Tokyo

March 17-20, 2024

As we compose this posting it is Tuesday afternoon.  We have been in Tokyo since Sunday morning.  Tokyo is a city of over 14 million people, its metropolitan area numbers 37 million.  It is huge in area.  Any excursion we take is a minimum 30 minute bus ride. Some longer depending on traffic. We have been pleasantly surprised at the the number of green areas we have seen. Large parks, large athletic fields big enough for 3 or 4 soccer pitches, and gardens.  We have also visited a Shinto Temple that is in the middle of a small forest, but still technically in Tokyo.  Tokyo is also an amazingly clean city.  Even in somewhat run down areas of town that we have bused through there is no filth.  After a series of terrorist bombings where the bombs where hidden in trash cans, the city removed virtually  every trash can.  The people of Tokyo have taken it upon themselves to take any trash they produce home with them.  Tokyo is also remarkably quiet considering how congested it can be. We have not heard one horn honked the whole time we have been here.  We have also not heard many sirens.  The nicest thing of all is that the people are friendly and considerate, even helpful at times. What a concept.

Sunday morning our ship arrived in Tokyo and we took a cruise excursion to a garden that was built by one of the Emporers who came into power after the Shogun dynasty, also know as the Edo period of Japanese history.  This was not a particularly large garden but was typical of Japanese gardens in that it had large water features throughout. Unfortunately, we are too early in the Spring to see much color in the gardens. This garden like the others we've visited is a walled garden. What may be of minor interest to some of you is that outside the walls of the garden is a domed baseball stadium that is home to the Tokyo Giants, the New York Yankees of Japanese baseball.  From this garden we were bused to the Tokyo Tower.  This edifice was modeled after the Eiffel Tower in Paris and stands over 1000 meters tall. It provides amazing views of Tokyo and on a clear day one can see Mt. Fuji.  Unfortunately, Sunday was a very warm day so there was a considerable haze in the sky meaning we will leave Japan without seeing Mt Fuji.

Early Monday morning we sadly disembarked the Seven Seas Explorer.  As we have mentioned we are doing a three day extension in Tokyo so that once we had left the ship and cleared customs, we were on a full day excursion.  Our first stop was another garden, this one created by one of the Shoguns of the Edo period. The same family of Shoguns ran Japan's feudal system for well over 270 years, well into the 19th century.  This garden was much like the one yesterday. It featured impressive water features and few plants in bloom. There was a large field of Canola flowers in bloom. This plant is used to make canola oil. After leaving this garden we drove to the site of a large Buddist Temple built by the the great, great, great, great grandfather of the present emporer of Japan.  The emporer who built this temple was the first emperor to begin to open Japan to western ideas. He was the first emporer to not wear his hair in a top knot and began to wear western clothing. On the walk back to the temple we passed a spot along the path where on one side of the road there were long, open shelves holding a large number of containers of sake wine.  Each year all of the sake producers in Japan donate a container of sake to the temple.  Across the road was an equal number of long shelves with barrels of fine french wine donated each year. The emperor obviously was anxious to sample western beverages. This is one of Tokyo's largest and most popular temples.  On the first, second, and third days of January, a national holiday for the country, almost 3 million Japanese buddists flock to the temple to prayer for a good luck filled new year. One unique feature to this temple is an area very much like a carport in that United States that one can bring their car to have it blessed for good health in the coming year. Evidently the Japanese don't trust their car warranties. 

Next on the schedule was a typical Japanese business luncheon. The only food on the lucheon menu we recognized was shasimi, rice, soup and tempura shrimp and vegetables. We were both pretty adventurous in trying the different dishes.  Some we liked and some we did not. The people from our tour at the next table thought it to be one of the worst meals they have ever eaten. They obviously don't understand the point of traveling. After lunch we stopped at a market that the Emperor in the late 1800's had built to attract foreign businesses. It worked so well the market ended up closing and now is maintained as a historic landmark. By this point in the day we were a weary group of travelers anxious to check into our hotel.  We are staying at the Tokyo Hilton which is very nice. We had the rest of the afternoon and evening to ourselves. 

