111: Exploring Tokyo (Part 1)
This as many other blogs to come are post-Japan blogs because I could not blog when I was in Japan. I don’t just want to skip these blog so I will spend some time in New Zealand to catchup with Japan events..
Exploring Tokyo…
I flew to Tokyo from Hong Kong on the 25th of March, almost excactly a month ago now (wow!)
I have blogged about the first two days already in blog 127 so I won’t write much about it here. I explored the Jimbocho area near my hotel at the time. A bookstore district with loads and loads of small book shops selling old and new books and masses of Manga Comic books too. One of the addictions in Japan I guess (Japanese Comics that is; a LOT of people read them everywhere). This area also seemed to have as many sex video shops as book shops but I don’t think it was a dodgy area.. Still a strange combination of Books, Comics and Adult Video stuff..
Sunday (26/03/06) I walked around the Imperial Palace (to get to a international ATM to withdraw some cash) though I only visited this place a few days later. Instead I made my way to Ginza, a posh shopping district in Tokyo. It is probably THE shopping area as all the espensive fashion names are there in big style. It’s not just clothes though but also other things such as electronics etc. I walked into an Apple (aka iPod) shop which was jampacked with poeple looking at the latest iPods and Macs from Apple..
The main road in Ginza was closed for traffic that day and people walked on the streets and also sat down for coffees etc on tables that were put out.
Seeing all those expensive shops where people spent a fortune made me feel rather strange. It seemed such a waste of money seeing this area after having been in SE Asia for a few months. Of course we live just like that in Europe as well but when I walked around here it really felt strange and unreal and I kept thinking how unnecessary and useless many of those things are.
Some dull pics from Ginza are on flickr but not worth ading a link here..
I kept walking down the Ginza district towards a little Park near the harbour area. Sadly I was too late as the Park closed for the day so I could not go in.
Instead I jumped on a Skytrain and made my way across the harbour to Obaiba and Aquacity, a artificial (I think) little peninsula across from the park with mainly shopping malls and leisure parks.
I was not very impressed by this area and was pretty keen to get away from it all but I spent some time on a promenade around sunset to take pictures of the Tokyo Harbour and Skyline including the Rainbow Bridge. Apart from the Bridge they also have a little Statue of Liberty look alike there and near Ginza District is a Eiffell Tower Replica of some sort. Japanese seem to have a thing for copying famous buildings/monuments..
At the end of the day the trip to Obaiba was worth for the view but the rest (shopping malls, gambling halls, restaurants) was pretty dire..
Tokyo Harbour and Rainbow Bridge Photos (photos are in “most recent” order rather than chronological, sorry it’s a flickr bug)
Monday 27/03/06 Asakusa, Senso-Ji and Boat Trip
The following day I wanted to see something a bit more exciting and traditional so I decided to get on the subway and head up to Asakusa District north-east of Tokyo (not far) where the famous Senso-Ji Temple is located.
The entrance to the area is marked by a big wooden gate and there were plenty of people around. Behind the Gate is a path towards the main Shrine which is lined with stalls selling a huge variety of tourist stuff and snacks. Japanese Cookies are very popular and quite tasty.
Seno-Ji is dedicated to the goddess Kannon and is the heart and soul of Asakusa. The main shrine is from the 17th century though it was rebuild around 1958 after having been destroyed during WWII. Some more details bout this place are here.
Around the temple are many little statues with wollen hats and scarfs etc. Looks very funny, check the pics.
Close to the main shrine you can see many people go up to a big bronze incense burner and “bathe their hands and faces in the smoke — it’s a charm to ward off illnesses — before climbing the stairs to offer their prayers” as descibed in the above link though what they missed out on was the cleaning of hands and mouth with water at a nearby place.
In the Temple complex is also a little garden which was vaguely interesting, I did not stay too long and eventually left the area and walked towards the river/canal.
There was a nice little promenade along the river lined with cherry trees. Plenty of people went for a stroll here are the weather was nice and sunny and some people had picknicks..
In one Tree full will Cherry Blossoms I saw some relatively large birds seemingly feeding off cherry blossom nectar. I was quite surprised about this especially because the bird seemed large compared to the site of the blossoms, I guess the nectar is not very difficult to access since the blossoms are quite “flat”
At the end of the Promenade was a BoatTerminal and boats left from here down the river/canal to the Hamarikyu Park which I had not been able to see the day before.
I decided a boat trip would be nice and I could go and see that park so I jumped on the next boat (which was also the last boat of the day *phew*).
Sights along the canal were not too spectacular but the boat trip itself and going down the canal was nice nevertheless. Plenty of Cherry Trees along the sides and a bunch of seagulls following the boat made it a fun trip.
I got off the boat at Hamarikyu Park and had an hour to walk around there before it would close. It was a nice little park with an artificial lake and plenty of green areas and trees.
It was pretty cold by now since the sun started to go down and in some stretches of the garden I wished I had some goves with me because a rather chilly wind blew acros the park. In the end one hour was plenty to see the park. A nice place to hang out around during the day when its warm and have lunch maybe ..
Tags: RTW 2005/2006
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