And so the journey begins.. Tokyo | Day 1

Wow, I can't believe it's only Saturday. It feels like I've been here for years and I blame that on Tokyo, the busiest city I've ever been to and in some ways also the cleanest (besides Singapore), most exhausting and noisiest. After a 12-hour trip I landed at Narita Airport and - thanks to the bilingual signs - easily found my way to the Keisei Skyliner, transferred at Ueno Station to go to Shinjuku and found my apartment right away as well. Whoever said it's confusing to use public transport in Tokyo is probably from the countryside because I thought it was very convenient. The apartment had a prime location, right in the heart of Shinjuku with Isetan and Lumine nearby as well as a ton of 7-Elevens, Family Marts, a couple of Starbucks shops and the Shinjuku train station empire.

I knew it's rainy season in Asia right now, but I didn't expect such crazy weather. It didn't rain, but I basically never saw sunlight and one could literally see how wet the air was. I'd run from one conbini to another just to enjoy the A/C and even showering seven times a day didn't help much. My hair's in a pitiful state, the Tokyo heat killed it and there's not a single Lipton ice tea flavour I haven't tried yet to prevent dehydration, I'm obsessed with the fancy beverages in Japan. In fact, as soon as I touched down I had little to no appetite - at all. It's just way too hot to eat. Oh, the irony!
After unpacking and showering, I took a map and walked around the Shinjuku area checking out Kabukicho, Omoide Yokocho, Isetan, Lumine and there was a Ladurée Café right by my apartment. The lord has heard my prayers, ha ha. Tokyo has a ton of high-rise buildings yet big, wide streets, it's got a lot of walking space for all the people it harbours. There's not a single crossing that's not exploding when the pedestrian lights turn green and the big flat screens on the outside walls of the buildings displaying music videos and commercials can be a tad annoying. There's so much to hear, see and smell. Tokyo smells good, people smell good - is that weird to say?

Cutest gully cover ever

Now, I've been to Fukuoka in 2010, my first time to Japan ever and I loved every single minute about it. Everything was a little more low-key compared to Tokyo.. and the people weren't nearly as rude as some Tokyo Japanese. Wow, I've had so many bad encounters - it was crazy, but I guess that's to be blamed on the hustle and bustle that Tokyo represents, it's the capital city after all with its billions of neon signs, side streets and A/Cs on full blast.

Later that day I met up with a friend I have last seen in Bochum, Germany - six years ago. Of all places we met again in Tokyo and went out for dinner in Ueno, to an izakaya I forgot the name of. A couple other people tagged along and it was so nice not to be alone on my first day, plus I made the izakaya experience. I was super tired, as I hadn't slept for 36 hours at that point, kept myself awake not to get jet-lagged and eventually tumbled back home and caught up on the sleep I badly needed. Ten hours later I was ready for a day in Harajuku and Shinjuku. To be continued...