Tokyo - Day 11

After breakfast the first course of action was to buy a Tokyo Metro ticket. As I walked to Skinjuku station I snapped the following photo of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office.

Now I had done some research on using the subway in Tokyo and the first thing I needed to acquire was a PASMO card. This would allow me to save an amount on Yen that I could use when I travelled simply by swiping the PASMO card. This would be very handy since at this stage I wasn't exactly sure where I was going.

When I arrived Shinjuku station there were plenty of people but not as many as I expected. This was most likely because it was a weekend. I headed to the first bank of ticket machines I could find but couldn't find any that dispensed the PASMO card. Hmmm. I then headed off to be closer to actual platform and viola, here was the machine I was after. The ticket has a button that allows you to display the commands in English so I proceeded to obtain a card and added 4,000 Yen to the card to cover my subway travels. With that complete I headed to the platform for the Marunouchu Line.

The Tokyo Metro is really pretty easy to use. You simply locate the line on which you wish to travel (it is colour coded). You then determine the station you are at and the station you wish to get to. Each station has a number. Simply go to the platform that will take you in the right direction and hop on the train. Most stations have the English displayed underneath the Japanese and most of the signs again have English displayed underneath the Japanese.

My first stop was going to be Tokyo station which would bring me out near the Imperial Palace. After exiting the Metro station it took me a few moments to obtain my bearings (as it always seems to) and from there I proceeded to the Palace.

The first thing that struck me about the Palace is how impeccable maintained it is. All the grass is newly mowed and the whole place is immaculate.

The most famous landmark of the Palace is the Nijubashi, a double arched stone bridge, east of the Palace. Complete in 1888 and is the Palace's main entrance.

From there I decided that I'd walk around the Palace grounds. So I headed south.

As I started walking around the grounds I noticed a pointy brown building that I had seen in my guide book (in the centre of the above picture) so I decided to head over to have a look since it wasn't too far away.

The building is actually the Japanese Diet or parliament building. I continued back towards the boundary of the Palace grounds.

Along the way I snapped the above picture of the Japanese nation theatre (I think). What it illustrates is the fact that I thought Tokyo would simply be a concrete jungle but in fact there is a surprising amount of flora in a city this large.

The moat runs around most of the Palace grounds. On the opposite side of the road I found the very impressive British Embassy.

By now I was reaching the northern side of the Palace grounds. I decided to head across the road and visit Kitanomaru park because I wanted to see the Nippon Budokan.

The Budokan is where the Judo competition was held during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Apparently these days it is mainly used for rock concerts but there was some sort of judo tournament happening when I was there.

I headed back towards the Palace grounds again passing the Science and Technology museum.

I now entered the East Garden of the Imperial Palace which is open to the public. Interestingly they give you a domino like ticket that you have to return when you leave this part of the Palace.

Once again you can see how immaculately the grounds are maintained.

I headed out of the Eastern Gardens through another magnificent gate.

After a little more walking I was back where I started looking at the Nijubashi bridge.

I now headed to the south east corner of the Palace park and came across the following statue.

 

From here I decided to head back towards the centre of Tokyo to Ginza.

Since it was a weekend (actually a 3 day weekend as I would find out later) they had closed the main street (Chou-dori) and had places to dine as well as allowing people a place to while away a weekend.

 

A bit further down Chou-dori I came across the San’ai building, a very famous landmark in Tokyo. It looks more impressive at night and I promised myself that I would return one night to get some more shots.

As you down the streets you get a better idea of the number of people wandering around, and don’t forget this is a weekend!

Another good example is the above shot of the crossing at Harumi-dori and Sotobori-dori (near the Sony Showroom). Basically there are 5 corners and a crossing from each to the other side. When the lights say walk, everyone walks and the tarmac disappears into a sea of people.

I walked around a bit more heading east and came across the Kabuki-za theatre.

I vowed to return to Ginza at night to get a better idea of what the place was like after dark but for now I headed to the subway to grab a train north to Ueno Park. 

After hopping off the subway I entered Ueno Park. I headed to the southern end of the park and to the Saigo Takamori statue.

Saigo after the leader of the Meiji forces instigated the Satsuma rebellion against the Emperor in 1877. He killed himself when this failed but was posthumously pardoned.

Just besides Saigo’s statue is the Tomb of the Shogi Tai. It is dedicated to the many samurai who died in the battle of Ueno in 1868.

From there I walked north to the Kiyo-mizu hall which was part of the original Kanei-ji temple.

