Always a pleasure to explore calm, quiet, creative Tokyo

The ANA flight from Vancouver to Tokyo leaves at 3 in the afternoon, which means with the 17 hour time change, you get into the Japanese capital at 6 pm the following day.

This is perfect because by the time you get through customs and make the ride into town from Haneda Airport, you have just enough time for a drink in the bar before turning in for the night.

And after the 10 hour flight which really means about 14 hours door to door, you are quite exhausted and ready for a good night’s rest.

We have come to Tokyo with a small group to tour southern Japan, mainly to see the fall foliage colours, which can be spectacular, but also to indulge ourselves in this fabulous culture that has so much on every level to admire.

For our first morning in Tokyo – the day before our actual tour begins – we all took the opportunity to get out and about in the city and get a little orientated.

It is also a great way to get rid of any lingering jet lag. Loraine and I wandered around the Shinjuku Station area, dipping into the lovely restaurants and stores on the west side of the station.

These streets are quite bustling and compact and full of interest. There is a thriving industry here producing precise plastic copies of food being served in restaurants.

So it is common to see wonderful, full-colour, three-dimensional images of dishes displayed outside, so all you have to do is point and order.

We amused ourselves in some of the more creative stores selling all sorts of stylish items and Loraine quickly snapped up some new clothes at the Uniqlo store.

One of the best parts of our day was having lunch at a quiet, tiny, eight-seater restaurant where we had fantastic gyozas and delicious ramen.

The streets here are clean and the people very calm and respectful and it is in total contrast, say, to Delhi, where the honking of cars never stops; there is no honking here.

It is astonishing how a city of this size – 35 million or so – is so calm and peaceful. Christmas is in the air and many of the department stores have stylish displays with a uniquely creative Japanese touch with artistic and novel Christmas tree designs and other displays.

In the afternoon, I went in search of origami paper and found everything I wanted and more in Tokyu Hands, a smashing department store just across the pedestrian bridge from our hotel.

This store is an amazing multi-storey emporium selling everything you can imagine wanting to make life more useful. Will be popping back there for to look for puzzle boxes and any treasures.

Tomorrow, our tour official begins and we will be busy sightseeing and visiting places of interest.

Stay tuned. I will try to post photos and a little story of our adventure together here each day.

swhysall@hotmail.com