We’ve always found that there’s something strangely fascinating about experiencing a place for the first time that you’ve only seen in a movie. Taking a stroll along the Canal Saint Martin in Paris’ 10th arrondissement where ‘Amelie from Montmartre’ hangs out or gasping from Vertigo at the sight of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur that Catherine Zeta Jones and Sean Connery climbs in ‘Entrapment’, or simply enjoying the kitchy lobby of The Mirage Casino being robbed in ‘Ocean’s 11’.

It’s the same welcome feeling of déjà vu we sense when arriving at Park Hyatt in Tokyo. The Kenzo Tange designed towers in which some of the most memorable scenes and superbly understated dialogues take place between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in Sofia Coppola’s breakthrough film ‘Lost in Translation’. Not least in the restaurant cum bar The New York Grill on the uppermost 52nd floor of the modern skyscraper complex minutes from Shinjuku Station, the busiest rail and subway hub in Tokyo.

Photo: Jeroen020

After a small labyrinth trip through the hotel, changing elevators a couple of times, we’re greeted at the elevator door and shown to a table in the restaurant. And wow, the view is so breathtaking that we hardly notice the stylish décor, the cool open kitchen or the other guests for some time. When we finally return to our senses and manage to pull our eyes from the magnificent panorama over the evening skyline we realize that we’re sitting smack in the middle of a luxury enclave of steel, glass and wood, crowned by the huge windows that make out the outer walls top to ceiling.

Photo: Loremipsum

Around us a there is a pleasant mixture of trendy Japanese and shopping weary foreigners, sipping wine and cocktails in the black and chrome interior.

Rumour has it that the hotel is a favourite haunt for local movie stars and CEO’s, so we scout around – but can’t see any. Could be that they’ve settled for room service this Sunday evening. A small army of waiters exit the kitchen in a constant flow, carrying lavish portions of duck, fresh seafood and of course the world famous Japanese beef.

Photo: Shyuhan

Our waiter brings us a couple of Asahi beers, and we sit and sip and enjoy the ambient mood which is surprisingly laid-back for a luxury hangout of this category.
The price tag is – obviously – a tad elevated, and after 20.00 – when the live band starts playing – the management slaps a ridiculous 5,000 yen (around 40 euro) cover charge in your face – even if you’re an in-house guest coming to have dinner.

Might be worth it if you’re just visiting, but instead we decide to save the money and splurge on a room to get the full experience. Not a bad decision as the view from our room over the brightly lit Tokyo skyline is just as good as from the New York Grill.

"For relaxing times – make it Suntory time" Photo: Paulamarttila

Instead of running up a huge bar tab above we make good use of the mini bar, filled to the brim with Suntory Whisky. Because apparently, Park Hyatt has decided to live by the slogan that Bill Murray tirelessly repeats in the film: "For relaxing times – make it Suntory time". Most certainly so.

NEW YORK GRILL, top floor of Shinjuku Park Tower, 3-7-1-2 Nishi-Shinjuku; Tokyo.

Photo: WordRidden

When arriving in Tokyo you sometimes feel as if you've parked your spaceship on another planet entirely.

The gargantuan outdoor plasma screens on the building facades, the huge neon signs that fill up the vacant space above the pavements, the thumping and ubiquitous music, and - of course - the inhabitants. The Japanese are so stylish, so perfectionist, yet so over the top that we keep bumping into lampposts when trying to walk and observe the strange creatures that pass by on the streets of the Japanese capital at the same time.

Copyright: Aske Munck

This is why in Tokyo it's imperative to quickly find the best spot from which to engage in some serious people watching - safely seated.

Such a place is Shibuya, an area which also houses one of Japan's most busy subway stations and which is also known as one of the country's foremost fashion centres for young hipsters. It's also one of the crowded places for a night on the town with plenty of cheap eats, bars and - of course - karaoke joints.

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As soon as we step out the metro on an ordinary Monday afternoon we are awestruck by the sheer number of people in the street. A huge wave of people is moving across the streets in all directions and you're unable to pin point the source of this steady stream of people or exactly where they're going.

