-Yes, it's raining in Tokyo today. Started out as a misty drizzle this morning and gradually became an annoyingly wet, heavy drizzle but it hasn't stopped us from doing anything. Today was our day with our volunteer guide, Sumiko, who teaches English part-time at an International School. We bought umbrellas at the 100 yen shop - actually they cost 210 yen, or about $2.30. Today we covered a lot of territory, much of it off the beaten (tourist) track because that is one of the advantages of having a private guide. We visited Zojo-ji Temple this morning which is only a few hundred metres from our hotel, then off to Meguro Gajo-en - an old mansion which has been rebuilt into a 21st century hotel - spectacular. Lovely gardens and a major wedding celebration spot. We stopped at another beautiful temple and then lunched at a fantastic little restaurant in the back streets of Meguro. Whoever said that Tokyo was expensive (probably me) hasn't lived like a local. Three fantastic meals for less than $20.
We then travelled on JR (above ground) and Metro (underground) rail to Meiji Shrine which is one of the most beautiful places in central Tokyo with spectacular gardens nestled in an oasis, quite close to Harajuku street where the pretty young things like to shop. We then went to Shinjuku where the busiest intersection in the world allows several thousand people to cross the intersection at each change of lights - all traffic is stopped and the intersection is open to pedestrians. An amazing sight.
Yesterday we did a half day tour of Tokyo including a visit to the observation level of Tokyo Tower and fortunately, the weather yesterday was spectacular - fine and sunny and 24 degrees. We saw most of the major sites (very quickly) and it gave us a quick overview of the layout and what we wanted to re-visit. In the afternoon, we validated our rail passes and caught the monorail to Obeida, a man-made island in Tokyo Bay, which is something of a pleasure palace with shopping malls, restaurants, a huge ferris wheel and amusements for kids and adults, including some quite spectacular buildings. We finished up at dusk in Ginza which is as spectacular as all the stories tell us - the road had been closed during the day because yesterday was a public holiday (Sports Day) which commemorated the opening day of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
Sports Day reminds me now of our experience at the Emporer's Palace Garden, which we visited with the 1/2 day tour - the main plaza was closed because the Emporer and Empress were on their way to a function and we were told to keep behind the barriers. As it happened, we were waiting for the cars to pass so we could get into the plaza and the motorcade passed and we were within a few metres of the Emporer's car when the windows were down and the Royal couple waved to us from the car - actually to me specifically! Quite an experience as the average Tokyo-ite may see them perhaps once or twice in a life-time.
Sunday night when we arrived here, after an hour's drive in from the airport, we managed to dump our bags and freshen up and, desperately in need of a drink and some sustenance, we found an Izakaya on the corner at the end of the street, we went in and thoroughly enjoyed a typical Tokyo experience - a simple meal of yakitori (bbq skewers of chicken, pork and seafood) with a bowl of noodles and several beers. Fantastic!
Last night, after our busy day, we bought spirits in the 7/11 and enjoyed a couple of quiter ones in our room before heading out for dinner. Being Sports Day, a public holiday, many of the regular places were closed and we finished up in a local restaurant where we had no idea what we were going to get. No english spoken except a few fractured words but we eventually found that it was a chicken restaurant, so we were quite happy with that. Then we realised that the degustation menu included 10 courses of the chicken from one end to the other - yakitori cooked on an enlarged hibashi. We 'enjoyed' wings, thighs, gizzard, quail eggs, sashimi (seared outside - raw inside), breast, skin, liver and hip, along with yakitori vegetable and some fabulous salads
No comments:
Post a Comment