Sadly today was our last day on the Japan Express tour and so we left Hakone early for our final destination of Tokyo.

The route back involved a walk through the greenery of the mountain on our way to the funicular and our route down to the valley.

After the funicular we picked up the ‘romance’ train from Hakone direct to Shinjuku. The name comes from romance seats, two-person seats without separating armrests.

Our journey back proved quick, just over an hour and after dropping off our bags at the hotel we had some free time to go and explore Shibuya and head to the crossing in advance of the Halloween celebrations.

Our first stop was a return to the Harajuku, where we stopped off for lunch and a wander around the fantastic shopping area which in the sunshine was buzzing with people.

Our meandering through the back streets of Harajuku & Shibuya eventually dropped us at the infamous crossing.

Once at Shibuya Crossing it was clear that the authorities wanted to avoid any unwanted Halloween celebrations and partying that has occurred in the area in the past and led to some disturbances. Instead there was a noticeable police presence and signs up all around advising that there would be no street parties or drinking in the area over the next few days.

Andy was keen to try and replace his Adidas running trainers which haven’t held up very well and have split down both sides. We actually went to an Adidas store to see if they could help, but to no avail and instead we went searching for a bargains ABC Mart where the sales have started. Unfortunately the one major problem is that the Japanese have much smaller feet and Andy was looking for US size 11.5, which was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Looks like his Adidas shoes will need to keep going a little while yet!!

This evening we had a walking tour with our guide Noriko with the starting point being a light show at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. This happens each week night and was truly spectacular, beaming a whole range of Japanese themed images onto the front of the building.

After the light show we headed up to the Observation Deck to check out the views across the cities skyline. It’s only when you see Tokyo from on high that you appreciate the scale of the huge metropolis.

From there we made our way to Memory Lane, a place we’d preciously visited on a prior walking tour some weeks back.

Any trip to Shinjuku centre must involve a visit to the 3D cat to marvel at the realism of the technology.

Our tour eventually took us to the Godzilla Head and Golden Gai, where over 200 themed mini bars sit side by side, a throw back to Tokyos postwar American occupation.

Before we knew it, the walking tour ended and as it was almost 10pm and we hadn’t eaten, we decided to walk back with a group of the tour party before saying our goodbyes.

We’ve really enjoyed the last 9 days with Noriko and our other 14 travelling companions and hope to see a few again as we continue our travels to New Zealand & back to Australia.

Tomorrow we return to the countryside with a two night stay in Nikko where we hope to see the castle, plenty of shrines and no doubt a few Onsen too.