Getting some help from a kind person in Tokyo

Night View in Tokyo

http://youtu.be/pnCbZ-yFzTw

Vegetarians in China ? I presume the number is limited.

The ground stewardess already asked incredulously whether we wanted the special meal. On board, the veggie dish, though colorful, turned out to have the consistency and taste of cellulose. I tried it out in some impromptu wallpapering with the napkin, and that worked splendidly. Only after adding the salad dressing and the marmalade did it gain some taste. It was easy enough to digest. Zero stars.

Traveling back through Beijing airport - what a difference to Japan.

Transit of 2.5 hours at Beijing airport. Passengers use their elbows to get off the plane, custom officers look sad and don't greet, security allows a line of 200+ passengers to build up before finally opening up an additional counter, and we have to pay for the food in advance, the waitress disappearing with my credit card. Yes, we have left Japan and we are getting closer to home.

A guard house at the imperial gardens in Tokyo

It was a pretty cold day with a biting wind blowing in from the Pacific Ocean. I can imagine the imperial gardens full of tourists in a few weeks. But readers of my books http://www.amazon.com/Clemens-P.-Suter/e/B005C1GXTE will know that at times I like it quiet and devoid of humans disturbing the scenery.

Funny little bird squeaking in the gardens if the Emperor's Palace in Tokyo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOSLFrBgDoQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOSLFrBgDoQ

At the Sony building, checking out the ps4.

Next toy to buy: these three day glasses. That way I can finally get rid of the Telly and replace it with a nice painting. The resolution wax amazing, the game Assassin's Creed.

Tokyo by night from the Tokyo Tower, 250m high

Impressive view. Not being a "tower person" myself, I still have to admit that looking out over this 12 million inhabitant metropolis was quite an experience. The personnel that operated the elevators was quaint but kind. The live band that played on the first platform was off tune.

Interactive movie of sunrise and sundown @ Tokyo Tower http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9he8RY0_80

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9he8RY0_80

The capsule hotel in Akihabara, very clean and surprisingly quiet

No noisy or drunk guests (yet) as I encountered before in Osaka. The area I nice too - normal shops and houses.

The first four nights we stayed in Shibuya, the last three in Akihabara

Tokyo by Rain and Deep Underground http://youtu.be/9Mwt9DIo5n0

Pretty horrible weather today, but it was fun to visit this subterranean amine store. They even have a 18+ department. http://youtu.be/9Mwt9DIo5n0

Who needs trees...

http://www.amazon.com/Clemens-P.-Suter/e/B005C1GXTE .... Flowers, parks or forest if you can have the concrete of Tokyo? I love this city. I can drown in it, if I would live here, I would never leave.

Tokyo as the ideal backdrop for my novel Two Journeys

Many of the scenes in Tokyo remind me of my novel Two Journeys. Try to imagine the city empty of people with a lonely survivor walking the streets. http://www.amazon.com/Clemens-P.-Suter/e/B005C1GXTE Altho Tokyo is always buzzing with activity it isn't hard to imagine that it could be the loneliest place on earth.

Photo of Tokyo city from the top of the Mori Art museum.

We went here to look at The Andy Warhol exhibition on the 54th floor. The exhibition showed Andy's entire career from early 60s until the 1980s. The view of the city was extremely impressive, we could look directly at the Gardens of the Imperial Palace, at the ocean beyond as well as all the area of Shibuya and Roppongi and so on -what you can see here a little buildings with the intercity highway. We also went to Nogi Memorial, a temple dedicated to the noted general who was the hero of the Chinese Japanese and Russian Japanese wars, who committed suicide because he loved the Meiji emperor so much.

Concrete city - if you do not like concrete don't come to Tokyo

This picture you can see the Parliament of Japan. There are a lot of policemen about two protect it. Again this building was made with a lot of concrete. I don't know how many cubic meters of concrete they have put into Tokyo but it must be a mountain. They have concrete, becrete, decrete and acrete!

Cherry blossom in Tokyo close to the emperor's Palace

It is very cold here but this is the beginning of March so no wonder - the cherry trees are not blossoming yet. This one was blossoming, a lot of birds on the branches and singing. We were lucky because a lot of rain was expected but the weather was very beautiful

This was a very useful during our trip to Tokyo

It allows you to find the nearest Metro station forever you are. It was surprisingly accurate although you have to take care that is no magnetic interference close by.

Some of the advertisements in the metro in Tokyo are very confusing

No idea why anyone would need glasses to protect against spray paint

There are only a few dogs in Tokyo

Many labradors but this one looks like a sweet mutt as well

Location of our Hotel in Shibuya

Trying to figure out the metro connections in Tokyo; how to get from Shibuya to Shinsuku

It turned out to be very easy - especially when we walked back. More and more people where facial masks these days. As I heard, there are four reasons for this: more allergies and earlier in the year (due to the global warming), five dust particles that blow over from china, to protect oneself from viruses, or to prohibit that oneself infects other people.

Today we went to Shinjuku

Busiest station in the world. Three million passengers each day. Meaning of the name is "new dwellings"

The weather in Tokyo is improving!

As explained by these two meteorologists.

More on Shibuya Square

This square is build on top of one of the busiest railway and subway stations in the world. Immensely popular with young students, it is surrounded by numerous stores and shops. I liked the Foodshow the best, an underground, low-ceilinged supermarket that offers great food (e.g, Kobe beef at 5000yen for 100gram) and that takes up a lot of space between the labyrinth of metro tracks and stations. This Time article sums it up pretty nicely: http://content.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article/0,31489,1897812_1897772_1897742,00.html

The Excel Hotel in Tokyo Shibuya. We have a room on the fourteenth floor

Fans if Two Journeys may recall that this is the place where the hero discovers that a pandemic has wiped out the population. http://www.amazon.com/Clemens-P.-Suter/e/B005C1GXTE But tonight it is as lively as always.

Sunrise over a very smoggy Beijing.

The air is as bad as in Eastern Germany / DDR before the Iron Curtain fell. Ad if every household is heating with cokes.

Somewhere over Siberia, heading for Beijing

And we are ready to take off to Beijing.