with a few fun photos of the tower sticking out of Maria’s head and eventually made it back to our hotel bedroom window, with a glass of something from our own extensive personal bar.

The day after we were planning to visit the area where the Skytree happens to be anyway, so we decided to give this one a try. Our first shock was the endless queue we had to follow for a good 20 minutes to get in and our second even greater one was that once we were up there at truly stratospheric heights, we could actually feel the bloody thing sway! Maria is very bad with heights at the best of times and it really started making me feel queazy. I soon got that funny stomach feeling which you tend to get right in between being drunk and getting a hangover. So this, along with the hoards of people and trillions of schoolchildren, sent us back down before you could reach out for a sickness bag.

This dubious experience, of queuing for ages, paying for entrance tickets virtually as high as the structure, fighting off throngs of people everywhere, only to see what could be seen closeup from below at a different angle, also got us to think. Swaying or no swaying we have been up so many tall structures all over the world to see exactly what you see from your airplane window before landing and just after takeoff, that this might have marked a small turning point in our future travels. Do we really want to go up any other such structures to see what actually looks pretty similar from that height when you think about it, no matter the city concerned? I suppose being blasé does come into it as well, because how many times can you do the same thing and truly get a kick out of it before you get bored?

So having consciously and happily evolved in our travel ascending preferences, we very happily moved next door into what is a massive shopping mall on many levels and another equally impressive adjacent structure, entirely dedicated to all types and forms of restaurants and assorted eateries. Which bring me to two very interesting topics, that of shopping in general and then that of dining.

As is to be expected, the shopping possibilities in a place like Tokyo are purely endless. This varies from tiny holes in the wall, to small and average sized shops, to large department stores, endless malls and every other possible existing format. Similarly you can go for the top brands and spend your entire lifesavings in less than a day, or shop around for relatively cheaper stuff. There are also many districts around Tokyo which specialise specifically in certain types of shops, as is Ginza for top brands and the electronics district for such goods.

Pricing in general is not at all cheap for virtually all items. Japan is however no longer the nightmarishly expensive destination that it used to be and by a long shot. The yen has greatly devalued over the years which has brought prices down to a similar level to top European capitals today.

However if it is clothing you are after you might have a bit of a problem, especially if you are not tiny in size as most Japanese tend to be. It is in fact amazing what extremely few obese people you ever encounter anywhere, in spite of the zillions of people who cross your path every living moment. If I am not mistaken we probably saw a total of three people who could have been considered as overweight and surprise surprise we heard two of them talking in a distinctive American accent, so although in all probability they were of Japanese ancestry, they were holidaying here from the U.S! It is even shocking when you travel back here and see the average size of people compared to the average Japanese, who have somehow totally escaped the overweight scourge of most other developed countries. Admittedly though it is also their body structure which is so small compared to ours. To be perfectly honest we also found their clothing styles not exactly to our taste either, but then again I suppose that this is purely a matter of personal opinion.

Isn’t eating and drinking about the greatest thing you can do when on holiday? And what a coincidence that they are also about the best things you can also do when back home. Yes I will accept the fact that wining and dining are amongst are favourite hobbies and for us also make up a significant part of our holiday. As expected, here again the options are simply endless in Tokyo. We were quite surprised that virtually all restaurants around looked relatively small and verging on poky, with very few visible large or lavish establishments around, except for those in luxury hotels. Not that this was a drawback in any way, it was just mildly surprising, that’s all.

As may be expected, the vast majority of restaurants offered local cuisine, however there was also a marked focus on Korean and Chinese restaurants, as well as Thai, Vietnamese and Indian. Italian restaurants loudly displaying their world famous pizza and pasta options, were neither lacking. And then if you desired any other cuisine on earth, all you had to do was look for it and you were sure to find it sooner rather than later.

In spite of what many might think, sushi and sashimi are also somewhat considered as speciality food even in Japan, and also with people such as ourselves who simply adore it, after a few such meals it can tend to become a bit repetitive and boring. Overall we had good quality sushi and sashimi, however in all honesty none of them were any overwhelmingly better than the good ones you can eat here in Malta.

