Tokyo - day 1

After our "brushes" with driving in Tokyo (actually driving through Tokyo and around the outskirts of Tokyo), we decided that we would stay out a bit in one of the "suburbs" and take the train in. So, we selected Yoshio which is in the north-northeast part of the city. It was a great seletion! The Tokoyo-Inn was located right across from the station (as they all were). Getting to it was a bit of a change as what we though was an exit off the expressway, wasn't and we had already passed it. Once we realized that, we were able to navigate to the hotel and found a parking lot close since we were there mid morning and check-in isn't until late afternoon.

We walked to the train station (nice, fairly new, very clean and not crowded) and hopped on a train for the end of the line! The train line was the the Tsukuba Express and it was a quick one - certainly much quicker than driving. We arrived at the Akihabara station. There we had to decipher the train maps (we had to change lines) and ticket prices which took a minute (not too bad) and were off to the Tokyo station. So, we found ourselves in downtown Tokyo fairly quickly!

Tokyo is amazing! We found ourselves in the middle of the financial district. The buildings were architectual masterpieces, the shopping and restuarants were high end. Unfortunately, we were there in a light rain (our first rain since that first day) but we managed. I did have an umbrella, Joe had his hat and off we went. Our first goal was to exchange some money. We don't know if it was because of the renovation (since the money exchange "stores" in Kyoto were easily found in the train station) or if Tokyo is just different, but finding it was a challenge. We wandered around the high rise buildings attempting to find the Information Center we had located on the map. We found that and received a little information, but they didnt' exchange money. Finally, I went into a HSBC bank and asked. The girl at the information desk spoke enough English to ask if I had an account. Since that was a "no" she pulled out a map (written in Japanese) and attempted to point me in the right direction. Off we went again. That worked so well that I then went into another bank that appeared to be the right location and then directed me to the back of the building and there it was. Money exchanged, we were off to the Imperial Palace.

Again, the scale was impressive. The gardens were expansive - a lot of pine tress. We walked across the one garden to the leading edge of the moat. There was and entry gate with guards standing alert in their stations. Then, we wanted along the moat to the Japanese garden at the Northeast corner of the palace. Again, the garden was huge. Not wanting to spend all day there, and beginning to be interested in lunch, we walked through only a portion of the garden. Glad we went, it was beautiful. We also heard and saw a few birds.

Then, we walked back to the east toward the buildings, past a rest house at the edge of the palace gardens, and started looking for lunch. The choices were plentiful but we decided on an English type "pub-ish" hole (most places were very small - seating about 12-18). Joe went for the fish and chips and I the hamburger (not shocking for either of us). I think the fish was fairly typical. The hamburger had a "filler" of onion and probably some bread. It was not real successful in my book. They did have iced tea - for like 400 yen. And, I drank mine within seconds and asked for a refill - which cost another 400 yen.... They are stingy with drinks here. I need to research what that is all about.

After lunch, we found... the bookstore, Maruzen - 5 stories worth. It was inbelievable. Joe was looking for some Japanese aircraft books/magazines. We did ask for help. The salesperson did not speak English but she went and found one who did-always VERY accomodating! The two of them took us to the floor and showed us a couple of locations that would fit the bill. Joe was there for a while and happily purchased several books. I was tempted to purchase some books on learning Japanese but held off. I heard a lot of singing and commotion outside in the "mall" area. There were some African dancers/singers performing for something. I stood with the crowd and watched for a bit.





Then, it was off to the Asakusa for shopping in the tranditional Japan souvenir arcade. It was very colorful, crowded with tourists and full of trinket type shops but next exactly what I had hoped for. I definitely need to do bettre research for our next trip! Afterwards, pretty exhausted, it was back to Yoshio for some dinner and a good night's sleep.