Japan - The Megapolis of Tokyo

Ginza Shopping District at night

Tokyo is huge and a bit overwhelming!  The subway/rail network is intricate and efficient, allowing us the ability to easily get around to all the sights, which are spread out from one end of the city to the other.  The people are very hard-working, reserved, and ultra-polite. Queues are a way of life; no pushing here.  So, with subway map in hand, we set off......

Hama-rikyu Gardens- nothing like a good Japanese Garden to relax the soul- especially one in the urban center of Tokyo!  Once the garden and hunting grounds of the Tokugawa Shogun family, it was severely damaged by earthquakes and bombings during the war, but was restored and opened in 1946.  The garden is noted for its saltwater tidal pond (seawater is drawn from the Tokyo Bay next to the park) controlled by a set of locks.  Within the park are several wooden tea houses located beside the various ponds, along with other traditional Japanese garden features such as wooden bridges, pagodas and pergolas.  As we were exiting the park, we stopped to speak with the security guard....excellent English!  Of course, he used to work for Sony in Montvale, NJ- 15 minutes from our former New Jersey home!!! 

                                                                     

Our Mount Fuji trip was a surprisingly successful adventure.  We wanted to book a tour there, but there was no availability for the date we wanted.  Any of the other available dates had rain predicted.  Rain = no visibility.  So it was suggested by the local tourist office to take a bus on our own, and we reserved our seats online for the next day.  We arrived in Kawaguchiko, then hiked around the lake to get the best viewpoint and waited for the clouds to dissipate. And waited.  And waited.  There was a family from Australia we befriended at our chosen viewpoint who had arrived just as we had and also hiked to the same spot.  Together we waited.  Finally, about two hours later, we got the view of Mount Fuji that we waited for (well, almost....but it was the best we were going to get).  Many make the trek out to Mount Fuji and have zero visibility after having spent hundreds of dollars (or Yen) for the tour.  We considered ourselves lucky!

The remaining four days in Tokyo were a whirlwind, getting to all the popular sights we could fit in:

Yummy Sushi

Tsukiji Fish Market- the largest wholesale seafood market in the world; over 400 types of seafood are handled, amounting to over 2,000 tons of fish and other seafood/day.  It has been in operation since the 16th century. There is an inner market where fish trading and a tuna auction are held, but the public is not permitted and can only visit the outer wholesale/retail market.  We enjoyed some wonderful sushi and an enormous fire-broiled scallop.

Preparing our scallop

Scallop finished

Our Sushi choices!

Imperial Palace and Garden- nice garden, and probably a spectacular site when the cherry blossoms are blooming.  Thought we could get into the palace, but it is not open to the public. 

Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (MOMAT)- exhibits of paintings, prints, sculptures, and a nice exhibit on Japanese crafts of textiles, lacquer ware, ceramics, and porcelain.

Shinjuku Gyoen- Tokyo’s equivalent of Central Park.  It is huge, with several gardens within the park: French formal garden, English style garden, a specimen rose garden, and a typical traditional Japanese garden. There was a beautiful greenhouse with tropical specimens as well as open lawn areas for special events, like the current children’s wood products design award winners.

Tokyo Government Office- I should have been so lucky to work in such a beautiful municipal government building!  This government complex consists of three buildings: the first two were eight and seven stories high, respectively, and the third tower is 48 stories high which splits into two separate towers at the 33rd floor.  The observation deck has incredible views of the Tokyo metropolitan area and on a very clear day (it was fairly clear, but not enough), Mt Fuji can be seen in the distance.  BTW- free to the public!



Meiji Jingu Shrine- a Shinto Shrine, considered Japan’s most ancient religion based on harmony and traditional values.  It is situated in a forest with 100,000 trees with were brought in from all over Japan and the rest of the world.  The people of Tokyo volunteered their time to plant these trees, completed in 1920.  There was a traditional Japanese Wedding being held during our visit!

Harajuku- a pedestrian only shopping area (Takeshita Street), that is also the name of a specific fashion style associated with young Japanese girls.  The Harajuku fashion style has young girls dressing up like anime characters, punks, or cute dolls.  It was bizarre......

