While my time in Tokyo was cut short by an approaching typhoon and the need to get to Osaka to hunker down, it still left me just about a week in what is now a newly favourite city. Tokyo amazed me, and it is unlike any large city I have previously visited. It has so much energy, but none of the chaos of other world-class cities. It was everything I love about cities with virtually none of the frustrations that come along with cramming so many people in such a small space. In a word, Tokyo was my kind of perfect. The week there gave me a chance to do some big things I had planned – a playoff baseball game, an amazing sushi experience…. but also the time to see a number of interesting sights as I wandered aimlessly on many days.

On my first morning, shaking off a case of jetlag the likes of which I had never experienced before, I explored Shinjuku Gardens. A grey morning for most of my visit would turn into a torrential downpour as I was leaving the park, but it was the perfect tonic to get my feet under myself in Japan.

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