Tokyo

Tokyo was a shock to me. Cultural shock, social shock, people shock, you name it and I have got a shock of it. It was so damn big that we could only have a glimpse of Shinjuku (where our hotel was located), Shibuya and Harajuku.

We arrived at Tokyo Station at around six in the evening. Our train to Shin-Aomori was late in departing and thus there was a mad dash to switch to the Shinkansen. Tokyo Station was huge and confusing. We were actually lost a bit looking for the right platform and subway line to Shinjuku. Fortunately, one of my brothers travelled to Tokyo often on business trips so he managed to guide us rather easily.

Shinjuku

The sun might have set a long time ago but Shinjuku was bright as day, with all the neon lights from skyscrapers on all directions. We went around blocks of streets looking for a place to eat but most of the restaurants were in the basement levels where only flights of stairs could access them. Finally we found one on a second level selling self-serve teppanyaki.

We also visited the infamous Kabukicho and observed the natural habitat to see the seedier or shadier side of people. Sex truly sells here and selling sex was the order of business from all the clubs with posters of either cute or sexy girls. These establishments mixed with the restaurants fulfil all needs and proved that food and sex are equally important.

We even saw a man standing in the middle of a road like a movie star, having youngsters that looked like delinquents paying respects to him. We deduced that he should be the big boss of that area. Too bad Kabukicho was not some place we could explore or else the characters would make some interesting study materials.

Shibuya and Harajuku

This area was one classy place. Branded stores dotted in lines of avant-garde shops and up-and-coming names. The people were extremely fashionable, especially the youngsters being all hipster-like. You could get all sorts of clothing and accessories here. Unfortunately we could not stay long as we had a plane to catch.

Disneyland

It definitely was a large magical wonderland. The one whole day we spent there was well-worth it and surely not enough. I wrote on TripAdvisor:

"The park is big with plenty to see. We were there while the Halloween cosplay event was on so there were a lot of people dressing up as princesses and fairytale characters. Crowd was a bit too much to handle given that it was a Saturday. Queues were long on any attractions at any given point in time and sad to say, not all rides were available for the handicapped/wheelchair-bound."

Wheelchair users also could approach the cast/staff to obtain a card whereby the cast/staff would record down the approximated waiting time for a ride so you would not have to queue. You could visit other parts of the park before returning to the ride at the allocated time.

Wheelchair Accessibility

• Accommodation

The hotel rooms were even smaller than the ones we had stayed in. My wheelchair was just small enough to be placed between the bed and the bathroom.

• Public Transportation

I didn't get to evaluate the buses but the subway was friendly enough for wheelchair users. Just take note that exiting a station involved taking a series of interconnecting elevators at most times and not all exits led to where we thought should be.