Tuesday morning's  excursion started at the Japanese National History Museum.  Between the late start of the tour and the heavy traffic we ended up with only about 45 minutes to visit this museum.  All we saw were the highlights of the history of art in Japan and several rooms dedicated to the history of Samuari warriors.  From there we went to a very large and one of the first Shinto Shrines built in Tokyo. The large welcoming arches were very impressive. Because of the large crowds visiting on Tuesday we only got a quick glimpse of the shrine itself.  Just enough of a glimpse to be impressed with its beauty.  The best part of this shrine was the people watching. This week marked the end of the school year for Japanese students and they were out in full force at the shrine. Many of the young teenage girls were parading about in groups, all dressed in lovely kimonos. Our guide said this was a bit of a right of passage for young girls as it was, for many of them, their first time out in public in a kimono. This shrine also featured a large area of shops selling high end souvenirs. Again, between the large crowds and the delayed start of the day we did not have the time we would have liked to browse through these stalls. From here it was back to the hotel where we had the rest of the day to ourselves.  After a much needed rest from yesterday's long day and today's tour we set out on our own to a nearby area called "the scramble".  Technically it is called the "Shibuya Scramble Crossing".  There are 5 or 6 streets that all enter the large plaza in front of the Shibuya train station. What happens is all the pedestrians stand at the crosswalks around the plaza while the traffic miraculously negotiates its way through with all streets having a green light. When all the traffic lights turn red then all of the pedestrians flood across the plaza at the same time.  It is an amazing sight to see. Tim has posted a  minute long video of this "scramble" on his Facebook page.  Check it out.  Words cannot describe what a sight this is.  The vibe in the area was incredible so we just hung out a bit, found a place for dinner, and took a taxi back to the hotel.

Wednesday was also a bad day for the tour folks.  The first order of business was to drive out to the harbor area where we would see where Tokyo had reclaimed the land from the sea to make more room for business offices and apartment high-rises.  Today was also a national holiday in Japan celebrating the spring equinox. Because of the holiday there was very little traffic so we made our way out to the harbor area rather easily. The plan was to stop at the Fuji Television office building which has an observation deck on it's 24th floor that would give us a great view of the Tokyo skyline from this point of view.  What no one planned on was a large display of dinasaurs being held for young kids in the TV office building. Our guide had to completely rearrange the logistics for our entering the building and getting to the 24th floor.  We ended up spending an hour and half more at this stop then expected  with most of the time spent standing around. Fortunately, it was fun watching all the kids dressed up like dinasaurs.  We also were able to see a copy of our Statue of Liberty standing on the edge of the harbour.  Our tour guide claimed this was actually a replica of the original Statue of Liberty that France build and used as a model for the Statue of Liberty they gave us. France gave this one to Japan in honor of Japan hosting its first Olympic Games in 1964. We left the harbor area and quickly made our way to the Ginza. The Ginza is a famous shopping area in Tokyo that consists of only high end stores. Fashion stores know they have "made it" when they open a store on the Ginza.  Because of the holiday, about 4 or 5 blocks of the main street of the Ginza were closed to traffic so we could stroll down the center of the street taking in all of the high fashion.  After a nice lunch we braved the Tokyo Metro back to our hotel.

This is the last day of our trip to Japan and we have had a wonderful time.  Tomorrow morning we fly non-stop from Tokyo to Chicago and then a quick trip to Detroit.  We hate to rub it in but we are again flying business class, the only way to survive a 15 hour flight.  Thanks again to all of you who have followed along either on the blog or Facebook.  We have enjoyed your comments. And don't forget to check today's Facebook post with lots of Tokyo pictures.  We will be back again in July when we take Jil, Rob, Jeff and Heather on a 7 day cruise around Iceland to celebrate our 55th wedding anniversary.