We seek shelter at a familiar face, Starbucks, across the street from the Hachiko exit. From the upstairs floor you can sit and contemplate the buzzing crowd from a safe distance with what is clearly the best viewpoint over the Shibuya crossing.

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The crossing is reportedly the world's most busy scramble crossing, where vehicles in all directions are stopped at the same time to allow pedestrians to safely cross the street from all points simultaneously.

Like steadily flowing tides they are shored up, until they are suddenly released from all sides, instantly inundating the entire crossing at a tremendous speed, but always without any serious head-on collisions. And in style. From the so-called cos-play gothic lolitas wearing almost Victorian outfits combined with the ever popular childish look of porcelain dolls, to flamboyant men and women dressed in second-hand 80ies fashion and girls in bright our even fluorescent clothes, decorated from top to toe with cute jewellery and brightly shining accessories.

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Some women even mix traditional Japanese clothing with more conventional Western clothes and sometimes a beautiful kimono wearing lady straddles by in her wooden sandals, chatting away on her cell phone.

We sip our American lattes and look at a company casting young women for a TV commercial and a camera crew doing interviews. They appear almost as small immobile stones in a flood of people, and like water people move around them and swirl on in the continuing stream of faces filling all corners of the gigantic crossing.

Definitely a place to visit when trying to get the hang of Planet Tokyo.

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The chef sends us a smile through the glass window frame. He then grabs hold of the duck, hanging upside down on a hook in the window, empties the boiling water out of it and hangs it up to dry before sending it to the ovens for a final heating session.

Inside the lively Xihe Yaju restaurant our polite waitress ushers us past the many tables where people are laughing sipping aperitifs and winding down from a hard day’s work. It’s only 7 O’clock, but the place is already jam packed. All the tables are teeming with extreme amounts of small plates, but that’s just because the Chinese always order far more than anyone can eat.

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The restaurant is right next to the lovely Ritan Park, and our table is situated in a former courtyard, as would appear from the old tree that grows through the floor and the ceiling.
We cast a furtive glimpse on the menu but immediately seek out the Peking duck, which is what this place is famous for.

A friend that has chewed his way through loads of Beijing eateries has recommended the place and told us that this was without a doubt the best place to have the legendary Peking poultry experience.

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Peking duck has been an integral part of Chinese cuisine for more than 700 years, and the first traces of this mythical meal date back to cookbooks and recipes from the 14th century. It quickly won over nobles and even emperors alike, and poets lauded the delicious dish with its divine mixture of crunchy fat, crisp skin and juicy meat.

It is in fact a special kind of duck that is used to fill the mouths in Beijing. The newly hatched ducklings quack about in the open air in the first 45 days, after which period they are force fed four times a day for almost three weeks. When their weight reaches six kilos their short lives come to a tasty end.

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Air is injected under the skin around the neck to separate the skin from the fat. The young duck is subsequently dipped in boiling water and hung to dry, whereupon it is covered in a fine layer of syrup before going into the oven until it attains the characteristic shiny light brown colour.

It takes about 45 minutes to obtain the desired colour. We thus enjoy our cold entrees first before we become reunited with our duck, which is now suitably clad in its shiny light brown garb.

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The specially trained chef then sharpens his knives and commences an astonishing act of dexterous dissection of the steaming hot animal. Wafer thin slices of crisp fat and meat is placed in neat order on elongated plates and served up with transparent pancakes, cucumber, carrot, onions, Hoisin sauce and garlic paste, which we eagerly roll into small tasty titbits until we are ready to burst.

XIHE YAJU RESTAURANT , Northeast corner of Ri Tan Park (朝阳区日坛公园东北角), Chao District Beijing

Go further: Eat Chinese in New York's Chinatown

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Train buffs or not, everybody agrees: No trip to Japan is complete without a ride on the famous Shinkansen, or Bullit Train as it is also called. It might sound as a tempest in a teacup, since a lot of countries have high-speed-trains, most notably France, China, and Tawian. But take our word for it: The Shinkansen is well worth the elevated price tag.

