So this one is gonna be a short one (at least in theory).　　Yesterday, I went to downtown Tokyo to see the Emperor`s Palace and garden. It`s absolutely amazing. On the outside there is tall skyscrapers and neon signs - the epitomy of Modern Tokyo. Inside of this is the Emperor`s palace. There were hundreds of bonzai trees carefully sculpted around the perimeter of his palace, and once you got closer there was a thirty foot wide moat, with swans swimming in the middle, protected this ancient stone structure. At certain spots there were bridges crossing the moat and large wooden gates with small, Japanese style towers on either side of the gate. Of course, the palace is off limits to the public, but just looking at it is completely breath taking. It`s so surreal seeing an ancient castle (with people still living in it) surrounded by a bustling city. As Ryan described Japan, `It`s the Jetsons meet the Flintstones`.

Unfortunately, the garden was closed, so I wasn`t able to see it, but as I was wondering around the park, these two middle aged Japanese ladies came up to me and started chatting with me. They asked me the usual, where I was from, how long I was here, was I in school, all that stuff. They also told me a bit about the history of this location and walked me over to the garden. Since it was closed, they invited me to join them for coffee. We sat and chatted for about an hour and a half, on all sorts of subject, they were trying to get an idea of how things worked in Canada, while I was getting an idea of how things worked in Japan. When it was all said and done, we said both said thanks and were on our way.

What lovely people!!

Drew