Day 5: Tokyo: Fish Markets, Temples and Scramble Crossing

If you don't mind an early start, Tsukiji Fish Market is an amazing place. If it's the right time of year, you can even see the tuna market, where each fish is worth more money than a reasonable house.

The best lookout in Tokyo is free at the Tokyo Municipal Government Building. On a good day, you can see Mt Fuji!

Meiji Jingu is a small piece of quiet reflection in the middle of the hustle and bustle.

Shibuya is the "cool" district, and has so much to see and do, from cool bars and shops, to the statue of Hachiko, the loyal dog at the train station.

We even walked across the famed Shibuya Crossing. Like predicted, we are big in Japan.

Day 4: Tokyo: Harajuku and Sundays

Not much is open in Japan on Sundays, at all. Harajuku though, was buzzing.

Harajuku is a district in Tokyo known for it's real life doll dress style, and pink, pink, pink everything.

Sadly, I didn't have the confidence to photograph any of the girls dressed up, but it is such an interesting trend!

Day 2: Tokyo: Senso-Ji Temple

This was our first real day in Tokyo. 

Japan is an incredible country, and I highly recommend Tokyo as the first city a traveler should visit. Most people speak enough English to help you out, and the young people could probably beat you on any English exam you had to take, but there is still a completely different culture.

Unlike North America or Western Europe, Japan has a whole different set of culture, religion and food, and this is just the shock you should look for if you're travelling.

We spent the day just wandering around the part of town we were staying in - Asakusa.

The highlight of this day, and the greatest temple we saw in Japan was Senso-Ji Temple. It is a huge complex, with a great market leading up to it. Admission is free, and the temple grounds are never closed. 

Day 1: Tokyo: Headed to Japan

This blog is back.

It has been 500 days since I left on the trip of my lifetime, and I have some new perspectives on some old travels.

First up, is the day I left Australia to start my trip.

Finding cheap flights is something I got particularly good at over the course of my trip, and the best, easiest way to do it, is to first, be flexible.

By using SkyScanner you can select a whole month of flights to find the cheapest day, then use Expedia to book the flights. Sometimes, a little trial and error is needed, as not all flights are updated to the actual current prices.

The other tip I have is to sign up to newsletters. I am still getting bombarded with cheap flight deals from various airlines and websites, and I have them all go to a special email account I set up just for this sort of travel spam.

We paid a little extra to get extra legroom for the 8 hour flight from Cairns to Tokyo, but figured it wasn't worth it for the 4 hours Melbourne to Cairns. We got to the airport early though, and managed to get the emergency row seats for free. It never hurts to be polite and ask.

The best tip I can have for getting through airports is to use the downtime to get ready. Nothing annoys me more than people who have spent an hour waiting for customs, and haven't bothered to even get their passport out. Don't be that guy!

We decided to stay near the airport for the night, as we found a cheap deal (and could use our Expedia points) and we didn't leave the airport until after midnight.

Heads up, Japan is not built for the 2m tall.