This time five years ago... part IV

As you know from earlier, five years ago, almost to the day, I went to Tokyo. Here's my travel diary from then, mostly unedited, for the fourth and final day of the trip. Much as I was loving Tokyo, I was also missing people. Let's see what I squeezed in before the flight home...

22nd November 2012

Up early (6) after next to no sleep. Less than an hour and a half, in fact. The capsule was comfy, if a bit short. Too warm though. Main problem was the guy opposite snoring loudly all night. Cut my losses, got up, got washed and got cracking.

On my way to the tube, saw a Japanese beer casualty, draped over some railings. Two passersby were trying to help him. Wouldn't happen at home. As wouldn't homeless people sleeping in the underground without being evicted, as appeared to have happened in the Shinjuku underground passageways. All good though. And even their sleeping area was clean and ordered.

Got a tube out to Ueno and then, because I was up so early, I had an hour to spare before my Skyliner back to Narita, so I headed back to Ueno Park, found the lake (complete with lotus (?) plants growing five feet out of the water) and the Benten-do shrine on an island in the middle. A quiet, peaceful moment, so I washed at the font (left hand, right hand, mouth) and lit a candle.

Then onto the Keisei Skyliner back to Narita Airport at high speed. Despite police in helmets and body armour appearing to investigate an abandoned trolley behind police tape (a drill? I was allowed very close), check-in was uneventful, as was passport control and immigration.

Unlike the outbound flight, the one home was fully booked so when I boarded (after some last-minute souvenir shopping for ■■■■■■■■) I found I didn't have an empty seat next to me this time. But that was okay. Films: Dark Knight Rises (okay but too long), then (after a meal, some sleep, another meal and some reading) Killer Joe (excellent ... but they turned it off for landing, five minutes before the end!)

After a bumpy landing courtesy of strong crosswinds, I breezed through passport control (UK queue non-existent, non-UK/EU queue very long)... so much so that I was able to get an earlier National Express coach home. Uneventful ... more reading. Got to ■■■■■■■■■ at 10pm. Then waited in the very cold wind for the 10.24 bus to ■■■■■■■■■■. ■■■■■■■■ were a sight for sore eyes.

Then to bed, and trying to get my body clock back on time.

Things I seem to have neglected to mention then but stick in the mind now:

• the homeless people sleeping rough at Shinjuku all had flattened cardboard boxes for mats, and these (and hence they) were all arranged in perfectly straight, ordered rows
• I really liked the Shinto temples, like Benten-do. I'm not religious, so don't know whether it was the peace, the ritual or the novelty that appealed
• the penultimate paragraph has been quite heavily abbreviated, sorry. Too reflective, too personal for public consumption

And that's that, you'll be pleased to know. I loved Tokyo, and wish I'd had longer to explore, and to visit other parts of Japan. If you get the chance to go, seize it with both hands.