A couple of weeks ago I found the time to visit Shibamata, somewhere everyone kept telling me I should go and see…so I did and I thought it was great! It’s only around 30 mins from the city making it an ideal escape. Although you could just visit for a few hours, I would completely recommend making a day of it, taking your time and immersing yourself in laid back Shibamata…and if you took one of our lovely private tour guides with you I think you have a brilliant addition to any Tokyo visit!

So Shibamata is all about Shōwa era nostalgia. Shōwa was the period between 1926 and 1989, so for this reason is popular with older Japanese tourists looking for memories of their childhoods.

As you come out of the station you’ll head along Taishakuten Sando, the main shopping/food street lined with Shōwa era buildings. This would be a great place to try the local speciality snack food called dango. Balls of dumplings made from rice flour and either boiled or grilled over charcoal and topped with savoury or sweet sauces. I went for the common mitarashi which are covered with a sweetened soy sauce and then the chadango which are coloured and flavoured with green tea. They were good as far as my dango experiences go…savoury, salty, sweet and chewy goodness!

At the end of the street you will come to the gates to the Buddhist Taishakuten Temple. I found this temple really interesting and spent quite a bit of time there, unusual for me and temples but there was a bit more happening here than some others I have been recently.

Although you could just stay in the main temple square at the entrance, I would completely suggest you pay the 400 yen which allows you to take the boardwalk around the temple gardens and koi pond and also inside the main temple where there are these amazing wood carvings decorating the walls. They even have a small space where you can sit, enjoy the gardens and help yourself to green tea or coffee.

There’s much more to do in Shibamata so please check back soon to find out what I did in the afternoon!

Toranomon is not really an area of the city we often visit. It’s in between the Ginza/Shimbashi area and the government buildings of Kokkaigijido. The name Toranomon actually means “Tigers Gate” and refers to the original southernmost gate of the Edo Castle that once dominated central Edo…it’s gone now though and been replaced by fairly drab office buildings.

But, there are a couple of things to see here that I think make it a worthwhile visit. Firstly there is a really great Samurai sword shop here where you can view original swords as well as purchase newer replicas and have them shipped to wherever you come from. Prices range from around 150,000 yen to millions of yen. Strangely, the manager wouldn’t allow us to link to their site or mention their name…but we can always take you there if you ask us!

Another reason to visit the area is to take a look at the small and mostly unknown Konpiragu shrine which you’ll find tucked away between more of those high rise modern buildings. But this I think really captures modern Tokyo city, a mish-mash of old and new which somehow seem to work really well together. We were there around lunch time and it was interesting to see the business suits come out of the glass doors and then spend a few minutes of quiet reflexion in front of Konpiragu.

Have a look at these timeline photos of Konpiragu – from the Meiji period, through the destruction of the temple by bombing in the war and on to the present day, very interesting!

Sumimasen…It’s been almost a whole month since we told you what has been happening in Tokyo. We got so excited about the cherry blossom season and taking part in Hanami parties, (cherry blossom picnics), that we completely lost track of time!

Rather than post about the Sakura, (it’s all gone now), we thought we would have a quick look at something that’s just as exciting…at long last the Tokyo Sky Tree is just a few weeks away from the public opening with the sky elevators opening up on May 22nd!

Up until now I had only seen the tower from a distance, there are lots of places around the city that you’ll see it. But as you get closer you start realising just how tall this thing is. Topping out at 634 metres it becomes the second highest building in the world and the tallest tower in the world. Tokyo has plenty of tall skyscrapers but they are absolutely dwarfed by the Sky Tree.

I decided to walk there from Asakusa, it only takes around 25 mins and is a good way to approach the Sky Tree if you have time. First off you get great views across the Sumida river with the Asahi building in the foreground. Then you get the view from Sumida Koen, which people say is the best view of the Sky Tree, especially when the Sakura is out…my timing is so bad, 2 weeks late!

There’s still a fair amount of development going on around the base of the tower, I guess lots of last minute things being finished off for the opening. The tower disappears at the base into the huge shopping/office/school buildings which are being called TOKYO SKYTREE TOWN, make sense doesn’t it!

So it is interesting just looking up at the Tower from the ground, but for those of you who want to go up, you have 2 options. The first stop is the “Tembo Deck” at 350m, (already higher than the Toyko Tower observatory!). That costs 2,500 yen/person. The highest you can go is the “Tembo Galleria” at 450m. It costs an extra 1000 yen, so 3,500 in total. Once there you can experience the highest Sky Walk in the world, with a clear glass corridor than runs right around the tower. I can’t wait to have a go!

For anyone interested we could easily include a visit to the Sky Tree on one of our private guided tours.

For more info take a look at the SKYTREE website