I really really nailed the entrance to Tokyo. I had been told over and over that the stations were enormous and we would probably get lost. I made it a mission to find a hotel convenitent, easy to access and at the heart of the action. Asakusa Tobu Hotel was perfect.

Within 24 hours we had had a meal of Kobe beef, ridden the hop on hop off bus, eaten in an underground restaurant, bought two Japanese kitchen knives for an undisclosable sum, sampled Matcha in a couple of forms, visited Senso-ji Temple, been interviewed by children learning English, and even spottted a possible ninja. And that’s the bits that I can remember!

The shower room in the hotel is genius! Initially we tried to change rooms so we could have a walk-in shower, only to discover that all rooms had the same bathing arrangements. It is a wonderful concept incorporating a tub and standing/sitting room with shower head attachments at various levels. The room is spacious and of course waterproof.

The bedding arrangements were extraordinary. The twenty-one square metre room had two enormous giant king single beds pushed together which greatly reduced the usable space. I found out that it would probably cater for a family with the adults and two or three young children sleeping together. Made sense then. I’m also very pleased we are travelling with carry-on luggage. Makes fitting into the spaces much easier.

Interesting take on pronunciation. I was flummoxed by the announcement at the railway station. I thought Asakusa was pronounced…Ahhh saaah koooo saaaa….. wrong…… it’s Ahh…..sack..u…sah.. with the emphasis on ‘sack’….and said very quickly…

Kappabashi…Kitchen street…. Walk across the road get on the Ginza line and go one stop, exit the station and walk 150m. Of course it couldn’t be that easy so we overshot the mark by a block or three, and it was cold, and threatening rain!!! We scurried back!!

There was a moment of buyer’s remorse when we realised maybe we should have waited until we arrived in Kappabashi Street, the largest kitchenware street in the world with sixteen dedicated knife shops and many of the 170 shops selling high end knives. We decided no. We are happy with what we purchased and we would have only become more and more confused. We also discovered that prices are reasonably consistent. We are happy.

This street caters (forgive the pun!) to anyone wanting any kitchen crockery, cutlery, knives, cleaning supplies, chef clothing, kitchen utensils and all the paraphenalia which might be needed to run a restaurant business. We walked the 800m up and back!!! John can be very determined at times!

It was enough for one day. Next… a recommendation.. TeamLabs Planets.