Tokyo Again - March 13th

After breakfast this morning we went to Shiori and hopped on the first train that pulled through, which happened to be a Limited Express. It was a decent ride up to Shinagawa, not too packed. The first destination was Asakusa, the Keikyu-Line turns into the Asakusa Toei line at Shinagawa. The Limited express train had two doors for each car and a rows of four seats between the two doors. This style of train does not work for a subway situation. So as I had expected everyone got off the train at Shinagawa, we waited a couple of minutes and another train came in and we got on that. It is 12 stops to Asakusa from Shinagawa which took around 15 minutes.

Asakusa:
One of my standard stops for showing people on their first trip to Tokyo. It has a good selection of shops with souvenirs and has a unique temple and shrine. The Tokyo Sky Tree is in the process of being constructed, it currently stands at around 300 Meters tall, which is taller than Landmark Tower. We crossed the Sumida-Gawa (River) and got some good pictures from the Asahi Brewery complex. Which also seemed to be home to several homeless people and dogs. There were a lot of people handing out the watchtower around the entrance to Asakusa. After we crossed back across the river we had to stop at Starbucks. We walked around the grounds of Senso-Ji which is the temple for the Buddhist goddess of mercy Kannon. The temple is still being refinished. They are using solid modeling CAD to help in the restoration. The ceilings of the building had some very nice murals. After walking through the Nakamise-Dori (Avenue) shopping area it was back on the train.

Ueno:
A quick change of plans resulted in us hopping off the train at Ueno. I had never been there and I had heard many good things about the park. We spent around an hour walking around the park area. We found the entrance to the zoo and a Totum pole, which was fun. A few plum trees were in bloom Ume, the cherry trees still have yet to blossom into Sakura. This is a great area to go when the Sakura are out, or at least in spring it should be nice.

Akihabara:
Back on track we had to hit Electric Town. We stopped and had Doughnut Plant doughnuts before heading into Yodobashi, I had a berry doughnut this time. It was decent but it does not compare to the "Black-Out" anyone who has an opportunity to try a Doughnut Plant doughnut, make the Black-Out your first stop. I finally picked up a polarizing filter for my Nikon. I spent the rest of the daylight hours playing with it. It is awesome, I am still trying to get the hang of it, but it is another tool to use.

Tokyo:
In another change of direction I decided to walk around the Imperil palace area. It is about a 10 minute walk from Tokyo Station. The day could not have been nicer, clear blue skies. Which worked for the runners who were running around the Imperial palace grounds. This was my second time to visit the area and both times I have seen a lot of runners. The area does have a good deal of elevation change and decently wide paths. After taking some pictures of the guards it was back to Tokyo Station.

Roppongi:
A quick tour around the Roppongi Hills area. I did find something out this time, there is an exit that makes it very quick to get over to the complex. I had been walking 10 minutes to get there, but if you use the correct exit from the station you pop right into the complex. As it was extremely windy I had no desire to go to the top of the building today. We hit lunch at the Hard Rock, with the 15 percent discount we get it is a pretty good deal. I had a chicken club sandwich. They did have a themed meal for the coming holiday. Not sure who would really want Corned Beef and Cabbage, the 25% of me that would care about such things was overruled by the rest of my heritage.

Shibuya:
The last stop of the tour today was the mass crossing. It was decently busy, but nothing like it is at night.

Dinner was Za-Watami. Tomorrow should have more walking so it was an early night in preparation of the fun.

Saturday March 13th