Day 161 in Japan - Akemashite Omedettou Gozaimasu!

We had a nice, cruisey day today. We woke up at about 11 and it was after 12 by the time we were ready to head out of the capsule hotel to start the day. We wandered for a bit tying to find some breakfast before we gave up and just caught the subway into Shinjuku, figuring that at least something would be open there. It was, and Jodes, Fiona and I had a lovely breakfast of pastries, sandwiches and coffee. We met up with the boys who had had a slightly later night, due to foolishly deciding to walk back to the hotel insead of catching a taxi, and then started our touristy thing. 

The traditional thing to do on New Years day in Japan is to go to one of the big temples and ring the bell, pay some money, get your fortune and do all that you can do to generate yourself sme good fortune for the year ahead. We saw plenty of people wandering around with Hamaya, arrows that you can buy at the beginning of the year for good fortune, and we decided to at least visit the Temple district in Tokyo - Asakusa. We had a small detour on the subway, and ended up going the wrong way for about 20 mins, so the trip ended up being reasonably lengthy. Long enough for Rob and Simon to fall asleep, at least. 

In Asakusa, it was just as crowded as the guide books had led us to believe, and we were definitely not keen on joining the roughly kilometer-long queue to ring the temple bell at Sensoji temple. We walked alongside the queue to find he temple itself, see he little festival stalls and get our fortunes (mine is number 42 Normal Fortune - nothing brilliant, but Apparently I am fine to go on holiday, build a house, recover from illness and have my wish come true).

We decided to escape the crowds, and walked back down to the river to see the big Asahi building that looks like a beer and catch the water bus down to Odaiba. The ferry between Asakusa and the garden-y midpoint was pretty average, but he view one we got down to the bay was brilliant. We could see the Rainbow bridge all lit up, Tokyo Tower displaying it's 2011 sign, and all of the usual twinkly lights or Tokyo. 

This will be the Tokyo Sky Tree.

Once on Odaiba, we saw Joypolis, did a bit of shop wandering (and learned about the adult lucky dips that shops here do on New Years), then all hit the tired wall. We headed back to the hostel (via an Indian joint for dinner), and had a quiet and pretty early night. I spent a bit o time showing Jodes and Simon how to start crocheting a granny square and was in bed by 10:30 like a proper granny. 

Food Highlight of the Day: Lamb Curry.