We got home from climbing Fuji at about lunchtime on Friday. We didn't do much on Friday except shower, sleep and eat. By Saturday, we were ready to explore Tokyo. After sleeping in a little bit, we got a great map of the trains and subways in Tokyo from our hotel lobby, ate a delicious breakfast at Starbucks, and we were ready to go. (We learned our lesson in Sapporo... NEVER pay the extra 1000 yen/person for a hotel breakfast in Japan... a Japanese breakfast buffet is fish, rice, miso soup, and a few other things I'm not yet able to identify. A western-style breakfast bar in Japan is runny scrambled eggs and french fries next to the fish, rice, and miso soup.)
It took an hour by train to get from where we were staying (on the outskirts of Tokyo) in to Tokyo station. Next time we'll probably stay somewhere more centrally located.
Not far from Tokyo station is the Imperial Palace grounds.
It's kind of neat to see such a beautiful and historic park right in the middle of the skyscrapers of Tokyo. We walked around for a little while admiring the moat, and the bridges, and gates, and old buildings.
We couldn't actually see the Imperial Palace. Apparently (or so I've heard) you have to have reservations in advance, and you have to be escorted by a Japanese national. So we left, via subway, for our next destination.
Tokyo Tower.
We were fascinated by the elevator's mirrored ceiling.
Tokyo is unbelievable huge. As far as we could see in every direction was nothing but city skyscrapers.
We had a pretty clear day, but it was just hazy enough to prevent us from seeing Mt. Fuji, 97 km away. The sign above Chris' head points to where we should have been able to see it, and we stared until our eyes went blurry and we started seeing imaginary bumps on the horizon.
Funny, I've never actually seen Mt. Fuji, unless you count the up close and personal climbing experience.
"Look down window." There was a sign inside that directed us to this window. The sign had a picture of a little stick figure looking down, although it kind of looked like he was getting sick. I should have taken a picture of it...
We spent quite a bit of time inside the tower. There was even a little restaurant at the top where you could get soft serve ice cream. They sell soft serve EVERYWHERE here in Japan.
A few subways later, we arrived at Meiji Shrine.
This torii gate is just about 1 minute from the subway station. Once you walk through the gate, it is about a ten minute walk through a huge forest to the second torri gate, and the actual Meiji Shrine. Once again I was impressed that such an expansive park could exist within Tokyo.
This sign describes how amazing the torii gates were... imported wood from Taiwan! 1,5oo years old! I was impressed.
Walking, walking, walking to the second torii gate and the entrance to Meiji Shrine.
When we got to the shrine, there was a traditional Japanese Shinto-style wedding procession going on... I felt like I had stepped back into time... or onto the set of a movie.
Her kimono was amazing...
This is the actual shrine, where people have lined up to pray.
The architecture is fascinating. This whole shrine was destroyed in an air raid in 1945, but has been completely restored and is supposedly indistinguishable from the original version.
Our next stop was Ueno Park. We arrived a little too late though. It was about 5pm and most of the stuff there was closed. It was still neat to walk around, but there wasn't much to see or do. I would love to come back another time and visit the National Museum.
This was a five story pagoda that we had wanted to see, but it was inside the zoo, which was closed. This was as close as we could get. Bummer.
We left Ueno park and started walking around the back alleys near Ueno subway station.
It was starting to get dark and the city lights were enticing. Plus, we needed to find someplace to eat.
There were lots of places to see and we spent a little bit of time shopping around in a really neat outdoor gear shop that we found.
The restaurants looked amazing. They were all tiny, and most of them could probably only seat 10 people inside, but there were tables overflowing onto the street. It took us a long time to find a place with an open table.
We spent the rest of the evening eating dinner, and then hanging out at a small pub that we found.
The next day after lunch we boarded the Tohoku Shinkansen and came home.
Tokyo is a little overwhelming. Our obvious purpose for this trip, and the highlight of the trip, was to climb Fuji. Next time we go back we'll have to do a little more research on what we want to see and do within the city.
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