Tokyo, Tokyo!

CEBU, Philippines - Tokyo was once a city quite distant from Cebu… until many international flights would make a stopover at the Narita International Airport and, then on to other destinations, usually to the US. And so from the Mactan Cebu International Airport, Tokyo is now an easy four-hour plane trip. That’s exactly the way we went when we took a Cebu Pacific Airlines (CPA) on a direct flight to Narita International Airport.

If you arrived in Narita and you did not make any prior travel arrangements, you can easily take the orange-colored airport limousine bus to bring you to your hotel or at least near your hotel if it’s not one of Tokyo’s major hotels. The fare is 3,000 yen or a little over a thousand pesos. You can also take the Narita Express train for almost the same amount, except that you still have to walk the distance from the train station to your hotel. So, it’s best to get a hotel near a train station… after all, one can go around Tokyo by subway, as it is the cheapest and fastest means of transportation in the city.

For this particular trip to Tokyo we went only to three major places, first to the Akihabara District that sells all kinds of electronic gadgets and the like, then to Sibuya District and then to Shinjuku District, dubbed the Makati of Tokyo. We stayed in Shinagawa Exie Inn Hotel, just across the Shinagawa train station.

Our first stop was at the Akihabara District, which is an amazing experience because of the so many products the stores sell at very good prices. The English speaking Japanese salesmen were very polite and helpful, always willing to with whatever gadgets you wanted to purchase.

Next stop was at the Shibuya District, one of Tokyo’s most famous fashion places. Shops like Uniqlo and Forever 21 were all found here. I was fascinated by the Shibuya pedestrian crossing – it was five times wider than our pedestrian crosswalk in Cebu or the Philippines, with everyone abidingly waiting for the green signal and thousands of people crossing the street to their individual destinations.

At the Shibuya Station, you would see the statue of Hachiko the famous Akita dog known for its loyalty to its master. Hachiko’s story became a famous via the movie starring Richard Gere, although it was an Americanized version. Until 1937, the loyal dog would wait for his master, who had already died, to come out of the Shibuya Station every day. When Hachiko died, the people of Shibuya wanted to remember this faithful dog with a statue erected a statue for him. The dog’s statue has since become one of Shibuya’s attractions, where tourists would stop for a photo with Hachiko. In Shibuya, food is everywhere; and for as long as you’re not into fine dining, a meal is quite affordable.

Finally we went to Shinjuku, to the Takashimaya Department Store, one of Tokyo’s most high-end shopping places. Beside it was Tokyu Hands, a Department store selling all sorts of things for the home and, yes, they are “Star Wars” crazy in Tokyo these days. On the sixth floor of Takashimaya, there was an air bridge that would cross to the next building to Kinokunya Bookstore, an eight-storey edifice filled with books and information. There was at least one floor that sold books in English. You would find the tallest buildings in Tokyo in Shinjuku. In the whole day we spent there with my family, I stayed longest in Kinokunya Bookstore.

On our final day in Tokyo, we took the subway to the northern part of the city, to the Tokyo Sky Tree Tower. This was the tallest structure in Japan – at 2,080 feet – and the second tallest structure in the world after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The lines to enter the tower were very long and you needed to reserve for your group. However, we found a Fast Sky Tree Ticket Counter for International Travelers, where if you pay 3,000 yen instead of their normal 2,000 yen rate, you get to go up the tower immediately.

From the Sky Tree view deck, you could see Mt. Fuji… if clouds do not cover it. For us, Mt. Fuji-san showed a glorious sunset and as the sky darkened we saw the lights of the vast Tokyo Metropolis, which is now one of Tokyo’s must-see delights.

Perhaps the most important must-see destination of Tokyo is the famous Tsukiji Fish Market, touted to be the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world, located between the Sumida River and swanky Ginza District. This is where at 3 a.m. the freshest fish money can buy goes on an auction, including 400 different types of seafood – from sardines to yellow fin tuna. But the market is not open to the public, only to wholesale buyers.

Tsukiji is surrounded by all types of food, which draws tourists in to eat, which we did and enjoyed the freshest sushi and sashimi this side of Tokyo. So now if you are wondering why more and more Filipinos are traveling to Tokyo, it is because there are more places to see or visit in Tokyo than Hong Kong or Singapore and, above all, Tokyo is no longer as expensive as it used to be. Of course, there are still those expensive high-end restos for those with much money to spend. (FREEMAN)