Ireland day 1333. Friday 23 May 2025- To Tokyo

Today’s summary	Caught a bus from Hakone to Odawara then a lovely “Romancecar”(!) train to Tokyo Shinjuko station – apparently the busiest on earth. Checked into the Shinjuku Granville hotel then went out on a stroll round the neighbourhood. Much edgier than anywhere else we have visited in Japan so far. Got a much needed McDonalds for dinner, did some shopping and returned to the hotel for a bottle of wine before bed
Today’s weather	Overcast and cooler then recently, but dry after some overnight rain. Moderate to strong north easterly wind. Appx 16c in Hakone, 22c in Tokyo

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Tokyo Shinjuko

Commentary

We had a brilliant stay in Hakone, but the time had come this morning to enjoy our final pre-breakfast onsen, then to move on to our next destination. Over breakfast we did however learn two new things. Firstly that the distant booming noise that we had heard most days, on and off, between 7am and 10pm, is the “Japan Ground Self-Defense Force” on manoeuvres. And secondly that the strange tower on the hill opposite us and which Google maps couldn’t identify, was a rainfall radar station for the Hakone weather authority. What a relief to clear up those mysteries!

One of the ryokan staff gave us a lift down the hill to the nearest bus-stop from where we caught a “T” line bus back from Hakone to Odawara station. The bus started off with lots of space but soon filled up along the way, with backpackers and tourists like us. I felt sorry for any locals who might try to use the bus, as it would be very difficult even to get on it, as it passed the stops closer to Odawara.

Up to this point, we had been buying our train tickets from ticket offices but today we determined to move with the times and do it ourselves, from a machine. So we identified a nearby Odakayu Electric Railway ticket machine and after selecting the “English” option, and with quite a lot of random button-pressing, eventually, triumphantly, we managed to get the machine to disgorge two tickets, with reserved seats, on the 11:53 “Romancecar” train to Tokyo Shinjuku station.

The “Romancecar” was probably the pleasantest train we had been on so far. It’s a narrow-gauge line, so the armrests between the pairs of seats have been removed to account for the narrower loading gauge. The removal of the armrest obliges a closer contact between the pairs of travellers, which is I guess what makes it “romantic”. Anyway the journey was swift, slick, quite and comfortable.

Once at Shinjuku, we eventually managed to navigate our way out of the 3D maze that is the world’s busiest station, and hauled our (thankfully lightweight) bags 15 minutes or so to our hotel. The Shinjuku Granbell is an absolutely middle-of-the-road tourist hotel, but so far it seems quite good and we paid a bit extra so have quite a large room.

After a couple of cups of tea, we decided to step outside and have a look at the environs in which we found ourselves. I must say it came as quite a culture shock. Compared to all of Japan that we have experienced so far, it was much grittier. Noise, lights and people everywhere. We even saw a few unfortunate homeless people, and some graffiti, both of which have been noticeably absent in the other Japanese towns we have visited.

By about 5pm, we were both flagging slightly, and feeling in need of some comfort food. So, I am ashamed to admit, in this land of a thousand cuisines, we went to McDonalds and had a burger for dinner. It was delicious!. Afterwards, feeling somewhat rejuvenated, we continued our tour of the highlights (and lowlights!) of Shinjuku. We ended up in a “Hands” department store, where Val bought some stationery that she’d had her eye on for a while, and I bought some more reading glasses (the last ones I bought, in Kanazawa, have been so good that I thought I’d stock up on some more while I was here).

By this stage it was getting dark and Shinjuku was really coming to life, There was neon everywhere, and the place was packed with commuters and others out looking for a good time before returning to their parallel universes of domestic routine. It was remarkable to observe. Eventually, after threading our way through a labyrinth of back-streets, we made it back to our hotel and our room, where we rounded off another successful day with a can of beer and a couple of glasses of wine.

Now it’s time to start plotting tomorrow’s adventures!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Setting off from Hakone on the “T” line bus. It soon filled up so after a couple more stops it was standing room only	Us again – this time in Omoide Yokocho. It’s a narrow alleyway of bars and street food just alongside Shinjuku station. It’s also sometimes colloquially known as “P*ss Alley” on account of the mess

The Hanazono Shrine. An oasis of tranquillity in the city (and also a bit of a magnet for street-food sellers	Books Kinokuniya. A massive bookstore near to the station, where you could loose yourself (and bank balance) for days

A typical evening Shinjuku skyline	Doesn’t need too much explanation!

All aboard the Romancecar! The driver thoughtfully sits above the passenger comartmenst so anyone lucky enough to be sitting at the front of Coach 1 (we weren’t) has a full view o f the track ahead. What a fantastic idea!