It’s a futuristic experience combining the ubiquitous Japanese cleanliness with the persistent penchant for transportation efficiency.

We enter Tokyo Station and become one with the steady flood of people, washing in and out of the gigantic underground patchwork of tunnels underneath Tokyo Station.
Passengers from all walks of society scatter towards the ticket booths and subsequently head for the conveniently located snack sellers to stock up on supplies for their trip.

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In Japan, there is no such thing as a sandwich train lunch. The Japanese, however will willingly queue to get their hands on their favourite bento box – a small pre-packed lunch box that carries a neatly arranged assortment of fish, meat, veggies, rice, and chopsticks.

We do like the locals and afterwards head for the designated Shinkansen departure gate, where the train is being prepped by a small army of uniformed cleaners.

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The front of the Shinkansen 700-train most of all looks a streamlined white Beluga whale, guarded by a platform railing. We are led inside the train by the smiling personnel, who point us to our seats with their white gloved hands. The train body is wide as an airplane with pleasant deeply reclining seats - even in second class.

The airplane mood is emphasized by our fellow passengers who now all simultaneously unpack their bento-boxes that have the unmistakable appearance of single serving in-flight snack trays.

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And if somebody should have been so unlucky as to have forgotten to buy a bento-box, there is – of course – the train stewardess (well, actually one per train wagon), who whisk up and down the centre aisle with a small cart.

The ride is smooth, without the usual railway ‘kachong’ sound, and it feels as if we’re flying across the landscape in an extremely low flying passenger jet.
Although it may not ride at its top speed of over 300 kilometres per hour, the Shinkansen cruises at formidable speeds, and accelerates forcefully after the infrequent and stressfully short stops, where passengers line up in order to be ready to almost jump off the train.

Two hours and 22 minutes later we arrive, well rested, in Kyoto, about 400 kilometres from Tokyo.

Go further: Momondo goes trainspotting

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It’s Sunday afternoon in Shanghai, and large Chinese families, western tourists and local lovers holding hands stroll along the western Huangpu river bank, most commonly referred to as ‘the Bund’.

The meandering crowds are accompanied by a raucous cacophony of high pitched voices from the eager touts, persistently peddling Polaroid souvenir shots with the trademark Pudong skyline as a grandiose backdrop.

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On the river, tug boats, cargo ships and cruise liners steam along almost as closely squeezed together as cars on a motorway. The staggering amount of huge vessels on the water is living proof that Shanghai is still one of the world’s largest and most busy ports, and one of the absolute musts on a visit to the city is a cruise on the Huangpu River.

We buy our tickets at one of the numerous boat companies offering one hour sightseeing cruises down the river (shop around for the lowest
prices) and board the boat with a crowd of solely Chinese tourists.

The Chinese immediately head for the heated restaurant where they unfold and impressive load of snacks for the trip. We head for the open air viewing deck.

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The captain revs the powerful engine, and the boat commences a daunting zigzag in and out of the large cargos and bulk carriers as we sail past the The Oriental Pearl Tower, the characteristics giant tripod tower jotting out of the Shanghai skyline on the Pudong side.

Turning our heads as we glide past the magnificent scenery, we marvel at the sight of some of the most exquisite examples of early 20th century art deco architecture on the Bund, most notably the Customs House, the Bank of China building, and the Peace Hotel, formerly known as The Cathay.

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All three buildings were designed by the notorious architect firm Palmer & Turner, which is also to thank for several other buildings along the Bund. Originally built in 1929 by the opium magnate Victor Sassoon and later used as a base for Chairman Mao’s Gang of Four during the Cultural Revolution, the Peace Hotel is currently being refurbished, and is hence covered in green scaffolding, making it an odd cloaked partner to the immense Bank of China next door.

Copyright: Aske Munck

This, however, by no means ruins the spectacular display of art deco buildings along the Bund, we safely conclude after consulting our overstuffed camera memory cards. And a slow trip down the river is without a doubt the best way to appreciate the Shanghai art deco architecture, which is a stark and historically interesting contrast to the modern high-rise towers mushrooming on the opposite bank in Pudong.