Tokyo Day 4 The Imperial Palace East Garden, The Yasukuni Shrine and The Edo-Tokyo Museum

This morning they had the Asian version of the NY Times out for us. There were two stories about Canada and the positive reaction to Trudeau's election.  Two stories in one day must be a record.  Everyone looked a lot perkier than they did last night straight from the airport. 

This was visually a day of rock and flowers. The Imperial Palace has model's of what it once looked like but the public areas are mostly garden now. What remains is the moat and the rock walls that protected the palace.  Each rock for the walls was brought a great distance and was cut to fit. The walls were curved inwards from the bottom to withstand attacks from enemies and the pressure shifts from earthquakes. I thought they were beautiful. We have the world's english speaking expert, Beatrice Bodart-Bailey on the Shogun era. She is retired now but full of detailed stories. We drove around Tokyo while she described what had been built before the high rises and made it all come to life. The biggest surprise today was all the flowers that were blooming this time of year and many of the trees that have not even started to bloom. 

Although just a few blocks away the Tokyo Skyline seems far away 

when surrounded by the peace and history of the the Palace grounds 

We were not expecting an abundance of flowers in November

                                          Japan is so moist and temperate everything grows 
                                          quickly making the need for Bonsai on a grand scale

         A famous bridge to the cherry blossom path along the river .It looks good in the fall too



After the garden we went to the Yasukuni Shrine which is their war memorial. It recognizes the names and contribution of 2.5 million who died in the wars from 1868 to WWII. It is controversial outside of Japan because it honours what others believe are war criminals and raises worries of a rising nationalism.  Older Japanese are worried about the younger generations lack of pride in their ancestry and a fascination with all things western. There is a concerted effort to raise awareness of and respect for their own history. What I liked the best were the flower arrangements and the chrysthanemums.

                                                             The Yasukuni Shrine
                                   

                                                     There were walls of flower displays

                   

We had a hot pot lunch in a great restaurant that caters to Sumo Wrestlers. The decor was all Sumo and if we had come earlier there would probably have been wrestlers there. As it was, we made do with looking at the woodblock prints and autographed photo's of the wrestlers.  It was fun to cook things we hadn't eaten before.

After lunch we went to the Edo-Tokyou Museum, a new concept to educate students on history with dioramas and hands on experiences of living from the beginning of the Shogun era to the present. We had a wonderful guide who explained how Edo-Tokyo developed and changed from a tiny village in 1600 to today. .

                       Tokagawa the first unifying Shogun in 1603 the dynasty lasted until 1868

    Fire was a constant danger and after the massive Fire of 1867 where 100,00 died and 80% of the city burned volunteer fighter brigades were established.

Tatoos became important so people could recognized the dead.

    Woodcut of the first library.  Paper was mass produced by the early 1600's and books                   were very popular. During the 250 years of peace there was not much demand for 
    Samauri fighting skills but they were smart, respected, well educated and became         famous teachers

    
     The boats and sampans were the life blood of the city bringing food and supplies and                creating their own water communities including bath boats or floating bath houses.

This is a life size mock up of the Nihombashi bridge, an engineering marvel for it's time and the main highway into Edo. The area around it was the centre of trade and still is.

Kabuchi Theatre, more about that tomorrow

Tokyo Day 3 Uneo Park, Cemetery and Bathhouse Galley

I woke up at 3 and could only doze after that so worked on images from yesterday and posted them before I left for Uneo Park.  Tak's parents gave me the itinerary for the past two days and it was perfect.  I have been taking the gold line to avoid having to figure out Tokyo Station. I think I'm ready for it now but it was easier to walk an extra block to have a simpler system to figure out.  

At any rate Uneo Park is wonderful. There are still song birds everywhere and it was so lovely to walk along listening to them. The park is huge with ponds, fountains, temples, stone lanterns, memorials and gardens, all linked by paved paths, bicycle routes and places to eat like Starbucks and  restaurants. Around the perifery is the University, art galleries, museums, science centres and libraries.  It is just a wonderful concept to have in the middle of the city.  I don't have a context for what I'm seeing but it is fun to discover on my own and the pictures will be with me later when I do understand in more depth what they are about.  

There are huge stone lanterns, I'm curious about how they lit them

and how far thelight could be seen

Toshogo Shrine

Everything was gold leaf

A Memorial for what I don't know but it was one of my favourite

This doesn't' show very well but it is a beautiful Bonsai

  and through the circle you can see down through the park

It took me hours to work my way around and before I was finished I went further north to visit a highly rated smaller, modern art galley. It is in a renovated bath house and simply called The Bath House. I walked through wonderful neighbourhoods and found a cemetery and a saki museum on the way.  The gallery was closed but when I asked a couple passing by if they knew when it would be open it turned out they were the curators who were preparing the next show.  They invited me to come in so I could see the works.  There were only three huge paintings already hung but they were amazing...kind of vividly coloured Mark Rothko's., which I really liked. It was a long walk back to the metro but the weather was perfect, I stopped at Starbucks for a pumpkin sandwich and tea then headed home. 

