After our rather relaxed day yesterday, Rich and I decided to make the most of a full day sight seeing in Tokyo, starting by taking in panoramic views of the city from the observation decks in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.
“Standing at the bottom we looked up at the gargantuan building beside us.”
There are lots of places to get a birds eye view of the city so Rich and I narrowed down our choice by going to the one that was free of charge!
Standing at two hundred and forty three meters tall, the building has two towers, the north and south, with an observatory in each at a height of two hundred and two meters.
Standing at the bottom we looked up at the gargantuan building beside us, shimmering in the light of the morning sun.
With only a few white clouds dotted around the blue sky, we were fortunate to have a great conditions to see for miles across Tokyo.
From the elevated views of Tokyo, we came back down to earth and visited the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden.
A beautiful city park with miles and miles to roam around. With the sun out there were hundreds of people enjoying the park and all it had to offer.
I would have happily lay out on a blanket on the grass for the rest of the day, were it not for the fear of missing out on seeing everything else Tokyo had in store for us.
“We were actually in Tokyo at the perfect time to see the cherry blossom trees in full bloom apparently.”
We walked around the three main areas of the park, the English landscape garden that made me feel like I was back in Hyde Park in London, the Japanese garden complete with ponds and wooden bridges to cross them, as well as grassy areas adorned with cherry blossom trees and finally the French formal garden.
Everywhere we went it was peaceful, tranquil, quiet, beautiful and quite simply was a place I didn’t want to leave.
The peace and tranquility no doubt arises from the fact you are not allowed to play ball games in the park and no alcohol is permitted either.
We were actually in Tokyo at the perfect time to see the cherry blossom trees in full bloom apparently, however the weather had been unseasonably warm before we arrived and the masses of pink blossoms had been and gone.
We did see a few cherry blossom trees in bloom but I would have loved to have seen them on mass like this. Ah well, another reason to come back to Tokyo I suppose!
Our next stop was Yoyogi Park (Yoyogi Kōen) and on a sunny Sunday, it attracts musicians, artists, sport lovers, and those that love the weird and the wonderful.
On our way there we spotted people dressed up in harajuku style clothing and a colourful gay pride march taking place along the road. It certainly started to set the scene for the myriad of spectacles we were about to encounter in Yoyogi Park.
“The atmosphere was electric.”
The park was filled with people, sound, activity and fun. We saw people dressed up head to toe in fancy dress outfits, an artist painting to dance music while people waited to see what masterpiece would be created, a clown entertaining children, bands playing all kinds of music, someone playing the saxophone underneath the shade of the tree overlooking a pond and a group of dancers dressed up as Elvis taking it in turns to show off their best dance moves.
The atmosphere was electric. And amongst all the craziness we saw the most quintessential thing about Japanese culture, Japanese people taking off their shoes before sitting down on a blanket and putting them neatly around the edge of the it.
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and Yoyogi Park are at the opposite ends of the spectrum but each in its own right is a place that has to be experienced in Tokyo.
A short walk from Yoyogi Park is the Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingū). As we walked through woodland paths to reach the shrine we saw barrels stacked high and wide with sake from brewers in Japan and wine sent from France each year as a gesture of continued good relations between the two countries.
“It was thrilling and a very special moment indeed.”
The shrine was completed and dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and the Empress Shoken in 1920, it was destroyed during the second world war and rebuilt again not long after.
The shrine was beautiful but the thing that made our visit extra special was that a wedding was taking place when we arrived!
We were only a few feet away from the wedding procession as they walked through the courtyard area of the shrine and past us. It was thrilling and a very special moment indeed.
From the traditional wedding party at the Meiji Shrine, we then moved on to Harajuku, the center of Japan’s most extreme fashion styles and home to Takeshita Street (Takeshita Dori).
A bustling street lined with shops and crowded with people, many dressed in costume to look like their favourite Japanese anime characters or Japanese street fashion.
On our way back to the hostel for dinner, we stopped by the Shibuya Crossing, a huge pedestrian crossing outside Shibuya Station. It is one of the busiest crossings in the world and is viewed brilliantly from the first floor window of Starbucks!
At Shibuya Station, Rich also stopped for a quick photo at the Hachiko Statue. The statue of a famous dog remembered for great loyalty to his owner, Professor Hidesaburo Ueno.
Hachiko arrived to meet him at the station everyday after work. Sadly, Professor Hidesaburo Ueno died whilst at work and for the following nine years, Hachiko continued to go to Shibuya station and wait for his master’s train to bring him back from work.
After dinner at our hostel, Rich and I headed out under the dark night sky to Akihabara, famous for it’s abundance of electrical shops, gaming arcades and luminous shop facades.
Unable to purchase any electrical items due to the restriction of weight, travelling with only cabin baggage, we soaked up the sights of the neon lit buildings as we walked along the street and tried our hand at winning a keepsake toy in one of the game stores.
Unfortunately, I didn’t win anything but Rich did! So we now have our very own Japanese teddy, which is named Bubble and weighs barely anything!
After a busy day sightseeing we headed back to our hostel for our last night in Japan.
All that lay ahead for us was a final morning of sight seeing around Tokyo before we had to leave this amazing country.
Lambs on the loose 