My first night in Japan – Haneda to Shibuya

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I’m usually quite nervous before I travel, but this time I felt no fear. I was so excited. After fifteen years of dreaming about it, I was finally going to Japan!

I took the 7:30pm ANA flight from London Heathrow and 12-odd hours later, we touched down at Haneda Airport (which is closer to Tokyo than Narita). I can recall precisely nothing of customs or baggage collection – all I remember is exchanging a smile with the air steward from our flight as I walked into Arrivals. I must have looked like the Wreck of the Hesperus.

I picked up my pocket wifi from the Ninja Wifi counter (an absolute must if you don’t have a phone plan that includes data) and wandered over to the ticket machines. I got a ticket for the Haneda Airport Limousine Bus which is direct to Shibuya, and asked the lady behind the counter “Basu te wa doku desu ka?” (Where is the bus stop?) 

Now this is where my limited Japanese skills fall down. Whilst I’m OK at asking questions, I’m not very good at listening. I heard the words ‘lift’ and that was pretty much it. Brill, fab, cool, let’s do this. Let’s get on this bus. 

So off I went, got in the lift, went up a floor, no bus stop. Went down two floors, no bus stop. Went up two floors just in case I’d missed it, no bus stop.

Oh. Wait. 

The Japanese she’d said to me finally percolated into my sleep-deprived brain. The lift was in front of the bus stop. I went back to the original floor and yup, behind the lift was the bus stop. Yep, well done there Katie great job.

The Limousine Bus to Shibuya takes around 55 minutes and stops near Shibuya station, costing around Y1,050 (about £7.50/ $10). 

As we drove in the darkness, I was struck by how normal everything looked. It was like driving on a motorway in the UK. We passed home depot stores and carparks, supermarkets and office buildings that looked exactly the same as back home, except for the language. 

And then, it was like a light switch had turned on. BAM! I was in Japan. 

Huge lanterns outside restaurants shone softly in the darkness as we whizzed by. People wearing facemasks hurried along pavements glistening with recent rainfall. A duruma watched the scene from a window high above.

I got off the bus near to Shibuya station, and walked the last few minutes to the hotel. I stayed at the Shibuya Granbell Hotel which was lovely, and very reasonably priced. Word of warning: the bathrooms are made of clear glass. I was on my own so it didn’t really matter (and to be fair, the bed faces away from the bathroom) but if you’re sharing with a partner it might get a little too close for comfort!

I got into bed. I had made it. I was here! I looked at the clock – 8pm.

Within 3 minutes, I was dead to the world.