A Visit to Japan

 We have arraigned a longer visit to Japan.  Last year, we were here for a few days, but this visit will be 25 days; first a stay in Tokyo and then a circumnavigating cruise.  Arrival went well.  The immigration-customs- baggage lines at Narita were much shorter this time.  A free upgrade to business class made our flight enjoyable.  Finding a limousine bus to our hotel was easier than anticipated.

Moat, bridge, and Imperial palace in the background.  This is all in the center of Tokyo, yet it is very private due to forest, fortress walls, and hills.

Hibiya Park was close to our hotel.  It was wonderful that we had green walking space while being close to major attractions.

Our stay at Dai-ichi Hotel Tokyo was very comfortable.  I looked forward to their buffet breakfast to try an extensive variety of Japanese dishes.  We were swept away by the crowds at the Shimbashi train station when we went there (at rush hour!) to buy tickets.  Fortunately, our hotel was close to the Ginza shopping district and a short walk to Hibiya Park and the Gardens and Imperial Palace beyond it.  We detected no smog and enjoyed our walks.

This is the night-time view from our hotel room.  Multiple train tracks in the foreground.  Ginza district off to the right.  Shimbashi rail station just outside the picture to the lower right.

Where the park land ends downtown Tokyo immediately starts.

As an added bonus, Belgian Beer Weekend was taking place, and we enjoyed two outdoor dinners of beer and bratwurst.  Ginza was impressive: very high-end stores featuring the best of world products.  We just observed but noted that some serious shoppers had hired a Japanese guide to lead them to the finest stores.

Belgian Beer Weekend in Tokyo!  How lucky was that!  You would purchase a stack of 'chips' and then use them at the booths to pay for food and beer.

We took a ‘hop on, hop off’ bus tour of a section of Tokyo; not really impressive.  But when you consider that it was totally destroyed in WWII and is the second largest metropolitan area on earth, the fact that is functions so well is impressive in itself.

On the day we boarded our cruise ship, there was a large, and busy, shopping mall nearby.  We could hear a loud drumming noise coming from the adjacent park, which attracted us.  The route to the mall/park was circuitous, but we were looking for an exercise walk, and this was worthwhile.  

We are currently very busy, but I will be publishing more entries from our recent trip in the near future.