My Japan Journey: Tokyo continued

If you haven't already see the previous Tokyo blog you can find it here.

Underestimate the Golden Gai at your peril

The Golden gai is a network of narrow alleys with over 200 tiny shanty style bars, clubs and eateries each with their own individual theme. Much of Tokyo looked like this in the past before the 'economic miracle' between the end of WW2 and the 80's caused much of Tokyo to be redeveloped into the ultra modern city we know today. The Golden Gai ("Golden district") is a drunkards paradise and a great place to socialise with locals and others travellers alike.

My friend and I had dinner then decided to go for a ‘few’ beers before heading back to the hotel for an early night as we had to be up early the next morning to knock a few tourist spots off our 'places to see' list. We ended up drinking sake, hibiki and beer until 5am with a Chinese sushi chef, an off duty policeman, a married old couple and a barmaid who spoke reasonably good English acting as our translator. This was our introduction to the Golden gai and i'm pretty sure most nights however well intended end up crazy here.

Emperors back yard

After sleeping off some of the booze and miraculously getting out of bed before mid-day we headed to the Imperial palace gardens. The gardens area a large park like area in the centre of Tokyo and the palace is still the primary residence of the Emperor of Japan to this day. Unfortunately the actual palace is off limits to the public and is obscured by trees, which was disappointing. Still well worth a visit though!

Quake Proof

Next we jumped on the Hanzomon metro line to the Tokyo Sky Tree about a 15mins ride away to see Tokyo from a 'birds eye' view. Apparently the Sky Tree can withstand a magnitude 7 earthquake even if it struck directly below the tower. Personally it's a theory I wouldn't want to test out myself.

P!$$ Alley

After walking around Tokyo all day we decided to get some food at a place well known to locals - Memory Lane or in Japanese "Omoide Yokocho" it's a series of narrow alleys tucked away next to the busy Shinjuku station and most establishments their are izakaya which is pretty much a bar which serves grilled food fast. Everything from grilled pigs rectum to Whale meat is served here.

Interesting fact: Memory lanes is also known as "piss alley" by the locals because the establishments there are so small they used to not have toilets so customers would have to do their business outside in the alley. Fortunately all the bars include a tiny toilet these days.

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Time for us to leave Tokyo.
10 points for the first person who guesses where we're going next :)

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