                                                     From the Cemetery

We had a somewhat disorganized dinner as half of us had been here for 2-5 days and the others were late landing because of volcanic ash from th

e volcano errupting in Bali.  They were rightfully tired.  Dinner and orientation was short and to the point. There are 18 in our group I am the only Canadian.

Tokyo Day 1 and 2 Travel and Asakusa Area

Day 1: Travel Day

The hardest part was saying goodbye to little Quinn.  Last night we had a long talk about when I would be coming back and why it couldn't be in just a few sleeps.  This morning she barred the door and said she would charge me $103,000 if I left and $1 if I would just stay in my room.  She is a stoic little one and gave in to big bear hugs and promises that I loved her as much as the whole universe before I left.

Everything from then on was a piece of cake. It was the most ridiculously easy trip I’ve had anywhere. Chris drove me to the airport Sunday morning with barely a car on the road by Boston standards. We got to Terminal E (international) a bit early and there was no one in it except me and a couple of cleaning people.  I had printed off my boarding pass so check in and customs took less than 2 minutes. I spent the next hour pushing around my new luggage and getting my steps in. The Dreamliner felt properly named, mid-sized, maybe 200 seats, quiet, spacious for economy and I didn’t have anyone next to me. Darkening the windows really helped make it easier to rest. They fed us a lot and were very attentive like butterflies around us. 

All my fears of getting out of the airport in Narita and to my hotel were groundless. I was off the plan, through customs and onto the limousine bus in less than 10 min.  I couldn’t believe it. There are about 12 lanes of traffic, going the wrong way like in England, but we were in an express lane and zoomed most of the way to my drop off. I had my maps and headed in the direction I thought was right but asked a Japanese lady for confirmation.  She had worked in TO for a few years and was happy to walk with me in her direction to show me my street about 5 minutes away.  I checked in, it was about 3 am my time but 6 pm here so I went exploring to unwind a bit.  Feels very safe, and an interesting combination of upscale expensive clothing, and high tech ‘concept stores’  then around the corner on the side streets are little noodle houses and convenience stores. Weirdly there is a Starbucks across the street so I will have my Earl Grey when I want it.

The hotel is attractive, smaller, 10 story, almost european style.  The room are Japanese size about 8x 20 feet. I have a small double bed, a well designed desk,fridge, and shelves.The bathroom has a big window looking over the bed, a heated toilet seat with temp controlled bidet, and a small bath/shower. I love my room and asked the man at the front desk if I could keep it when the others came. He was happy with me. 

Day 2 

I was asleep by 9 and awake at 3 but after reading up on things to do was able to get back to sleep and now am ready to get on with the day. I think I’m really going to like this country, time to get out and see if that’s true.  

                             The Gates that eventually lead to the Temple

The Market leading up to the Temple

Masks for festivals

Shopping for handbags?

It is true.  Today was a holiday and I had a great time taking the subway up into the Asakusa area where they were celebrating something to do with storks I think as there was a parade of women dresed in stork costumes with priests or monks being drawn behind them. It has a beautiful Kaminarion Gate that takes you through blocks of market, food and souvinier shops until you come to the famous Sensouji Temple, then further on a 5 story Pagoda, and the Main Hall. Surrounding area has many other statues, memorials, and things I don't understand yet. There is an incense place to cleanse yourself before going into the temple. There are also a places  to write or choose prayers and tie them to strings, I don't understand that process either. It was also a time for families and there were lots of young girls to dress in kimono's and make like geishas, vey sweet.

                              The Five Story Pagoda, she was posing for her boyfriend

                            The closer to the Temple the more crowded it became

People took cleaning themselves seriously

The Priest at Prayer

            The Dragon on the Ceiling along with more beautiful images though less dramatic

One of several memorials to famous people

  There were several places like this where you could pay money to make wishes.More later

Another Market

                                        The side streets some little shops not so prosperous

The Geisha's in waiting

.

Some may not approve

The Celebration but a lot of people watching and even with my height, hard to get a view

 
On the way back I was going to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art but one of my subway 'helpers' pointed out that it was a holiday and the gallery would be closed.  The subways are fine, there are ticket men to help but all I have to do is take out my map and someone comes up and asks me if they can help. Tonight I explored around my neighbourhood. Japan is a photographers dream, not just all the images to photograph but because everyone is a photographer, even little kids. 

This is the South side of the Tokyo Train Station, they preserved this from the original times and there is a fancy hotel in it.  It is really a city unto itself with all kinds of designer shops, restaurants, food,travel services.  24 different train lines come there on multiple levels.  Even people who live there need to ask for some trains.  I am on the North Side Yaesu exit and it looks super modern with huge high rises on top of the train lines. Yet my street which is a 5 minute walk has cherry trees, little shops and the hotel is smaller, only 10 stories.

So after 24 hours I’m loving Japan.  I love my hotel and the little room that is not dissimilar to living in Strider. I love how easy it is to get around, I love that all I have to do is take out my map and someone stops to ask if they can help.  I love the combination of high tech, designer clothes, great art next to kitzy kittens and side streets full of little noodle houses, ticket sellers, bicycle stands. I am located in the perfect place to get around and it is so safe at night. The troops don't arrive til tomorrow night so I still get another day on my own. There is also a Starbucks across the street when I am in the need of and Earl Grey fix. Lucky, lucky me.