There wasn’t a lot of movement in the apartment this morning, particularly the kids. Jenny and I pottered around taking it easy. It gave Jenny a chance to do a load of washing turning our Japanese apartment into a Chinese laundry. The kids eventually surfaced around lunchtime.
It was a beautiful day with the clouds gone and up around 17C. We decided to head into the centre of Tokyo and check it out. We walked up to Shin-Yahashira taking the Musashino & Keiyo Lines to Tokyo. This was the first time we had ventured out of Tokyo Station into the real world and what a surprise.
The outside of the Tokyo was amazing with its restored building, the Square and surrounding gardens. We wandered through the streets checking out the various artworks and sculptures before heading down to the Imperial Palace Gardens.
Even though the original Imperial Palace is long gone due to fire and war, the walls, moats, gates and bridges are interesting artifacts of a bygone era. Access into the Palace grounds is restricted similar to Government House in Adelaide as it is still the residence of the current Imperial Family. The most picturesque bridge we spotted was the Nijibashi Bridge.
Bradley found reference to a light show at the Caretta Shiodome, about 2 km walk from the Palace. The walk took us through Hibiya Park where there were some blossoms starting to bloom. We may see a lot more in a couple of weeks time.
We arrived a little early for the light show so found a restaurant for a meal. The light show was based on Disney films with lights timed with music. It wasn’t too bad. There was a viewing are of the city up on the 46th floor which was great but Rachael wasn’t too keen on the lift ride up which was glass sided with views on the way up as well.
That was enough for today so we headed back to Shimbashi Station to get the Yamanote Line to Tokyo then the Musashino Line back to Shin-Yahashira. The last train was a bit packed so was very warm. We had seats though so it wasnt too bad. We decided the fresh air of the walk back to the apartment was needed..
Tomorrow we grab our first bullet train ride.
