Tokyo; A City that Dispels the Stereotypes

A few weeks ago a friend and I took a four-day trip to Tokyo. Tokyo wasn't necessarily a city I wanted to visit because I prefer the mountains and the beaches to skyscrapers and department stores, but I figured I couldn't leave Japan without visiting one of the most famous cities in the world.
Before visiting Tokyo I had heard many negative stereotypes about the city, for example that it was loud, very crowded, and filled with unfriendly people that had been hardened by years of living in such a busy environment. When I actually stepped out of the train station and onto one of Tokyo's main streets I could see right away that many of the stereotypes I had heard would be proven wrong. The street was huge, bigger than any of the other city streets I had encountered in Japan, and the buildings dotting the street were made of glass and brick as well as concrete. In Japan it's not uncommon to find cities composed mostly of concrete, so it was refreshing to see a city that used many different materials for it's buildings.
Once we arrived in Tokyo we were constantly on the go. We explored Akihabara which is the tech capital of Tokyo. Street after street is lined with glowing electronic stores, and maid cafe's. Akihabara is where you go if you want to buy a robot, indulge in anime videos or comic books, or get served your food by a woman dressed in a revealing maid's outfit.
We explored the garden's of Tokyo's Imperial Palace, where the Japanese Emperor and his family live. We visited Tokyo's National Museum in Ueno Park, where we spotted some of the first cherry blossom trees in bloom for this season. We also woke up at 4:30 in the morning to attend a fish market, where fish is brought in from all over Japan and stores and businesses bid on the freshest catch of the day. At night we walked along the city streets which were throbbing with people and a kind of electric energy that seemed to reverberate off buildings and hang in the air.
The stereotype that Tokyo's citizens are cold and unfriendly also turned out be very, very wrong. On our last day in Tokyo, Kim and I decided to head to Ginza, one of Tokyo's wealthiest area's that houses such stores as Armani and Louis Vuitton, and check out the art galleries. We were expecting the art galleries to be filled with wealthy customers and snobby owners who wouldn't give us the time of day. We were completely proven wrong! We walked into a tiny gallery where a woman showcased her paintings from her travels in Spain and France. The gallery owner and the artist were friends, two sweet sixty-something year olds who both hold a love of art and travel. The women didn't speak much English, and Kim and I don't speak much Japanese, but between the four of us we managed to carry on a pretty long conversation, albeit a few pauses. After talking with the women for a while, they generously went out and brought back lunch for us!!! We munched on sushi, green tea, and Japanese sweets for about an hour before we thanked the women and headed to the train station to make our way back to Himeji.
Overall I had a great time in Tokyo, I loved the city, I found the crowds to be not nearly as overwhelming as I expected, I met some great people, and I came away with every rumor and stereotype I had heard about the city dispelled!!