Tokyo (30th December to 8th January)

Tokyo is a city of millions of people but plenty of space; space to move about in and breathe what seems like fresh air in; space to walk in parks as well as through busy streets, where the people actually move out of your way, apologise if they bump into you and smile as you pass; space to take a step back or stop dead in the middle of the street to check out the neon signs, buzzing and whirring twenty four seven. It is a city full of parks with gnarled but perfectly trimmed giant bonsai trees, neatly decorating the grass you aren’t allowed to walk on, and of parks with big lakes in them surrounded by the most perfectly pleasant and tidy homeless people who have made their own villages of blue tarpauling and collected piles of cans, neatly stashed away ready to sell. It is a city of noise and colour and, especially when you open the doors to a pachinko parlour, where the noise simply blows you away; and it is a city of pachinko parlours a plenty, with the kerchink of coins and balls running through the slot machines cranking it up at all hours of the day, in front of the square eyes of the punters putting coin after coin down the throats of the hungry machines as they gobble up their hard earnings; noise, noise, noise keeps them going, egging them to put more money in and they do in droves, sitting there for hours on end, collecting buckets and buckets of balls to trade in for useless tat; meanwhile their arcade comrades bet on digital horses, with their books of stats in hand, as if they were really at the races, or waste time and cash trying to manipulate machine arms to grab boxes of ice-cream, cartoon covered pillows or useless little dangly dongles for their phones. And more noise comes as you pass the shops, with the screams and shouts of the staff calling you in to get your 2009 lucky bags - MUSHI, MUSHI. It is a city of mod cons mixed age old traditions, modern shops criss crossed with rammed markets from yesteryear, where you move cheek by jowel and in pigeon steps amongst the crowds. Where new years’ revelling mixes parties in Roppongi with queuing for hours to collect balloons and write wishes to send in the air and thousands upon thousands rushing, practically crushing each other as they go, to get in to the temples for their first new year prayers. A city where millions line up for hours to visit temples over the festivities and thousands form orderly queues to catch a glimpse of the royals in one of their two public appearances in their palace, each year. A city where those lines are so neat and tidy and no one barges in or tries to bump up their place, where they move quickly and precisely and if you need to duck out of line for whatever reason, no one will mind when you come back and slot back in. It is a city where the food is delicious, oodles of noodles, cheap as chips and tasty as pie. A city where there is a bakey on every corner, selling increible baked goods filled with sweet bean, chocolate, savoury treats and all sorts. Where water is free in every restaurant and you can slurp and burp away to your heart’s content. Tokyo is a city of interesting districts, completely different from the next but all full of the most glorious shops and boutiques and hundreds of restaurants. It is an urban landscape of designer stores a plenty and cute boutiques which dress the bow legged girls as they shuffle shuffle - wiggle wiggle through town. Some districts are designed to modern perfection, others completely covered or underground, like small towns within cities and others still mixing the charm of old school Tokyo with glassy new shop fronts and funky modern malls - where quirky kids dress for kicks in the most odd little outfits they can find, posing provocatively for what appears to be the benefit of their old man pimp of sorts. It is a city where even away form Harajuku and the crazy dressed up punks, the kids are all fashion furious with cool simply oozing out of their pores and the drab and dreary rarely seen, except amongst the salary men and women who predominately walk around in pristine black suits, accessorised with see through umbrellas (apparantly the brollies de rigeor). It is a city crammed with temples and shrines at every turn, decorated by prayer tablets and wish papers tied into the trees and scented by cauldrons of incense burning, waiting to rubbed into your skin for good health and wishes. Where the statues of Buddha and of mothers with babies are well wrapped in red aprons to keep them warm through the winter. Tokyo is a city where the trains run on time and the tubes have separate carriages for women and children only, where the ticket barriers are open unless you try and get through without a ticket and where it seems you are innocent until proven guilty and the staff not only are super friendly and helpful but bow to every passenger as they pass by. The underground system is one where there are lifts and escalators at every turn, making navigating your way through the warren of immense tunnels more pleasant, even if you do come out of the wrong exit and end up walking quite some way back to the correct one. Tokyo is a city which is easy to live in, where quickly you feel like a local and where eating fish bone chips becomes the norm. It is a 24 hour city, full of vending machines for cold drinks, hot drinks, brollies, clothes and even vending machine restaurants. It is a city that owns the most pleasant red light district you could imagine and one where people want to help you, both the locals and expats alike. When you get your guide book out they rush to aide you or when you ask for directions, they walk you there themselves. Tokyo is a city with mind blowing hotels where we were lucky enough to stay in the Ritz Carlton (woke up their on my 30th) the ark (went to bed there on my 30th) and the Park Hyatt, from Lost in Translation, that was awe inspiring. All three had incredible view over Mount Fuji, the city of the Tokyo Tower and sunsets were simply jaw dropping. So what is tokyo? Tokyo is a city you could move to and love and maybe one day it will be city where we do just that!