Super Tokyo Tour July 24th

A very long day started out very early. I met up with Bryan at the Yokosuka Chuo station at 550. The plan was simple, go do as much stuff as you can in one day in Tokyo. Several key places were put on the itinerary, but it would be a free flowing trip. The first thing on the list was the Tokyo Sky Tree.

Tokyo Sky Tree is now the largest structure in Japan. The current height is 398 Meters, the next closest structure is Tokyo Tower at 333 Meters. It is an interesting trip to get out to the location. From Yokosuka you just stay on the train after it turns into the Asakusa Line. It is the Seventh stop. From the station it is around a 10 minute walk to the base. It is all cordoned off currently to prevent any falling debris from hurting passers by. The aspect of the structure changes as it goes up, it is pretty interesting to see. The official open date will be sometime in 2012, so still a while before one can get some good shots out of one of the two observation levels it has.

The next stop was Asakusa for a quick trip. They have removed some of the covering over the shrine. I found out that they are installing Titanium shingles to save weight. From Asakusa we walked over to Kappabashi to see some kitchen shops. From Kappabashi we headed to Ueno and walked from the station to the lakes. The lakes are currently full of lily pads, which are sticking around 8 feet above the water. Impressive to see this lake full of them. From Ueno we went to Akihabara and had a Doughnut Plant Pineapple doughnut, very good.

We then headed back to Ueno and on towards Kashiwa. Kashiwa is around 30 minutes outside of Tokyo by train. The only reason for this end point is the fact that a Gyoza restaurant is hidden in one of the back ally's. There are around 50 different types of Gyoza. It was an interesting experience, I had my first Curry and Dessert Gyoza. The table next to us ordered the spicy gyoza, they bring it out and light it on fire. Interesting. After lunch it was time to start walking.

We arrived back at Tokyo station around 1500, the plan was to head to the Imperial Palace East Gardens and then to the War Museum. It took a little longer than expected we walked around the outskirts of the palace. Although this did lead to a guy coming up and telling us that he went to WSU in 2007. It was around 94 by the time we got into the gardens. We found the rest house in the grounds and sat there for a while. Then it was off to the War Museum. They have streamlined some of the exhibits, but some of the facts are not fully developed.

Once we were finished with the Museum it was on to Harajuku. We walked to Yoyogi and then caught the train to Harajuku. It was around 1700 by the time we arrived at the Meiji Shrine. It closed at 1820 so we moved with a purpose. Which worked out great until we came out another entrance and had to walk about 3/4 of the way from Yoyogi station to Harajuku. Once in Harajuku we walked around for about an hour looking for the UniQlo T-shirt store. Turns out we took a wrong turn. The store is interesting they have all of the current selection of T-Shirts in bottles on the wall. You pick out which one you want and you are off.

We stopped an ate dinner at TGI Friday's in Shibuya and then it was off to Tokyo Tower for some night shots. There were quiet a few people around the tower. The wait time to get to the second observation deck was 65 minutes. The way back was pretty easy we caught the train from near the tower to Daimon and got on the Asakusa line and found a seat. It was a long ride back the trained pulled into Yokosuka Chuo around 2252. A very long and hot day. Hard to say how many miles were walked but more than 14. Time to catch some sleep.

Super Tokyo Tour July 24th