Shibuya- this is one of Tokyo’s shopping mecca districts and is also home to the Shibuya pedestrian crossing and traffic intersection.  This crossing is one of the most photographed spots in modern Tokyo and one of the busiest crossings in the world.  It certainly was!

Before the pedestrian crossing signal.....

And the pedestrians cross! One full minute of humanity moving.......

                                                

Sensoji Temple- Tokyo’s oldest temple built in 645 to accommodate a statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (a Kannon who devoted himself to Buddhism), found in the nets of fishermen in 628.  On the temple grounds is a five-story pagoda where the original statue is kept hidden, while a replica statue is on display for the public in the temple.  During our visit, the annual Shinto festival was underway with barely-clad Shinto warriors (yes..... it was a virtual female candy store, and these men definitely waxed).

Asakusa Shrine- right next to the Sensoji Temple built in 1649.  It honors the three men (the three fishermen) who found the original Kannon statue housed next door.

Tokyo National Museum- the oldest and largest museum in Japan, it houses 87 Japanese national treasures and 610 pieces considered important cultural properties.  The collection includes books, decorative art, calligraphy, sculptures, archaeological findings, ceramics, lacquer wear, textiles, armor, metalwork, and photographs.  Found several pieces I would have liked to buy, but of course they were priceless museum artifacts not for sale.....

I particularly loved the above (middle) warrior battle armor.  The woven silk and bamboo detailing certainly makes for a great fashion statement on the battlefield, but not too sure of its protective value......

Tokyo National Museum

Ueno Park- one of Tokyo’s first public parks, it serves not only as open space, but also is home to several important institutions:

• The Tokyo National Museum
• Tokyo Culture Hall (home of Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra)
• The National Museum of Western Art
• The Shitamachi Museum
• The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art
• The National Science Museum 
• Ueno Zoo.  

One could easily spend a week just in the park visiting all the museums.  Unfortunately, we had a single afternoon.

Akihabara- Tokyo’s high-tech district with store after store selling electronic “toys” and gadgets to satisfy any grown male.

Final thoughts on Japan:

Retail Therapy is huge throughout Japan with a high-end malls just about every block or so in the major cities.  Everything is at least twice the price of the US, and Japanese fashion is very smart and sophisticated.

Transportation and Infrastructure: organized, extensive, and extremely user-friendly.  Bullet trains are excellent.  Bike lanes everywhere.  Even have self-park bike garages.  Utilities are clearly and artistically marked.  Using the metro in any city we visited in Japan was well mapped and easy to use with schematic diagrams of the metro, bus, and rail lines.  All ticketing machines were multi-lingual and electronic displays within the metro cars were clear as to next/upcoming stops and were always announced in both Japanese and English.

place your bike in the slot and it parked underground in a totally automated system.

underground fire hydrants

Cleanliness is big.  Streets are spotless, even more impressive considering we could never find a trash can while out and about.  Shop owners sweep and wash the sidewalks regularly.

Presentation is huge.  Whether it is displaying merchandise in a store, food in a restaurant or shop, how employees dress and behave, or how purchases are wrapped, Japan has this down to a science.  Everyone bows for everything......bus and train drivers and conductors bow when entering/leaving a vehicle, and even the airline employees at the flight gate bow facing the waiting room just prior to opening up a gate for boarding a flight.

Japanese are friendly, despite what you might have read.  They are, however, very reserved and polite, which may seem stand-offish.  Whenever we were standing somewhere trying to figure out where we needed to go, we were always approached by random strangers to see if we needed help.

Queuing was always organized and orderly.  Unlike China where pushing and queue jumping was a common occurrence, Japanese wait off to the side for people to exit a bus, train, or subway before they would begin to enter. 

Searing our Wagyu and Kobe Beef at our table

Food was amazing.  Even cheap food.  Period.  




They are certainly gearing up for the 2020 Olympics.  There is no doubt in my mind they will be ready when the time arrives......

Where did the Orbach's travel in Japan?