Tokyo Japan! What we saw.
We saw so much in Japan it was a little nuts. Japan is a combination of several things: progressive, fun, quirky, traditional, affluent, and clean. We were lucky enough to see a little of it all. We arrived the day before Christmas and left 3 days later, so some of the things we wanted to see were closed. Following are our photos and some brief explanations.
We stayed in the Asakara district. It is the home to a large 6th century Buddhist Temple – Sensi-Ji Temple. The grounds are open to all tourist and it has been a place of worship for the last 1500 years. The area has an adjoining market of all types of trinkets, foods and misc items. There was a fair amount of people who dress up in traditional clothing and come to the area to take photographs. We knew they were just dressing up because of the traditional clothing rental shops nearby. It was a fun to see. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_temples_in_Japan
We spent a wonderful afternoon with a guide and several other tourists learning about the Tokyo Imperial Palace. The original palace was in a large park in Tokyo’s Chiyoda ward. The Palace burnt down in 1945 during an allied firebombing raid. It became a park in 1968. Even though it was the middle of winter, it was nice to wander the beautiful grounds and learn the history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Imperial_Palace
The Sky Tree is Tokyo’s tallest building and the 2nd tallest observation platform in the world. We went to the 350 meter hight and see the 360 degree view. We got a great view of the city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Skytree_Station
On Christmas day we wandered to Takeashiti Street. Absolutely crammed with young people who are in 15 to mid 20’s. Tons of stores selling clothing and assoceries and lots of oddities. We did miss the people dressed up in Cosplay (costume play), but we got the general idea of the area. We also got to witness a hube public scramble on a main road. A scramble is when all the traffic lights turn red at the same time on a 4 way intersection and the pedestrians cross the road any way they like – it’s a scramble. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeshita_Street
Next up was the Tsukiji Fish Market. It is 100 + year old fish market. The world’s largest fish auction selling 4 million pounds (2000 tons) of fish a day (according to Lonely Planet). We did not get to witness the auction because of the holiday season. They have increased business for the month of December so they do not allow spectators. We did get to see the surrounding market which was very interesting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukiji_fish_market
I almost got to see a pet café. A pet café lets you go in and play with their animals for a fee. Bud drew the line when I wanted to go to the Bunny café and play with the bunny’s. I thought 5 floors of bunnies and a bunny museum and a personal picture with a bunny was worth $65 per person but he nixed the idea. I almost got him to go the owl café but they were closed. Then there was the snake/reptile café but we couldn’t find it.
Thank you for following along on our adventure. Please feel free to send us questions or suggestions. Happy traveling. Beth H.