So we mainly indulged in their more staple fare such as their miso and oden soups, the many tempuras, seaweed in all forms, their many pickled and salted items, deep-fried meat and fish dishes and their many stews of all types flavoured with local exotic ingredients. If I had to summarise the food in general I would say that it was most interesting and usually pretty good. Was it spectacular? No, not really and I would even say that comparing our own experiences at least, we probably ate much better when in China. But please do not repeat this to any of your Japanese friends, as such comparatives with their rivals Chinese might easily turn them kamikaze against me.

Prices for meals were also expensive but not horrendously so. Food prices always looked rather reasonable and each dish does not cost a lot. However they are invariably baby hatchling sized and being the gigantesque European swine that we are, while we were always sitting next to an entire Japanese family huddled around a maximum of two dishes and a bowl of rice, we usually ended up ordering most of the items on the menu to eat to our fill. No wonder these people are so slim. Our eating habits insofar as quantities are concerned are about as far apart from each other as our countries truly are. And we are both by any account very small eaters by Maltese standards!

So the multiplicity of dishes so to speak, will of course end of bringing the price up considerably. You start off by looking at the menu which usually has pictures, which is a lifesaver in itself, and point at a lovely photo of a succulent main course, only to have it served on a tiny saucer which looks more like a mezze of sorts. Without any exaggeration, it would take around three of theirs if not four to compete in size and weight to one of ours. So what initially look like fairly decent food prices are then doubled or trebled, unless you want to eat Japanese style and then pick up a burger and chips from the ubiquitous McDonalds on every street corner, on the way home. And if you are on the lookout for a fun fact, there are actually 1,600 of them in Tokyo alone.

Then of course there are the beverages. Here again we tend to differ much with the Japanese who are anything but heavy and regular drinkers, as many of us Western abusers have turned out to be. So if in local style you have one tasteless lukewarm green tea with your entire meal, your bill will be virtually unaffected. But if on the other hand you want your standard fix with every meal, being in the form or wine, or beer, or spirits, or even their own homegrown sake, then you might be in for a little surprise. All alcoholic beverages are expensive and many times the price you would pay for them back home.

So all in all if you are careful and somewhat put on the brakes to your habitual glutinous Western style eating and drinking, you might just about keep pricing down to the barely affordable, but never the cheap. Let us just say that you can very easily run up a bill of say € 120 to € 150 for two for a seemingly light meal. If you want to have what we normally consider a full meal here in Malta, then you could easily double this up, especially you don’t shy away from a drink!

But there is loads more to do in Tokyo with something to please anyone’s tastes. We also visited a couple of temples, the most renowned of which being Senso-ji in Asakusa. For me at least this might have been the most disappointing of all our visits, as I found the whole experience shoddy, very touristy and commercial. The temple buildings themselves, did have a certain appeal and were of a marked interest. But the entire place was swarming with screaming visitors of sorts, mainly Japanese, including fake samurai and geishas posing for money and several other freak show items of the day. People were running around like headless chickens purchasing all sorts of presumed sacred items, ringing bells and hitting chimes, blowing on inanimate objects, opening and closing drawers like contraptions, wildly shaking strange rattle like objects and on every gadget and device were the instructions and more importantly the price, in 45 languages to make sure that any dumb willing tourist will not miss out on the fun. Added to all this distasteful charade and commotion were the obligatory souvenir stands all over the place, selling all types of perfect dust gathering mementos of this anything but spiritual shrine.

But I certainly do not want to end our story of Tokyo on a low. For it is a fantastic city and a truly worth while travel destination and even just walking aimlessly in the streets is a treat. There was so much more we didn’t have time to do such as visiting Tokyo Bay and its impressive bridges, or the famous Tsukiji fish market which is best visited just before dawn.

This is certainly somewhere we would like to revisit and hopefully next time round, time permitting, we will travel outside Tokyo and further afield. For us hopefully our four days in Tokyo will serve only as a small introduction to this wondrous country which if Japan.