Back to Tokyo

Friday July 7

Day 18

Moving day! We were awake by 7.30am and by 8 we were into the morning routine and final packing. At 9am, I handed the keys in and we were back to pushing our cases out on the street. The morning commuters were mostly gone, so it was pretty easy getting ourselves to Osaka Station and on a train for Shin-Osaka, arriving for our Shinkansen 55min early. We set up in the waiting area and made ourselves busy. I bought bento boxes for our travels and then at 10.10am we found the elevator to platform 23 and walked straight onto car 14, with the train departing at 10.18am. Easy. 

We made Kyoto for 10.30am, picked up a large number of travellers and then the train was again on its way at 10.43am. We made a few other stops before getting to Nagoya and then it was express until the outer reaches of Tokyo. We had one of the bento boxes at midday, which filled the spot in my grumbling tummy and then it was back to watching the Japanese homes, rice paddies, greenhouses, cities and green mountains. We stopped at Odawara Station, which is In Hakone and then continued our travels. It was shortly after that a large mountain loomed large on the horizon; Mt Fuji, had come out to say hi after all. We were very fortunate to not only see it, but to also capture it on film, when the train is travelling at 285km an hour. We were now only a short journey from Tokyo, finally arriving at Tokyo station for 1.20pm. 

We made our way from the train, found a quiet spot to stand and get google sorted and then jumped on another train to Kanda station. This was not the route we had used during our reconnaissance, but we took it anyway. Once at this station, we still had 600m to walk. We realised, this route had dropped us at the other end of our street to what we had walked previously.

It didn’t matter though, as we located the hotel without issue and proceeded to the 9th floor reception for 1.45pm. We weren’t able to check in until 3, so we left our bags and made for the Craft Rock Brewery across the road. We settled in to the bar, chose a couple of drinks and reflected on a job well done. We discussed our final few days in Japan and made a general plan of attack. 

We returned to our hotel for 3pm. We’re given the rundown and sent to room 1502, the top floor. This is a swanky hotel, Mitsui Garden Hotel, Nihonbashi. We have saved the best for last. We entered our room, happy with what was before us, including a view of the Tokyo Skytree. We made ourselves at home. Sorted through our cases for the remaining days and rested until 4.45pm, when it was time to get out on the streets. 

Tonight we had tickets booked for the baseball at Tokyo Dome, a 3km walk from our hotel. We set off along the wide roads, back passed the Kanda station, over a waterway and then onto Dome City. This is quite a large precinct with a roller coaster, Ferris wheel and other rides visible. There were plenty of people about, many dressed in orange , including in carrot costume (Yomiuri Giants, the local Tokyo team and from all accounts, the Collingwood of the AFL) and some in blue, the opposition supporters. (Yokohama DeNA Baystars)

We had to make our way around to the opposite corner to reach gate 25 and then once inside, we had to find block 58, row 18 and seat 8 and 9. It turned out to be fairly easy. Our seats were at the back of the lower deck with the home team supporters, behind first base. It was a reasonable spot, but the view was slightly impeded by a wire screen. 

Once the game began, the cheer squad ramped up and every time the Giants were up to bat, the crowd stood. If you wanted to see, you had to be on your feet as well. I joined in with the clapping and chanting, making up my own words. It was a bit of fun. We also enjoyed the usual game day fair, takoyaki and wedges. 

There was a little bit of action, with the home team scoring a home run, but this was evened up in the next innings and the Stars went on to put another run on the board in a later innings. We left at the bottom of the 7th with the Giants down 1-2. (This score wouldn’t change, so we didn’t miss anything) We didn’t want to get into the crush of people leaving at the end of the game. We figured there was about 30000 present. The Dome holds 45000 at ball games. 

Once outside the building, we decided we would walk, once again, back to the hotel. We retraced our steps along the darkened streets. The humidity wasn’t as great, but it was still warm. We stopped in at the seven eleven next to the hotel and then we were back in our room for 9.15pm. I took some photos of the skytree all lit up. We were still a little wired, so didn’t head to bed until 10pm.