We arrived last night at Tokyo Station, just a 2.5 hour high-speed train ride from Osaka. America needs high-speed rail like this! A quick connection on the subway and we pulled into Asakusa Station. The Asakusa area is on the edge of central Tokyo, and is referred to as the old "low city" because of its elevation and position on the Sumida River. It has more of an old-school atmosphere, and is less flashy than many other areas of Tokyo. Our hostel is right next to Senso-ji, Tokyo's oldest temple. We can also see the Tokyo Sky Tree from Asakusa. It's a 2080 foot tall communication and observation tower that is under construction and scheduled to open early next year.
Senso-Ji
Our first meal in Tokyo - simple and cheap.
Sky Tree looming over Tokyo
Our first stop today was Ueno Park, home to a couple of shrines, a zoo, and a number of museums, including the Tokyo National Museum. The park also has the highest concentration of homeless people in Tokyo. We walked around for a while, then spent a couple of hours at the National Museum. It had a pretty impressive collection of Japanese artifacts and art.
Two buildings of the National Museum
Painting in the museum
A big tapestry/screen
Painting of a mythological creature
We hopped the JR yamanote line over to Harajuku, where we had a quick lunch at Yoshinoya and perused some of the shops on Takeshita street (seriously) and Omote-Sando street before visiting Meiji shrine. The shrine's grounds are a huge tranquil green space in the heart of this pulsating city.
A little girl's visit to the shrine
Meiji Shrine entrance gate
We hopped back on the Yamanote line to Shinagawa, on the south side of Tokyo, to visit Aqua Stadium, which happens to have a roller coaster! Galaxy Express 999 became Paul's 410th coaster. We also rode a 3-D ride about a squid and whale fighting to the death. I think it was a tie.
Once again we caught the Yamanote line (it goes everywhere!) and went to Shinjuku. It really is Tokyo in a nutshell - huge skyscrapers, colorful lights, shopping, restaurants, and even small old-style buildings and windy alleys with forgotten bars. It's also home to the city's red light district. Shinjuku Station itself is a major hub, with multiple subway lines, multiple commuter rail lines, a bus station, and a huge underground area with more shopping and restaurants. In fact, it's the busiest station in the world, with more than 3.6 million passengers per day!
Shinjuku is also home to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, which has a free observation deck on the 48th floor. We got there at dusk, and lucked out with a very clear view - we could see Mount Fuji, which is more than 60 miles from Tokyo! After taking in the view, we walked to the Square Enix Store so David could buy some Final Fantasy merchandise, then had some dinner and checked out a couple of arcades (Street Fighter IV!) before taking our old friend the Yamanote line back to our hostel. So much more to see in Tokyo! David has got a full blown cold now, but he's keeping up like a soldier. We're nearing the final stretch with just two more days in Tokyo before we head back to the states!
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
Mt. Fuji
Shinjuku
Tokyo goes on and on and on
City lights in East Shinjuku
Eggs end up in pretty much everything in Asia...and we're ok with that!
Today we drove from Kyoto to
Osaka to see the city for a few hours before leaving by shinkansen (bullet train) to
Tokyo. The first site of the day was
Osaka-Jo, an early 20th century reconstruction of a 16th century warlord's
castle. The castle had an 8th floor observation
deck from which you could see the city.
Unfortunately, the weather today wasn't great and a lot of our pictures
are a bit washed out, but you can still get the idea. The fall colors continue to be great in this
part of Japan. Hopefully the trees in
Tokyo will be just as beautiful.
Bridge to Osaka Castle
This castle had TWO moats...take that Europe!
View from the castle top
Osaka Castle had four fish ornaments, one at each cardinal direction
After the castle we
were all hungry, and Emiko has been craving some American food, since she can't
get any in Beppu. So we drove down to near Universal Studios Japan to eat at the
Hard Rock Cafe. Everything was almost
exactly like a Hard Rock in America, just twice as expensive. Emiko ordered the mega appetizer that came
with chicken tenders, chicken wings, onion rings, etc. This dish cost over $40! Our hamburger and fries were over $20/person
and the sodas with free refills, a rarity in Japan, were $8. Nothing like fine American dining!
