Saturday, August 1, 2009

Tokyo

Hi all,

Just got back from Tokyo! What a blast! We took dozens of pictures, but here's what we did:

We got up bright and early, four in the morning, to get to our 8 o'clock flight. We were staying in Shinjuku, a district of Tokyo's West end, and in the sub-district called Kabukicho... Essentially, the red-light district. We're no strangers to this, but seeing guys walking around dressed like pimps was a bit goofy. That said, we got in on time, checked in... and snoozed for an hour. Promptly thereafter, we got some dinner (SUSHI!) and played Mario Kart, then stocked up on supplies for the next day.

Which started hot. We went to the Imperial Palace, not perhaps as impressive as the one in Kyoto, but still interesting. It was, however, blazing hot, enough to make me gag and Jen want to collapse. We took in the Emperor's residence, which was originally built by warlords, and used by Tokugawa Ieyasu to hold Tokyo for himself, and as his base of power. The Shogunate he founded ruled Japan from the beginning of the 1600s, all the way to the 1860s, when the Meiji Emperor reclaimed Imperial power from the Shogun.

The castle is not the same as that in Kyoto because it was targeted by the Allies during the Second World War, so this is understandable. Sad, but understandable.

We then went to Ueno, where we took in a Japanese cultural museum (The Tokyo National Museum), much to Jen's relief from the heat. We saw some old swords, samurai armor, and dozens of relics from Japan's past.

The next day, we dropped into Asakusa, the shopping district, and Roppongi, where the night clubs were. It was neat to see temples next to 300 year old shops, and to see Tokyo lit up like a bulb during the night. As Jennifer has commented, it was very Blade Runner-esque.

All in all, a fun time. We're tired, but happy, and looking forward to our last few weeks in Korea, having just enjoyed our last trip abroad in Asia for the immediate future.

Best to all,

Chris

1 comment:

George Bailey Sees The World! said...

Man, not a lot of time left, hey? I'll be sad to see you guys go. Glad Tokyo went well, even if it was ungodly hot.