Day 3(A), Meiji Jingu Shrine and Imperial East Garden, Tokyo

On the Road

Cherry blossom season in Japan was just about over––we missed the full bloom by several weeks, but here and there, there were still some cherry blossoms in bloom.

On the Road

View from Our Terrace

It is already light at 5:30 a.m. in Tokyo. The sun was shining. This is a view from our hotel room terrace of the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo across Tokyo Bay. A very pretty sight to wake up to.

View from Our Terrace

View from the Restaurant Window

A view from the restaurant window where I had breakfast. There appeared to be only one restaurant open at our hotel for breakfast––its buffet was about 3270 yen, so I tried to save some money and ordered a combinatin plate of a fried egg, hash browns, breakfast breads, orange juice, and coffee. With tax, it came to 3403 yen ($34.03). Too much for my food budget, so I henceforth shopped at a convenience store for orange juice, donuts, and coffee. For one cup of coffee in our hotel room, there was a charge of 450 yen. I was able to buy two drip coffee cups for 170 yen. I don’t know if other hotels were charging for coffee in their rooms, but it would be wise to bring your own coffee, etc.

View from the Restaurant Window

Odaiba

Today I would be on my own, as I would also be for the next four days. Before leaving for Tokyo, I booked five days of escorted tours given by Sunrise Tours. Today’s tour was the “Tokyo Morning Tour”––we would visit the Meiji Jingu Shinto Shrine, the Imperial Palace East Garden, and the Senso–ji Buddist Temple, with a drop–off at Ginza. A bus picked me up at 8:15 a.m. at the hotel to take me to the Hamamatsucho Bus Station, where we would get on a different bus for our tour. Photo: View of the island of Odaiba taken from the bus on our way across Tokyo Bay. You should be able to see the sand beach of the island.

Odaiba

View of Tokyo

View of Tokyo taken from the bus on our way to the bus station.

View of Tokyo

Tokyo

We passed these drink vending machines. You see these machines all over Tokyo. Tokyo is a very clean city but what you don’t see are trash cans. It is a mystery as to how Tokyo stays so clean.

Tokyo

Tokyo Apartment House

A Tokyo apartment house.

Tokyo Apartment House

Close–up of the apartment house showing laundry hung on the balconies. This scene surprised me. However, I was told that the Japanese prefer to dry their laundry in the sun rather than in machines.

Tokyo Apartment House

Tokyo

Some small colorful buildings among the numerous skyscrapers.

Tokyo

At the Bus Station

This sign at the Hamamatsucho bus station also surprised me. For females at least, there are both Japanese–style toilets and Western–style toilets.

At the Bus Station

A Japanese–style toilet.

At the Bus Station

Instructions

This sign and the next sign were not here at this bus station but, rather, at the Mt. Fuji Visitors Center, but these instructions could be important––first, proper way to use a Japanese–style toilet.

Instructions

Instructions for using a Western–style toilet. The Western–style came with a running water accompaniment and also a heated toilet seat. Additionally, you seldom see any towels or even a hand–dryer in public bathroom––you use the air–dry method in Japan.

Instructions

Tokyo Tower

Now on my tour bus. My seatmate was a very nice woman from Manila. We passed by Tokyo Tower. It was completed in 1958 to serve as a transmission tower. It no longer is used as such. It is 333 meters tall (1,093 feet) and is taller than the Eiffel Tower on which it is based––the Eiffel Tower is only 324 meters tall. I went up the Tokyo Tower two days later.

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower vs. Eiffel Tower

In these side–by–side photos, the Eiffel Tower looks much taller, but the photos were taken at different angles and distances.

Tokyo Tower vs. Eiffel Tower

Driving

The Japanese drive on the left–side of the road, as do the English. I was told that the reason for this is that the first car brought into Japan was an English car with the wheel on the right side of the car. And as in England, the Japanese walk up and down stairs on the left, they walk on streets and in subway stations on the left, etc. It takes some getting used to and I never quite mastered it while I was here.

Driving

Roppongi

This section of Tokyo hops at night. Here are the clubs, karaoke bars, etc. I didn’t visit it at night. In the daytime, this section is rather dull.

Roppongi

Learning to Count in Japanese

Our tour guide, Naomi, is giving us a Japanese counting lesson. All of the Sunrise Tour guides that I had carried along photos, pictures, etc., that would increase our understanding of Japan and the particular places we would visit. Naomi also told us that many Japanese can understand English, but to speak to them in English slowly.

Learning to Count in Japanese

Tokyo

Driving along.

Tokyo

Meiji Jingu Shinto Shrine

We have arrived at the Meiji Jingu Shinto Shrine, the most important Shinto shrine in Tokyo. There are two main religions in Japan––Shintoism and Buddism. However, the Japanese do not describe themselves as being religious or of being of one religion. They combine both Shintoism and Buddism in their lives and sometimes even add in Christian elements such as giving presents for Christmas. One of my tour guides said it this way: Shinto for weddings and Buddism for funerals, though some Japanese opt for a tux and Western wedding gowns for weddings. The Shinto religion is native to Japan and has it roots in prehistoric times. It center is that of kami, which is a spirit or a god. Almost any natural object can be sacred, so there are thousands of Shinto gods. Photo: These are barrels containing saki, which is used in purification rites at the Shinto shrines. These barrels were at the entrance to the shrine.