Redonkulous Appetizer Platter
After lunch we walked
around the Universal City shopping center and found a takoyaki museum. Takoyaki is a Japanese snack that Paul really
loves. It's a little bit of battered
octopus that is cooked into a ball in a special pan and then topped with a delicious sauce and
usually fish flakes.
Unfortunately, we were too full to eat any today, but I'm sure we'll
find some more in Tokyo. The museum
itself was mostly just a bunch of food stalls and a takoyaki themed gift shop
with a catchy song welcoming us to Osaka ("Welcome to Osaka Takoyaki Museum" over and over and over).
Everything in Japan has a catchy song.
That's basically what a takoyaki looks like...but without arms and legs.
Paul LOVES takoyaki!
On the way back to
the car, we ducked into another game room and found a Mario Kart themed racing
game! The game took your picture and put
your face into your character's trademark items. David got Mario's mustache and hat and Paul
got Toad's mushroom cap. Unfortunately
for the boys, Emiko won the race. David
is getting super excited for the Akihabara electronics district and finding
some video game paraphernalia.
Woo-Hoo! It's a me! David-o!
At the shinkansen
train station we parted ways with our excellent Japanese tour guide,
Emiko. We are very grateful for all the
help she's been and the personal expense she's undertaken to help show us an
excellent time in Japan. Now we're on
our own for the last leg of our trip in the largest city in the world, Tokyo.
David is super excited to experience
Tokyo for the first time, and Paul is excited to return to one of his favorite cities. Unfortunately,
David is getting a bit of a cold (anyone that knows David and traveling
probably saw this coming). Hopefully,
the cold won't be a big deal and David can enjoy the last few days of the trip.
Shinkansen train. Average arrival time: within 6 seconds of scheduled time
For our second (and last) day in Kyoto, we decided to check out one more temple, then see a few more off the beaten path attractions. We drove over to the Arashiyama area, on the west side of Kyoto, which is famed for its bamboo groves. After a quick accidental stop at Nonomiya shrine, we walked through the bamboo groves to Tenryu-Ji, the "heavenly dragon" temple with gardens dating from the 14th century.
Giant bamboo trees
The gardens at Tenryu-Ji
A roof ornament near Tenryu-Ji
Statues on a road in Arashiyama
This guy is raising the roof!
Just across the river and up the hill from Tenryu-Ji is the Arishiyama Monkey Park. Wild monkeys live in the mountains in this area, but the monkey park has a protected group that you can feed from inside a "human cage." It was a bit of a hike to the top, but then there were dozens of adorable monkeys (and a few mean ones!) that we got to feed peanuts and apples.
Oh, I see.
Japanese monkey!
He really wants a peanut.
Just loungin' around!
There was a little pond that the monkeys drink from.
mmmm, peanuts... Note that David is in the cage, and the monkey is free!
This guy went for a swim!
After seeing the monkeys eat all of our peanuts and apples, we had worked up quite an appetite. We went for a traditional Japanese lunch at a restaurant along the river. It was a series of small, delicate dishes, along with tempura and tofu and broth cooked right at the table. We also had some shubu shabu, which is beef you cook in hot broth at your table and dip in either sesame or citrus sauce. It was all a bit pricey, but tasty!
David cooking his tofu (in the silver bowl) and broth (in the teapot).
Pretty tofu!
Shabu shabu
Next up was an unusual visit for a foreign tourist - the Toei Kyoto Studio Park! It's kind of like a mini super-Japanese version of Universal Studios (although there is a *real* Universal Studios in Osaka). It was totally bizarre - we had to learn how to escape from the Ninja Mystery House (really fun!), walk through a creepy haunted house, there were giant robots, anime girls, a huge pan of fried eggs, a fake elevator of doom, a tyrannosaur that rose from a pond in the courtyard of an old port city set, edo-era backlot filming sets, a ninja versus samurai filming demonstration, and more!
