The Mums (Carol and Susan) in Japan


We arrived home from Kyoto and the next morning, again up at 5:30am and off to Tokyo.

(Photos by everyone involved)

Day 5 - Another early morning - Tokyo Bound


Examples of the Bento boxes at the station. The little snack boxes include a little of everything.



We took the Shinkansen 700 series bullet train to Tokyo. The Nozomi (meaning Hope) train is the fastest of the Shinkansen trains and stops only once between Nagoya and Tokyo. We traveled the 342km in 1 hour 42 minutes.


Hello from Tokyo

The Imperial Palace


Nijubashi bridge at the imperial palace, said to be the most photographed spot in Japan. The Imperial palace was not visible, just the walls and guard houses.

" During the height of the 1980s Japanese property bubble, the palace was purportedly valued by some as equivalent to the value of all the real estate in the state of California" - wiki page on the Imperial Palace


Walking around the palace


wait, photo...


Walking around the palace moat


Another coffee along the way. I was a hard road that we traveled.

The Gallery of Western Art

After going to the palace we headed off to Ueno park and to Tokyo's European Art gallery. There are a number of terrific impressionist paintings and it was well worth the visit.


Here our mothers braved the umbrella storage machines for the first time.


Browsing the gallery

The Market at Ueno


Beside Ueno station is a bustling market, selling food, designer bags, golf gear, knock offs,etc. Quite good for a bit of a shop.


We popped in and out of subway stations through both days. Spotless.


It looks confusing, but most of the places we went to were on the orange line.

Ginza

Ginza is the place to go for large department stores and designer brands. We had a poke around but were more interested in people watching, so we headed off to Shibuya.

One of the entrances to Ginza Subway station

Shibuya

Shibuya is full of young people hanging out. Bright neon and lots of people. We loved it.


Watching as the crowds rushed by.


Center Gai Shibuya is reputedly the worlds busiest intersection. We spent ages watching the huge crowds rush by.


Once the lights changed it was madness


The statue of Hachiko. Like Bobby in Scotland, this was a sad story of a dog waiting for his master. Hachikō waited at the station every day for his master who died, but the loyal dog kept looking for his master every day for the next 11 years. Click on the Hachikō link to read a fascinating story.


Susan and Hachikō.


The neon at night


more neon


and more


checking the camera


A night view of the crossing with the crowds ready to go.


For dinner, we went to an Australian restaruant in Shibuya called Arossa.I really enjoyed the menu, the food and especially the wine. The wine list was full of interesting and familiar Australian wines It was a real find .

Day 6 - On the road again

Today we headed back to Tokyo station then out to Harajuku. Luckily we had really good weather.


I'll just take a shot of Michael, he is doing something interesting


I'll just take a shot of Susan, he is doing something interesting (2 shutter bugs at work)


The Tokyo International forum building

Harajuku

Known for the hip fashions and trend setting Harajuku was definitely a good place for people watching.


Exploring the streets


I stopped the holiday when I found roast chicken. First time for a while and it was delicious.


The amazing kiddyland store in Harajuku. Six stories of fun kid stuff. There were areas for each trendy character like Hello Kitty, Transformers, Spiderman, disney, and all the weird Japanese cartoons. A must see for any visitor to Tokyo.

Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen

It rained all the way from Nagoya the day before and we could not see Mount Fuji, but today the weather was good and we were lucky to get a great view.


Mt Fuji from the Shinkansen


Mt Fuji from the Shinkansen


A tea plantation from the train.


Previous Visit

Pam and I have been to Tokyo before. We did quite different things, so if you want to have a look at some other photos then try here

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