Toyko – Beginning of our Adventure

We had a very active trip with little downtime, and also we had poor internet on the ship, so I had to wait until we got home to start our trip posts. Our first post is below – more to follow.

After a very long journey, we arrived in Tokyo at 7:00 a.m. on October 24th. It was so nice to be met at the airport by Masako, the first of the 6 “guides” Jorge organized for us. Masako dropped us at our hotel and we had a few hours of rest before our “touring” began with our next guide, Makiko.

Masako picked us up at the airport and drove us to our hotel and then headed to work. We did a gift bag (maple syrup and maple fudge along with a Canadian pin and a thank you card) for each of our “guides”.

We were staying at the Niwa Hotel which is a small hotel in a quiet neighbourhood. The beds were really comfortable and the hotel staff friendly so it was a perfect location for us.

Makiko met us at our hotel at 2:00 and we headed out for tea at Hotel Gajoen, which is a very beautiful old hotel. It is known for its artwork and for the dignitaries and celebrities who have stayed there (rooms started at $1,100+ per night).

The founder of the hotel commissioned Japan’s top artists of the day to create murals, ceiling art and sculptures which adorn all areas of the hotel. There is also a beautiful outdoor garden and the Hyakudan Kaidan, a tangible cultural property, consisting of a wooden structure and a 100 stairs to a number of art exhibits.

**The walls on the way to the hotel restaurant were adorned with beautiful tapestries**

**Elevator doors and interior were beautiful**

**I can’t imagine wearing this elaborate kimono**

**The 100 stairs and a few rooms is all that is left of the original Gajoen building. It has been designated as a “tangible cultural property”.**

**This exibit is titled “One Hundred Aspects of the Moon”**. **The grasses swayed to the music – very peaceful**

**Where we had tea overlooked the waterfall and gardens at the Hotel Gajoen.**

Makiko wanted us to see the area where she lives and shops and also wanted us to meet her son Kai (a high energy youngster who took a shine to Larry). The store she took us to reminded us of Whole Foods – well merchandised and it had everything you would need to make a meal and much more. Makiko’s apartment was small, but they made very good use of the space. We really enjoyed dinner with Makiko and Kai at a small local restaurant which served hamburg not hamburger as the sign states – there was a line-up to get in and an even longer line when we left.

Tokyo is one of the world’s most populous metropolis with a population of just over 14M residents (twice as much as Toronto) so we were happy to have help getting around. Our second guide was Rie, a University student who Masako arranged for us. With Masako’s help Rie organized some wonderful sites.

First stop with Rie was Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No 1. It was a great spot to get a 360 view of the city from the 45th floor observatory.

**Meiji Jingu Shrine is the green area amongst all of the highrises**

Next stop was the Meiji Jingu Shrine which is one of the Shinto shrines in Japan. It is located in the middle of Tokyo and has a vast land which is mostly forrest (70 hectares). We would often hear reference to Shinto which is Japan’s ancient original religion, and it is deeply rooted in the way of Japanese life. We were told that Shinto has no founder and no holy book but Shinto values harmony with nature and virtues such as a sincere heart.

**Torii-gate representing the gateway into the sacred area**

**Purification area where you wash your hands before entering the sacred area**

**Devine trees representing the good relationship between husband and wife**

**Sake Barrels along the route to the Shrine**

Next stop was a sushi lunch at Kura, a popular local sushi bar. It was quite the experience. There were no servers – we either ordered on an ipad or picked something from the conveyor belt. There was a hot water dispenser, tea cups and green tea powder at the table. When done, the dishes were slipped into a slot at the table. We then headed to cash and the person had our bill ready based on our table number.

**The top conveyor belt delivered food we ordered, and the lower was food you could chose.**

**Chop sticks and cups were in a compartment in the table. Thank goodness Rie was there to help us.**

After lunch we went to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden which is a public park originally built as the garden for the Imperial Household.

Our next guide was Shiori and our first stop was Akihabara, known as Tokyo’s vibrant and buzzing “Electric Town”. It is the hub for all things anime (a style of cartoon animation originating in Japan), video games, computers, cameras etc. We first visited Electric Town over 25 years ago and we were in awe of the TVs and cell phones. It is still bustling and overwhelming, but so much fun to walk around. Next was Tokyo’s high end Ginza area.

**Shiori had a full day of activities planned for us.**

**6 Floors of electronics, games etc. at Electric City**

**Larry enjoyed looking at the cameras – but not purchases**

Next we went to Kabuki-za theatre and saw a one act play – thankfully we were given an ipad with the story line in English. It was a beautiful old theatre and a full house for the play. Our last stop was Asakusa which is famous for the Sensō-ji Buddhist temple which opened in 645 AD. As you will see from the photos below it was very busy.

**Washing of the hands before entering the temple**

**At the temples we often saw ladies dressed in kimonos. You could also rent kimonos.**

On October 26th we took the Bullet Train to Kyoto, stayed overnight and returned the next evening. I will do a separate Kyoto post.

Now to finish our time in Tokyo. On October 29th we met Junko at our hotel and we toured in the morning before we headed to the cruise terminal in Yokohama

**Junko was a Tawingo Camp alumni – we had an immediate connection.**

Thanks to Junko we squeezed in the busy market, lunch and the Shibuya Crossing before we headed to the cruise terminal in Yokohama.

**Our lunch place – popular with the locals**

**Larry was once again drawn into the knife shop – and yes he purchased again bringing the total knives purchased to 4**

Our final stop – Shibuya Scramble Crossing. It is located in front of the Shibuya Station and stops vehicles in all directions to allow pedestrians to take over the entire intersection. This intersection is frequently recognized as “the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world”, but it seems to work as traffic jams rarely occur. The number of pedestrians crossing the intersection is said to be as much as 3,000 per green light (every 2 minutes). Although intimating when we first saw it, crossing was much easier than we thought.

With Shibuya Crossing being so busy, the common meeting place for locals is the Hachiko Statue. Hachiko is the name of a dog that was born in 1923 and died in 1935 in Tokyo. The statue celebrates the animal’s loyalty to his owner. People were lined up to have their picture taken with the dog – rather than wait in line we just took a photo of the statue.

In the afternoon, Junko took us by transit to the cruise terminal in Yokohama. Shiori had dropped off homemade muffins at our hotel in the morning so we had a treat for our journey.

Below is the note that we sent to our wonderful “Elf guides” – they were truly so warm, welcoming and generous with their time. Our only regret is that we did not stay longer in Tokyo and Kyoto.

“When we discussed our “pre-cruise” time in Japan with Jorge, he told us that he had put together a group of friends and friends of friends to be our “unofficial guides”. What he didn’t mention is that it would be a “dream team”. Masako, Makiko, Rie, Shiori, Takashi (and Yuko) and Junko – our heartfelt thank you! You welcomed us with open arms, your hospitality was awesome and you took amazing care of us. We have had the honour of touring Tokyo and Kyoto with you – an experience we will never forget. We have so many amazing memories. We started this journey referring to the group as “Jorge’s Team”. We end our time in Tokyo and Kyoto referring to you as “ELF’s friends”. To our new friends Domo arigato gozaimasu! We hope that you will visit us in Huntsville in the future.“