Three ninjas kick back
This is the hand signal you use to call a ninja to your aid.
This was only the second biggest robot in the place!
After our wacky ninja studio experience, we did some shopping near our hostel, then had some Indian food for dinner. It was actually really good, and relatively cheap compared to the prices we've come to expect in Japan. Finally we got our pictures taken in a photo booth that automatically makes your eyes look bigger. Apparently they're really popular with teenage girls. Oh, Japan!
Kyoto is the heart of old Japan. It became the capital in 794, and was home to each of the Emperors and royal families until 1868. It is chock-full of tourist sites, with over 1600 Buddhist temples, 400 Shinto shrines, and an incredible 17 protected UNESCO world heritage sites. You could spend ages looking at the sites, and in fact our guidebook suggests four days to a week! Unfortunately we only have two days in Kyoto, so we dove right in to some of the major sites.
We started at Fushimi Inari, on the Southeast side of the city. It's a magnificent shrine complex from the 8th century, with pathways of bright orange torii gates across the wooded hillside. It also has a number of statues of foxes, which are considered the messenger of Inari, the god of the rice harvest. It really was a spectacular place. Below the still pictures is a link to a video that we took that might help you get a feel for the site.
Pull the cord to ring the bell and then clap twice before praying to get the gods' attention!
Fushimi Inari
Row of Fushimi Inari torii gates across the hillside
Fushimi Inari - great sightlines!
From Fushimi Inari we went to a nearby Buddhist temple called Tofuku-ji. This temple is well known for its fall foliage viewing, and was packed with people doing just that. There is a bridge that crosses a valley filled with Japanese maples. It was really beautiful, despite the throngs of camera-toting tourists.
Tofuku-ji Gardens
It was really packed with tourists looking at the fall colors - notice the crammed pathway on the left!
Painted ceiling at Tofuku-ji
After Tofuku-ji we decided to go to the Kyoto train station to eat lunch and pick up our tickets for Tokyo on Wednesday. The station is bustling and very modern in design. From the roof on the 11th floor you can get a great panoramic view of all of Kyoto. You can even see the far off skyscrapers of neighboring Osaka.
Emiko's tempura at lunch
Looking down into Kyoto Station from the 11th floor
One of the most visited sites in Kyoto is Kinkaku-Ji, the "golden pavilion." It's a three story pavilion with gold leaf covering the top two sections, set in front of a picturesque pond and gardens. On the temple grounds we had some matcha (frothy bitter green tea) with a sugary treat with flakes of gold leaf on top.
Kinkaku-Ji
David didn't like this tea...his loss!
It was getting close to sunset, so we drove over to the Gion neighborhood. It's famous for geisha, historic houses, and lots of restaurants and bars. We walked down Shimbashi-Dori, a short but beautiful street along side a maple-lined stream, and also Hanam-koji, a street lined with 17th century buildings housing restaurants and tea shops. We stumbled upon Kenin-Ji, the oldest zen temple in Kyoto. Unfortunately the grounds aren't lit up at night, but one of the subtemples did have nice lanterns hanging from it.
Shimbashi-Dori
Kenin-Ji lanterns
Also in the Gion district was Chion-in, the headquarters of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, the most popular sect in Japan. It normally closes at 4:30, but it was open for a special event where they light up the temple and grounds, and you're allowed to go in the two-story temple gate (the largest gate in Japan). We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the top of the gate, but it was a breathtaking dimly-lit wooden space with carved statues and painted ceilings, including a large dragon. The main hall of Chion-in is massive, and quite impressive. Agian, no photos allowed inside!
Chion-in Grounds
The lit-up trees at Chion-in reflecting in the pond
Just down the hill from Chion-in was Yasaka-Jinja, a colorful orange shrine with lots of lanterns.
Yasaka-Jinja
For dinner, we had Chinese food for a change of pace. We tried a few different things, including spicy fried eggplant, jellyfish, a chicken dish, bok choi, and garlic shoots with pork. It was all really good, and a bit different than Chinese food in the US. David was not a fan of the jellyfish.
