ionnature: tokyo

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Last Day in Tokyo - 3/26/12

After breakfasting in the hotel restaurant and watching an Asian boy trying to learn to eat with a fork and knife while I struggled with chopsticks, I headed out to the Fish Market and found a temple along the way.

Happy hour had us at Vampire Cafe where only one beer was available - Heineken, and dinner found us in an empty restaurant seated next to a booth of smoking, sake-drinking businessmen who were still there when we left. Tomorrow - Shanghai.

Imperial Palace, Tokyo Japan - 3/24/12 & 3/25/12

We didn't get to meet any of the royal family but did enjoy two visits to the palace grounds.

The Palace ~

Asakusa, Nakamise Dori, Senso-ji Temple, Japan - 3/25/12

From Hamarikyu Garden, we caught a boat ride to Asakusa. We saw some interesting architecture and bridges along the way, including the Asahi Flame on top of the Asahi beer building, built in the shape of a beer glass.

The most fun part of the boat ride was finding us being the center of attention by these cute kids, who laughed at 6'4" Roy ducking to get onto the boat. We took turns taking pictures of each other, and as we were all leaving the boat, they dashed over to give us high fives :-)

So we landed at Asakusa, where we met Japanese students who wanted to be our tour guides so they could practice their English. It didn't last long as communication was difficult, but it was interesting :-)

We strolled the shopping extravaganza called the Nakamise Dori that leads to the Senso-ji Temple. A huge sandal hanging on the gate seen here represents the size and power of the guardians of this temple. Food, vendors, shrines, and monkey acts can also be found.

We had a very late lunch back in Tokyo at this recommended lower level noodle restaurant where we shared a table for 12 with locals - the noodles were so delicious and much slurping was heard.