Day 2 - Sunday 23rd April 2023

Today we had no specific activities and so it was an opportunity to sleep in to recover from yesterday's trip. When we went down to breakfast soon after 8:30am, there was a queue at the restaurant. We both had an omelette, croissants and coffee. Unfortunately the choice of fruit was very limited.

In our room, one of the windows looks out towards Mount Fuji. We could see some hills through the clouds but we suspect that Mount Fuji was further away and hidden from view.

When we woke up this morning it had been only 11C according my weather app and only 7C after the wind chill factor. At least it wasn't raining and there were sunny breaks. By the time we ventured out of the hotel at about 11:15, it was 15C but still chilly in the breeze.

Our first destination was to be the Asakusa Temple which in another part of Tokyo about 10km away. One option would have been to go by train but we would have had to change trains. Although the railway station is very close to the hotel, I remember last time it was hard to find the correct entrance to the correct platform.

Instead we got reception to organise a taxi for us. It took him about 20 minutes to get there via the motorway etc. He dropped us on the main road opposite the entrance the temple area.

Initially we had to work through the crowds in a shopping area which was part of the approach to the temple. It is obviously a popular place - maybe more so on a Sunday. Apart from local Japanese, there were tour groups from various countries.

Many of the young women and girls were dressed in traditional Japanese outfits. They were posing for photos from each other and their friends in front of the various buildings and shrines.

Many of the small shops along the way were selling food. One of the most popular was strawberries on a stick or strawberries and cream on a bun.

At the end of the passageway of shops, there was a large ornamental gate with Buddhist symbols, artefacts and carvings. Beyond this, there was the temple.

When we had left the hotel, we'd been well rugged up for cool weather but by the time we left the temple area, we were getting too hot to be wearing our fleeces.

One of the tourist attractions in the streets near the temple was rickshaw rides.

Our next destination was to be the Tokyo SkyTree Tower which we could see nearby from where we were. There is an observation deck at the top of the tower that boasts fabulous views of the city all the way to Mt Fuji on a fine day. It was to be a 20 minute walk but first we stopped for lunch at a Burger King.

Google maps took us across a bridge over the river, along small streets in a residential area before taking us across another bridge over the river and along the river again. I was starting to get tired. I think it was more than 20 minutes.

It turned out that the SkyTree Tower is much more than just a tower - it's an entertainment destination that is very popular with locals. It's a building complex with restaurants, cafes, shops and various other entertainment options inside and outside.

We took several flights of escalators to reach the fourth floor which was where you buy tickets and catch the lift to the observation level. The queue was very long. There was a sign near the entrance saying that the expected delay was 40 minutes.

A few minutes after joining this long queue, we concluded that it was going to take much longer than 40 minutes - probably twice that long or more. The only reason that the queue seemed to be moving was when people gave up and left the queue and so we decided to do the same. Although we had come this far, it didn't seem worth such a long wait.

Suzy managed to locate a taxi rank at street level under the building but this queue didn't seem to be going anywhere either. We'd been there for 10 minutes and not a single taxi had arrived. Goodness knows how long the people in front of us had been waiting and how much longer they would still have to wait.

Out on the main road, our first plan to to organise an Uber but we spotted a taxi that was unoccupied and this solved our problem for getting back to the hotel.

Each taxi has a slightly different mechanism for payments. Sometimes there is a machine fixed the back of the driver's compartment. Sometimes he passes the machine through to you. In each taxi so far, the driver sits in a cabin surrounded by Perspex. It's always a challenge for us and the driver to communicate about where to put the card and what buttons to press - sometimes on the device and sometimes on the entertainment screen behind the passenger seat.

When we reached the hotel at about 3:15pm, we noticed a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant (Ginger Grass) at street level. It looked good and so we booked to go there for dinner tonight. We also checked out the small 7 Eleven store on level 1.

Back in our hotel room, we noticed that visibility had reduced and we couldn't see any of the hills in the distance - let alone Mt Fuji. So the trip to the top of the SkyTree Tower might not have been so great anyway.

The Ginger Grass Restaurant downstairs proved to be an excellent and surprising choice for dinner for a whole lot of reasons. Let me see if I remember them all. It will be a long list.

First, it had no street presence. I only discovered it because I wandered down a corridor after getting out of the taxi this afternoon thinking "what's down here?". It's obviously very popular and so we asked the waitress why. She put it down to word of mouth and various internet apps such as Instagram.

Second, once you find it, the entrance is impressive, especially at night, with a timber walkway lined with lanterns over pools of water.

Third, the staff are very good. When we were peering through the window this afternoon, a couple of staff rushed out to talk to us and to take our booking. The waitress tonight was excellent. She was very helpful, attentive and spoke good English. She said she had spent a year studying at a university in Canada (Newfoundland).

Fourth, the décor inside was impressive. Very modern with interesting decorations and plants. The kitchen is open to the restaurant so you can see and hear what's going on. Also it's not as noisy as many modern restaurants - you can hear each other across the table.

Fifth, the food was excellent. We had two interesting entrees followed by main courses of chicken and lamb. The chicken dish was the best. It was one of the dishes that was labelled as recommended in red on the menu.

Sixth, the choice of wine (and other beverages) was excellent. This seems to be one of their fortes. They have a wide range of options of wines, spirits, beers, liqueurs, cocktails, mocktails, etc. We chose a bottle of blended red grapes from California which we thoroughly enjoyed because it was so drinkable. All of their bottled  wines are only 3000 Yen. After dinner, I ordered a glass of an Italian red and Suzy had a generous glass of Cointreau. We managed to get back to our room upstairs OK.

Seventh, the clientele was entirely local (apart from us). We were the only white people in the restaurant. Clearly the locals like it here.

Eighth, the clientele were all young. We were two or three times older than anybody else in the restaurant.

Nineth, the majority of the customers were young women. Not that I noticed because I had my back to them. Suzy also noticed that most of them wore long coats - perhaps because of the cool weather outside.

If you ever happen to be passing through Tokyo, it would be worth your while to check this place out. It's a hidden gem.