Tokyo morning tour - Tokyo Tower, Asakusa, Imperial Palace
05.05.2008
- Took the subway for the first time today - went to Agahashi-Ginza station and rode the Asakusa line 2 stops to Daimon to walk to the Hamamatsucho Bus terminal. Joined a Viator half-day tour of tokyo and it wasn't the greatest. It was good to drive around half of Tokyo and stop at some places and then we didn't have to go back anymore which was cool since this vacation itinerary is 99% on our own..
- Tokyo Tower - red and white eiffel tower-like structure - We've seen the CN Tower and the Seattle Space Needle and honestly, this was pretty much the same thing.
- Asakusa - cool temple (Senso-Ji) in the middle of the city and this place was packed with people today. Today is a national holiday (Children's Day) and there was a little procession with kids walking in yellow robes and kids on a float. We also tried these Takoyaki - octopus and shrimp dough balls from the local vendors...once was good enough.
- Imperial Palace - we actually didn't see the palace, nobody is allowed to for fear of criticism and if we can see the palace, then other radicals can also (as i was told..). Walked around the outer part and the actual grounds are separated by a 40-50 foot moat.
- Ginza - walked through a tiny bit of Ginza close to where we are staying and it's like a Bloor St/Yorkdale-type area with TONS of retail stores/high-end department stores and restaurants. Funny, we went to a restaurant that had plastic food outside so we figured we would just point-and-choose upstairs...lol, no luck. There was no pictures and nobody spoke Japanese. Suffice to say, the waiter pointed to one item, said 'chicken'..and we ordered two. Grilled chicken bento box for 8.50CDN.
