Catch-up post from this past Saturday

Monday, May 5, 2008 - Completion of First Full Day in Tokyo Post

I am just now getting around to finishing my post about our first full day in Tokyo. Meg and I have been on the go since we arrived. There is so much to do and see that we wanted to make the most of our limited time. We just got back from a day trip to Kamakura and I will be writing about that in another post.

At this point, I believe our first full day in Tokyo was our best. This is partly because everything was so new--we had to figure out how to get around Tokyo, we got to put in practice some basic Japanese phrases, and we experienced the sites and people for the first time.

After our rough evening the night before in Kabukicho (I chronicled it in an earlier blog post) we decided to start the morning with a familiar experience. So we headed to a Starbucks for coffee and breakfast. Luckily the Starbucks is a few blocks from our hotel and right on the way to Shinjuku station--our starting point for all our adventures in Tokyo.

After Starbucks we headed for Shinjuku station to catch a train to the Hama-rikyu Gardens. The Gardens originated in the Edo period (17th century) as the family garden of the Tokugawa Shogun. One of the uses for the garden was duck hunting. There are actually two duck hunting sites (kamboa) in the garden. Believe it or not, both sites had duck blinds (see picture of a duck blind below) where the hunters would observe the ducks, feed them grain, and when they came close, catch them with nets. Sadly, a large portion of the garden was damaged by the Great Kanto Earthquake and World War II bombings, but after World War II the garden was donated to the City of Tokyo and rebuilt to its present day form.

We wandered around the garden for an hour looking at flowers, trees, and landscapes. After our walk we visited the tea house on the garden grounds--Nakajima-no-ochaya. Here we experienced a Japanese style tea sitting. We were required to remove our shoes, sit cross legged on the tatami mats, and wait for our tea and cake to be served. There is an entire etiquette in Japan to eating cake and drinking tea in this fashion. They handed English directions to Meg and I so we knew what was going on, but we still felt out of place. When our tea arrived we bowed to the waitress and then went through the ritual of consuming the cake and tea. It included holding everything in the correct hands as well as turning the tea cup a full 180 degrees from the way it is served to you in 90 degree intervals. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience. All in all the garden was a great first stop and a good start to the day. See some of the pics of the garden below.























Next we left the gardens and boarded a riverboat cruise headed to Asakusa. Asakusa is sometimes referred to as Old Tokyo because it reflects the streets of Tokyo during the Edo period. It is also home to the Sensoji Temple, one of the most famous Buddhist temples in all of Tokyo. The Sensoji Temple is visited by 20M worshipers each year.

When we arrived in Asakusa we decided to eat lunch first. We followed the recommendation of our Frommer's guide book and landed at Chinya, a sukiyaki restaurant. Sukiyaki is a feast of Japanese wagyu beef that is often celebrated by groups of friends or families on special occasions. I guess this marked a special occasion for Meg and I, so we decided to give it a try.

When we arrived, we were greeted at the door and asked to remove our shoes. After that, we were ushered upstairs into a private dining room with a long table. Our waitress was dressed in a traditional kimono outfit and she spoke a bit of English. They challenged us while we were there to speak Japanese and even provided a paper with common Japanese phrases we would need to use while dining. I tried to oblige, but I am sure I butchered the language.

The meal was cooked right in front of us in a gas furnaced pot. The waitress mixed the beef, mushrooms, leeks, tofu, noodles, and more in the pot with a stock called Warishita. She then handed us each a bowl with a raw egg in it. Once the food is cooked in the pot, you remove pieces of it with chopsticks and dip it in your bowl of raw eggs. Evidently this adds flavor, but for me it cooled down the food before I ate it.

All in all the meal was excellent, the service was great, and the chance to speak Japanese was fun. I am sure they were ready to get us out of there so they could host native customers, but we had a good time. See some of the pics from our lunch below. Pay attention to the one with me standing in the door way by the waitress--I feel like a giant :)













We left Chinya stuffed and headed back down the street to visit the Sensoji Temple. The temple grounds were a madhouse with tons of people packed in narrow streets going to and from the temple. All the streets that lead to the temple have vendors on both sides--it is like walking through a giant bizarre or flea market. See the pic below.



We walked to the temple and spent a little time taking pictures and looking around. Right outside the temple worshipers were gathered around burning incense. They would splash themselves with smoke from the incense before entering the temple.



Once we got inside the temple there was a Buddhist Priest leading chants. Worshipers would approach the alter, throw money at the altar, clap their hands together once, and then bow and say a prayer. This is how worshipers pray to the Buddha. See the pics below of the temple.

The last picture above is part of the ceiling in the temple. The picture below is the five story pagoda that is next to the temple. It is common to see pagodas next to Buddhist temples.

Once we finished our tour of the temple, we decided to spend some time walking down the streets with vendors. There was so much to see and do and I caputred a few unique situations in the pics below.











By this point in the day we had seen a ton and been immersed in the culture. However, we were not done yet. We packed up our bags and headed to Ueno Park for our own self guided walking tour. As I described in an earlier blog post, Ueno Park is home to all of Tokyo's museums and the zoo. Of course, it is now also home to the Lion's Club Totem Pole! Meg and I were completely surprised by that one. Unfortunately, since we arrived at the end of the day, we did not have time to tour any museums. I did get this shot of Meg in front of the Tokyo National Museum so we could say we were there :)



Well, that was almost the end of our first day, but it simply would not have been complete without a little sushi. So, Meg and I met up with one of my classmates who is also in Japan and headed for Kakiya Sushi in Japan. This is a conveyor style sushi restaurant. The sushi basically comes around on a conveyor belt and you pick the one you want. At the end, they charge you for the number and color of plates you have eaten off of. The sushi was ok, but I have honestly had better in Texas and certainly in Palo Alto, CA. I was not able to take a pic, but I found one on the net. It is a bit blurry, but it gives you the idea of where we ate.



Alright, that really was the end of our first day. It was a great first day and I would probably not do it any differently if I came again. Love to all!

Jason and Meg