A little further north is this pagoda which is over five stories. It dates from the 17th century and stands in the grounds of Ueno zoo which contains giant pandas.

A long the path to the west are all these lanterns.

At the end of the path is the Tosho-gu shrine.

It cost me about 200 Yen to go inside the Shrine and to do so you must remove your shoes. There is not a lot inside to see but it is still amazing to think how old the structure is.

From here I headed north past the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum  and towards the Tokyo National Museum.

A bit further along from the gate in the above picture is the actual entrance. Being a weekend there were plenty of people already going in so as I was starting to feel a bit tired from all the walking I had done I decided to give the museum a miss and return during a weekday when hopefully there wasn’t as many people.

As there was still some time left in the day I had a look through my guide book to see what else was close by. I decided to head east and visit the Senso-ji temple. I figured that being a weekend there wouldn’t be too many people at a temple.

As you can see from most of the above shots I couldn’t be more wrong! Talk about people! When you enter the Shrine through the initial gate (last photo above) you walk down a long path with shops on either side (first shot above). This is were I got my first true experience of crowds in Tokyo. It wasn’t an issue after overcoming the initial shock. This is something you have to get used to in Tokyo – people.

After walking around the Shrine for a while I decided it was time to head back to my hotel and get ready for my trip to Mt Fuji tomorrow.

Travelling to Tokyo – Day 10

Time to change the scenery. After breakfast I checked out of my hotel and headed up to the Holiday Inn to catch the Vancouver Airport Shuttle. In no time at all I was at Vancouver International Airport checking in for my Japan Airlines flight to Tokyo.

After making my way to gate I settled in for a spot of reading before the flight. I noticed that the JAL staff we coming around to everyone and asking for their travel documents, just being extra secure I assumed.

Once aboard the flight I found interesting that this JAL flight had a live camera on front of the aircraft and it was on during both the take off and landing. I have never seen any other airline do that. Not 100% sure whether it is something I’d always like to see but I acknowledge that it something rather novel.

I have also got to say that service on JAL was excellent, even though I was travelling economy. They come through the cabin at regular intervals offering refreshments and any other assistance. Top marks for service JAL.

After touching down in Tokyo I joined the long immigration queue. As luck would have it, as I rounded a bend an official opened the barrier and ushered us to another entrance location, so I was now second from the front.

After passing immigration I collected my bags and passed through customs with nothing to declare. Outside I was greeted by someone holding a sign with my name. They told me to wait while they obtained my shuttle bus ticket. Next thing I knew I was outside the terminal waiting in line to get on the bus to the city. Within a matter of a few more moments I was on the shuttle bus heading to the city. Amazing! I would have been less than 15 minutes from the moment I touched down until I was on my way to the city. That is efficiency for you.

The ride on bus to the heart of Tokyo takes about 45 minutes and as we approached the city I got a good look at the scenery in the fading light.

The end of the trip was Skinjuku station. I hopped off grabbed my bags and headed down the stairs, following the instructions I had been provided to meet the hotel shuttle bus. I thought that I was going to have walk from Skinjuku station to my hotel (a few hundred metres) but I was glad to not have to.

After locating what I believed to be the correct location to meet the shuttle I had time to stop and look at just how many people were commuting, as it was now afternoon peak hour. Talk about a human sea. As I was standing around, waiting for the hotel shuttle, I was approached by a Japanese person who had been on the bus with me. He had seen me just standing there and simply wanted to ensure that I wasn’t lost (or simply overcome by the crowd). I showed him the documentation about the location to meet the shuttle, which he checked and confirmed I was in the right place. From there he headed on his way. This sort of gesture is typical of what I would find throughout my time in Japan, everyone was so helpful.

My shuttle arrived, I jumped aboard, checked in and was soon relaxing in my room. I was initially worried that I would have trouble getting to the hotel given the language issues but my concerns were unfounded.

The next problem I needed to solve was a lack of local currency. I needed to find an ATM so I could get cash to get something to eat and be ready for my exploring tomorrow. So I set off into the night heading for the bright lights of Shinjuku. As I walked the streets I was amazed at how people there were and the fact that there didn’t appear to be any ATM’s. I walked and walked until I saw a Citibank sign. Ah ha. Sure enough here was a Citibank ATM. I popped in my ANZ Travelcard, and got some Japanese Yen, easy as.

I headed back to the hotel, grabbed dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel. From there I headed up to my room for an early night ready for my first day in Tokyo tomorrow. I can assure you I had no problems falling asleep.