Tokyo day 3

Ryan has a real interest in Japanese history and culture and had discovered a sword museum to visit. We all went by subway and, whilst Jess and Ryan went in, Martin, Kath and I had a coffee then wandered down some side streets. But it wasn't for long as the museum turned out to be very small. We then walked through a park to the Meiji shrine where I performed the water ceremony.

These straw barrels are full of Sake donated to the shrine by local breweries.

Whilst there we were lucky enough to see 2 wedding parties. The majority of female guests were in traditional dress. One couple had a London taxi as their wedding car!

After lunch we walked to the Harajuku area which is a bit like Carnaby Street or Camden market. We didn't see many people dressed up as cartoon characters - possibly they come out at weekends, but there were quite a few youngsters dressed to stand out from the crowd and lots of wacky shops.

More walking took us to the famous Shibuya crossing. When the lights go red they go red at the same time in all directions resulting in a mass of people crossing - known as the 'scramble'. We went up to the 2nd floor to watch then went down and crossed!

Heading towards a robotics centre we looked at another shrine.

Unfortunately the exhibition floor in the robotics centre was closed as they were changing the displays but we had a bit of fun in the interactive area. Jess and Martin played football and I played with the white robots. They danced but also could balance with something on the tray - in the photo I have put my purse full of coins on it's tray. The red one in the background was constantly self adjusting so it could stay upright.

Cherry blossom

By some planning but also with a lot of luck our trip has coincided with the cherry blossom in full bloom. Ryan especially is thrilled to see it;

We do make fun of it saying "oooh cherry blossom" every time we see another tree but it is beautiful and we have taken loads of photos. You can track the progress of blossoming trees throughout the country online and there is also a website with advice about how to have the traditional picnic under the trees. We heard tannoy annoucements about the time picnics had to end. There were lots of young girls dressed up in kimonos presumably the 'thing to do' when visiting the blossom areas.

Tokyo day 2

Katherine's 23rd birthday today!

There was a lovely bakery right by our subway station so we spent a small fortune there - it was even open when we returned in the late evenings and it was hard to resist a snack. They didn't have birthday cakes but we did buy Kath an enormous chocolate eclair.

We took the subway to the civic hall which has a viewing platform and Mount Fuji can be seen.........on a good day. It should be on the horizon just on the right of the dark building;

There was more cherry blossom to see in the gardens outside.

Jess and Ryan needed to change some money so we stopped at a bank. It was like stepping back in time. Forms to be completed. Money put into a bowl and carried off to another person to be processed. As we waited employees walked to and fro constantly bowing as they passed us.

View at our lunch stop;

We spent time in Asakusa visiting the Sensi-ji temple and surrounding area. It was uncomfortably crowded.

People were wafting their hands to inhale the incense;

Giant sandals which took a month to make - they ward off evil spirits;

We walked to Ueno park which was packed with people because of the cherry blossom. This lake was manic - the boats could hardly move and we enjoyed sitting watching the near misses and the bumps.

We ate dinner in Tokyo's Times Square.

Reunion

We tried a different way to go to the airport to meet Jess, Kath and Ryan (the train and subway system in Tokyo offers so many options to get from A to B). As we were trying to work out which platform we needed a lady asked if she could help. We travelled with her for about half an hour. She was so interesting to talk to and her English was incredible. She told us that she had decided from the age of 60 that she would wear traditional dress.

We arrived in good time but the flight was half an hour late so we had a bit of a wait. Martin took this picture of them - Jess has spotted me so has veered off heading for our tearful hug.

We took yet another route home for a long catch up over a drink. It is amazing to think that nearly 2 years ago we jokingly said we would meet in Tokyo and it's actually happened!

Tokyo day 1

On our way out today we came across a Buddhist temple - yet another one! We still popped in for a quick look. Next stop was the Namiyoke Inari shrine dedicated to protecting people from the sea.

These large heads are paraded at an annual festival;

The Japanese believe non living things have souls and dress statues in clothes and hats. Bibs are either to protect living children or to protect those who have died;

We passed on the opportunity of seeing the tuna auction at the Tsujiki fish market as you need to be there by 5am. It was still amazing to visit the market though - it is the largest wholesale fish market in the world.

Massive eye;

A stall holder pierced this with a large knife then left it twitching;

Nearby are the Hamarikyu gardens which were used by shoguns for entertainment and relaxation. The audio guide gave an insight into how it looked etc but now you can't see the sea due to modern buildings.

Everyone does this in photos over here ......why?!

Gardeners spend days picking a certain number of needles out to maintain the old pine trees;

The Imperial Palace had opened for a period of viewing and tickets had to be applied for. There were 1000s of people being herded in. Glad we just went to see the gardens.

We ate our packed lunch in the gardens. It was really busy with workers and families but very calm. The airbnb apartment owner had lent us a portable wifi device so we were able to track the flight from Australia.

Our last stop was a shrine near a river where the cherry blossom was blooming. Extra loos are provided in these popular places.

At the shrine I chatted to a lady who was in a long queue - they were waiting to buy a small book which they then use to collect stamps and seals which are unique to each temple.