Tokyo: Braving the Storm

Another year, another trip to Japan! 

We arrived in Tokyo on 29 Nov (Sunday) at around 7.30am.  Of course, we had to choose the very day that Tropical Storm Saola was blowing its way past Tokyo, bringing with it warm air and rain.  Lots of rain.  Pouring down, throughout the day.  Not drops, nor light drizzles, but a thorough downpour.  And our apartment would not be ready for us till afternoon.  

The storm would continue to have repercussions on the rest of our trip.  Find out why in subsequent posts.  But that is why I am beginning this account of our Tokyo stay with info about our apartment, because to be honest that was what we saw most of on Day 1.  That and the incessant rain.

Dashi Chazuke En breakfast

Anyway, since we were at Shinjuku station at 9am and no prospect of getting into our apartment till 11.30am, we ended up going for breakfast in the Lumine 1 basement food court.  Fortunately for us, there are lots of yummy Japanese food stalls there and we found this one, Dashi Chazuke En which serves a Japanese rice porridge breakfast.  Your rice comes with a little pot of dashi on the side, which you pour on top of the rice to make a porridge.  I had sea bream with sesame sauce - yummy.  Fortunately, after this comforting yet light breakfast, we managed to get a cab to our apartment.

As in my last visit to Japan, we had decided to stay in an apartment and we got AirBnB to lend us a hand.  Reading through my earlier post, I have to say that my advice to holiday apartment renters (think location, location, location; check that all the facilities you want are available - washing machine, wifi, beds vs. futon issue) remain all quite spot-on.  Our apartment is in Shinjuku, with two nearby metro stations - Shinjuku-Sanchome and Shinjuku-Gyoenmae.  At 40+sqm, it is indeed luxurious, space-wise, compared to the average hotel room in Japan and at a cheaper price too.  Theoretically with its two sofa beds and one bedroom, it can sleep 6 pax but that would be a tight squeeze.  It’s just nice for the two of us.  There are lots of supermarkets/convenience stores around, and little restaurants for a bite of dinner should we not want to wander about too much.  

Indeed, we were not inclined to wander too much that first day.  Our apartment was still being cleaned when we got there so we left our bags and tried to explore the area.  But the rain continued to pour down so heavily that even our short visit to scout out the nearby convenience stores ended up with our shoes getting thoroughly soaked.  We ended up buying food in the convenience store and bringing it back to our apartment for lunch!  How sad for our first lunch in Japan!  Of course, with the rain continuing to pelter down, we ended up staying in all afternoon and only went out for dinner.  But it was still raining, so we ended up walking around Shinjuku Station and doing some shopping in the departmental stores and shopping centres in the area.

Not a very exciting first day in Japan.  But at least we managed to settle down in our cosy little apartment.