Tokyo

Tokyo

Our brief stay in the capital of Japan was truly pleasant, certainly also thanks to the assistance of our young Japanese mom: Miwako. With care, every day she filled our pockets with sandwiches and sweets of every kind; more than once we felt a family atmosphere that we had been missing for a long time. Fabulous were the other members of the little family: her husband Akihiro, a jack-of-all-trades who bent over backwards for us; and finally, but not in order of importance, Mr. Drooly, that is their few-months-old baby Kantaro, with whom we had fun babysitting and rolling around with him on the super-comfortable futon. Aside from that, during these days we also had time to wander around Tokyo.

Obviously an immense city that forced us to choose only a few areas, the ones more interesting to us. First stop was a brief view of the imperial residence, which can only be visited from the outside; we then headed to the Ginza district, the trendiest district and Tokyo's office district where the famous Italian brands are ever-present. Then it was Shibuya's turn, the quintessential youth district, packed to the brim with dazzling lights, clothing stores for carefree young people and typical school girls; school girls are truly something characteristic here in Tokyo and all of Japan; they're teenagers who show off their school uniform, which contrary to what you might imagine is anything but demure. Dizzying miniskirt over an elegant blouse, sometimes accessorized with a tie.

A sight to see! Our first excursion into the city ended with a fleeting glance at the Shinjuku area, characterized by extremely tall skyscrapers, perhaps exactly what a person expects to find in a metropolis like Tokyo. Arriving home just in time for a sumptuous pasta with vegetables and parmesan (a round of applause for Miwako, the cook), a shower and everyone to bed... or rather, into the futon!!!

The next day, like a happy little family, everyone on a mountain trip toward the main temple of Nikko. The usual family car, understated, spacious and elegant, as always spoiled by mom Miwako's care. A comfortable journey of about three hours, which took us through a very colorful autumn Japan, with trees fading from a bright red toward a very soft yellow. A peculiarity of this place that particularly intrigued us is the presence of monkeys that, so they say, are particularly arrogant and not at all intimidated by the presence of tourists; indeed, legend has it that they're fond of snacks, hats and all those typical tourist gizmos, and they don't mind a little visit inside the cars. We, unfortunately or fortunately, spotted only one. The temple truly very particular for the countless colors decorating it....

The visit didn't last long, given the needs of our little baby Kantaro which all things considered weren't far from ours (we were quite tired).

On the way back from the mountain we stopped at Miwako's parents who offered us dinner, revealing themselves very interested in our project and concerned that we could carry it out in complete safety and tranquility. A dinner fit for kings (holy crap!!! They must have spent a month's pension to offer us that kind of dinner! Delicious!).

The following day was again dedicated to visiting the capital. We headed toward the center of Tokyo together with Miwako who introduced us to some young mommies, her friends (with their babies in tow), who were about to spend the day in the usual Saturday-afternoon gossip. Having left Miwako with her friends, we focused on the district called Amakusa, perhaps the most historic part of the city, with a nice permanent little market that extended around the main temple. Second and last stop Akihabara, the electric city, so called because in this area there's certainly no lack of light (given the countless luminous signs plastered everywhere) and all the shops dealing in more or less advanced technology are concentrated. We got back quite early, because Miwako had organized yet another excellent dinner with a childhood friend of hers.

And here we are at today, dedicated to the transfer toward Hanoi. It's from the plane that we're writing this logbook, with less than two hours to landing, and we already feel a bit of nostalgia for our Japanese family... An affectionate hello and a big hug to Miwako, Akician and little drooly Kantaro.

Warm welcome, beaches, sun and sea!!!!!!!

Conclusions on Japan

Also for this second stop, we're happy to draw our own personal conclusions about this experience. First of all, the difference between the Kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto, etc.) and the north, or rather Tokyo, is evident. The former still rooted in the tradition of the Japan that was (there are a multitude of temples and museums that remind you of it), the latter an expression of the progress achieved for which Japan is so famous in the world. Perhaps even more true and traditional is the area we visited in the south in Kyushu, less industrialized and characterized by vast peripheral zones crossed by endless roads that wind around hills and mountains... in fact Japan is less flat than you'd think!!! Sometimes Japan is described as a frenetic country with extremely high technology...

sure, that's not false, but at the end of the day it doesn't seem that different from our beautiful Italy, though obviously with different habits and traditions.

Another thing we noticed is the love and admiration for our tricolor Boot... they're crazy about us, and not only as regards the stereotypes that accompany Italy around the world (pizza, pasta and mandolin) but for everything revolving around Italian style. One stereotype that we unfortunately confirmed is the high cost of living; indeed, to survive as tourists you have to spend a good chunk of money!!! Something we partially avoided thanks to the help of our super Japanese friends. We'll repay them!!!