Well, if you guys think Hokkaido has been extremely great, wait until you see what is in store in Tokyo! Arriving into Tokyo Narita International Airport (なりたこくさいくうこう) at 3.45pm, we were welcomed to Tokyo with a gloomy weather, posing with a heavy downpour. The weather has been forecasted that there will be rain throughout the rest of the day for the entire Japan, which started when I was in Sapporo in the morning. Narita airport is huge and often crowded, especially with Golden Week(ゴールデンウィーク) just around the corner, visitors from all over the world are leaving whereas the locals are gearing up to an upcoming travel surge by their own people. Golden Week is the longest vacation period of the year for many Japanese jobs and it is an extremely popular time to travel. Flights, trains, and hotels are often fully booked despite significantly higher rates at this time. No wonder foreigners are leaving!
After getting our luggage from the conveyer belt, we headed out to the arrival hall to look for our options to get into Tokyo. There are basically 3 options. ONE - Travel by cab which will cost a lot; TWO - By train but we don't know if the train will get us directly to the place we are staying; THREE - By bus. Dad says that it's better to travel by bus as its convenient and it gets us to where we want to go to the doorstep. After purchasing the bus ticket at the counter, we had to go out and wait for our bus at the allocated bus stop... which we will have to wait for another 30 minutes or so. The weather in Tokyo is not so warm and not so cold either. It might be because of the rain.
The entire airport were decorated with flyers that Tokyo are in the contention for the 2016 Olympics bid and their competitors are Chicago (USA), Madrid (Spain) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). I wishes Japan all the best in their bid and hope that they will be coming out victorious. 
Our bus arrives right on time. As we load our luggage into the bus and hopped on, I know that this will be a very boring and long journey to the city. It will take an approximate up to one and a half hour to the city center itself. With the rain to serenade me to sleep, I woke up when we are already in the middle of Tokyo city. 
The rain kept on pouring, the sky was dark and I know it will be a long night of rain afterall. The city is a bit in a gridlock as it was after working hours. We arrived to hotel doorstep around 6pm. The Westin Tokyo hotel is located opposite of Yebisu Garden Place (恵比寿ガーデンプレイス) in Ebisu. I was instantly "Wow-ed!!" as soon as we step into the hotel lobby. The service was excellent, seems like their employees are extremely upbeat.
We got to our room after checking in, located on the 39th floor. I managed to take a few snaps of the room before heading out to the executive lounge on the 37th floor for evening drinks.
Once we got there, I was "Wow-ed!!" again for the second time as this place has fabulous view of the entire Tokyo City. They also have a great variety of drinks (from liqour to plain coffee) and hors-d`oeuvres (light snacks). Free internet access for executive members too, which I did take advantage of it at later days with my laptop. Evening drinks services ends at 7.30pm and we left around 7.15pm. Although it was pouring heavily outside, it doesn't stop us from wandering around the Ebisu area. The underground passage that links between the hotel to Yebisu Garden Place proves to be very beneficial for everyone to avoid being drenched in the rain. 
Let me explain a bit of the area that we stayed. Ebisu (恵比寿) is a neighbourhood in Shibuya district. It is situated nearby Roppongi and central Shibuya and this area is easily accessible via the JR Yamanote and Hibiya Lines. This place is accessible from the East Exit of Ebisu Station via the Yebisu Skywalk covered moving walkway. Ebisu was founded around 1928 as a community developed around the Japan Beer Brewery Company facilities where Yebisu Garden Place now stands.
Mom thrashed a photo shot with me being in the background of a very nice scene at Central Square, which will never be retaken again as the place will be prepared for the Golden Week event with all the props and lights being brought up the following day. 
We continued our walk towards the JR Yamanote Ebisu Station by using the Yebisu Skywalk. The skywalk seems to attract a lot of people during the rainy days. After a glimpse of the JR Yamanote line, I know that I will have a hard time identifying the places to go for the next few days. Shopping department named ATRE is situated at the Ebisu Station. Atre has 7 levels of shops with many varities. I was not up for much shopping as I felt very sticky, probably because of the rain exposure outside and also, the place is really warm inside. 
I stopped over at Tea for Two Records located on the 5th floor while mom went to Shop In to get some BB Cream for her friends. I got myself a few more CD's before heading off for dinner as dad was already grumbling of being hungry, even after all the snacks that we had back at the hotel lounge not long ago. 
The decorations in Atre is really really unique as you can see it on the picture above where the plants are being displayed on the window as I was climbing up the escalators, even though taking pictures inside the department store is strictly prohibited; I took my chances.
Dinner is at the Hageten (ハゲ天) where dad has been craving for Tempura meal for so long. Situated on 6th floor, this restaurant opens from 11am to 10:30pm everyday. 
The dinner menu comes in sets, so we had to pick the right set. With me being still full, I only picked the starters set which covers a few stuffs, while mom ordered the women's set (which comes with a glass of women's wine) and dad ordered the full set. Nothing fancy with the Tempura. To be honest, I don't even know what was served on my plate as the chef who fries the Tempura kept coming back and talked to us in Japanese the stuffs that was served(which it makes no sense to me at all). He made a good effort though but the only way to discover what I'm eating is to put it into my mouth.
By the time we finished our dinner, it was already 9.30pm. So we headed back to the hotel for a warm shower and early rest as we will have a very long day ahead tomorrow. Weather man announces that tomorrow will be a fair and fine day, which I am really looking forward to in order for me to really explore Tokyo. The view of Ebisu from window is really pleasant as I slowly doze off to bed wondering what's in store for me tomorrow.
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