Tokyo!

You see people in fancy dress racing go-karts around the city, cute mascots waving at you, arcades with rows and rows of grabbing machines, bright neon lights! The Japanese love singing, dancing, and do 'cute' to the extreme.

Our hotel was attached to a train station, in fact lots of Tokyo is underground and whilst it can be quote daunting, it is well signed, and you soon start to get the hang of it. However, it does mean you can leave the hotel and be straight on a train to wherever you want to go. They run very regularly and efficiently as you would expect.

Our main reason for going to Tokyo was personal, as our dear friend was running in the Marathon. This meant that our experience there was very much based around the Marathon and what she wanted to eat and when etc. It did mean that we participated in the Friendship Run with them, a 3.5-kilometre jog around one of the parks, which was a great experience. We did the touristy thing and went on a boat trip; which we always like to do anywhere we go as I think you get such a different perspective from the water. We walked and walked, visited temples, stopped for beer and coffee, ate noodles and did everything you would expect.

The day of the Marathon it tipped it down, ok for the runners, not so nice for the spectators. That aside, she did really well, we were excellent as support crew if I do say so myself, and the Tokyo organisation was super-efficient! Afterwards we celebrated with champagne and then went on the hunt for the best burger in the city! Our taxi driver took us down some back streets where he deposited us, were we not fuelled by the champagne, we might have been worried, however, he was right and where you would least expect it was a burger restaurant, and indeed it was spectacular!

The next day was our last and I had pre booked a street food and beer tour of the Golden Gai region, famed for its hard to find back streets and tiny bars, barely able to seat more than 5 people at a time. Our guide was very knowledgeable and showed us how to navigate these tiny streets and where to locate the best bars with no 'cover charge.' We were fed sushi and sashimi at a superb sushi bar, and Ramen noodles homemade in house. In another bar we were served Gyozo and pork belly, all delicious, and very filling. Then like big kids we went on the grabber machines and sang a bit or karaoke (when in Japan)!

I loved Tokyo, and if you are interested in going, I would have lots of top tips to share with you, but it is so dependent on what you are interested in doing as we are all different. There are so many places I would have loved to have got to, but we ran out of time, as I said out trip was centred around the Marathon rather than seeing the sights.

We failed to see Mount Fuji (she was hiding behind a cloud), I didn't get to a ski resort, and I would have loved that, and there were a few future technology museums and art galleries that I wish I had got to, but hadn't booked, and now I know I should have done as the queues were huge. Next time. Japan, I will be back.