Weekend in Tokyo

Last weekend I was reminded how much I enjoy exploring new places on my own. Friday night in the pouring rain, I drove an hour to Nanao to catch the night bus to Tokyo which put me at Tokyo JR station at 7:00 am Saturday morning. A little drowsy, I stepped off the bus found my bearings and heading to Tsukigi fish market where they were cleaning up from the mornings work. Since the market stalls were finishing up and clearing out, I ducked into a revolving sushi bar for a quick breakfast and then headed out for a wander.

After walking for about a half hour I found my self at the border of the Imperial Palace and decided to try to find my way inside the Gardens, which is the only part of the Palace grounds open to the public.  Japan's imperial family still uses the castle, which is surrounded by moats and massive stone walls in the center of Tokyo, as their main residence.

The Nijubashi double-bridge leads to the main gates over the moats.

Looking for the entrance to the gardens, I walked the completely wrong way and ended up walking around the entire grounds before stumbling upon the entry gates. I really was nearly stumbling by that point. The walk around the grounds took me about forty five minutes. Luckily the view was beautiful and the weather was warm and sunny.

Views from my walk around the premises and the main entrance gate to the garden.

One of the things I like most about Japan is the presence of gardens and nature even in its ultra-urban cities like Tokyo. Everywhere you go, you see green.

Leaving the castle grounds I ambled across the street and came across a statue of a ferocious-looking warrior. Turns out the warrior was Kusunoki Masahige, a samurai in the 14th century. The very short story is that he attempted to overthrow the dictatorship that held control of Japan and is remembered as the ideal of samurai loyalty, a system that is still highly regarded in contemporary Japan.

Statue of Kusunoki Mashige outside the Imperial Palace. 

By this time, it was around 11 o'clock, which meant that the department stores would be open. Time for some shopping before heading to meet my generous tour guide for lunch and an afternoon hangout. So I headed to Uniqlo. A little background. Wajima has three stores where I can buy clothes. Two of them are inside grocery stores, and the last is a smaller version of Walmart's clothing section. Uniqlo was a shock to my system with its five floors, giant red sale signs, and never-ending color choices. After making my purchases: a work shirt, a summer dress, and a dark-colored-sweat-stain-hiding t-shirt for immediate use, I was running late for meeting Kyle. So I jumped on the subway and headed to Roppongi. 

Kyle and I met while skiing in Nagano in March. I emailed him when I planned my weekend to Tokyo and he offered me his spare bedroom and to show me around Saturday afternoon. So we met and then grabbed lunch. We ordered sandwiches to go and headed for a nearby park for a picnic. I had a fabulous smoked salmon and avocado-cream cheese sandwich. The park is the same park where SMAP member, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi was arrested for public indecency after drunkenly stripping naked. 

After lunch we headed out on my guided tour of the city. One of the first stops was Harujuku where a peace-loving bunch were offering free hugs. After taking a photo a felt obligated to give a hug to a particularly doe-eyed looking Japanese fellow. Then the two girls standing next to him looked at me expectantly and so I got three free hugs.

 Meiji Shrine

We also visited Meiji Shrine, an Indonesian festival, and then to Shibuya crossing. Shibuya is a scramble intersection and one of the busiest crossings in the world.

Across the intersection we found the statue of Hachiko, the loyal dog. Check out his story here.

By this time (around 5:00 pm), my feet were pretty tired. We headed back to Kyle's apartment for a short rest before heading out for a night in Roppongi.

The view from his 23rd floor apartment was pretty sweet.

At a nightclub in Roppongi

The next day, Jordan, a teacher from Minnesota currently living South Korea, and I headed out to see more sights. Unfortunately, Sunday was not a glorious day of sunshine, but a humid day of showers.

We moseyed past Harujuku (again) to see the Harujuku girls (and boys) who are famous for cosplay and have become a major tourist attraction on Sunday afternoons. Check out this Wikihow if you want to learn how to dress Harujuku style. We also visited a Asakusa Shrine and the Ginza shopping district where we window shopped in the Apple and Sony stores. Both have awesome interactive displays. After dinner it was time to catch the overnight bus back to Noto so that I could teach class Monday morning. It was a whirlwind weekend, and I am already looking forward to returning for more exploration and adventures.