Friday, March 28, 2008

Tokyo Tower


Tokyo and Mt. Fuji in background


More of Tokyo from Tokyo Tower

Strange Tower mascots. Apparently they are twin brothers.

Whoa! They put a heavy-duty glass section in the floor of the tower. I was only brave enough to stick part of my foot on it. There was no way I was going to stand on the thing!

Here we are in front of Nijubashi Bridge on the grounds of the Imperial Palace

More trees on the palace grounds

Sumida River. We took a boat cruise down it.

Zach in front of the temple in Asakusa

Man baking some type of rice cracker

Yes, Zach---that really says "Hysteric Mini Meal Set." Check out the creepy characters having a picnic.

Doggie outfits

Doggie strollers---for the mere price of 22,000 yen, or $220!!!

This might look like a clothing store for kids, but it's not. It's for dogs!

Hello! I hope everyone had a nice Easter. We're doing well here. I finally uploaded a bunch of new pictures that we took last weekend on a tour of Tokyo. The day started early and ended late, but we saw a lot and had a good time. Zach really likes it when someone else does the driving, and I don't blame him. The traffic can be a nightmare here.

Our tour started at Tokyo Tower, which gave me flashbacks to our tower experience in Sapporo, but thankfully there was a lot more room to move around once we got off the elevator. The weather was amazing and we couldn't have asked for a nicer day. I was able to take some neat photos of the city and Mt. Fuji in the background. Being in the tower really allows you to see how huge Tokyo is. Buildings go on and on as far as you can see. I've been told that close to 12 million people live in Tokyo.

After our quick tour of the Tower, we got back on the bus and headed for the gardens surrounding the Imperial Palace and home to the emperor of Japan. We had to cut this portion of the tour short because of traffic, but it wasn't the end of the world. We figure that we might go back another day. They open the inner grounds of the palace only twice a year---January 2 and the emperor's birthday. We snapped a photo in front of Nijubashi Bridge, which we were told roughly translates to "eyeglass bridge" because the reflection in the water looks like eyeglasses.

After the palace, we went to Asakusa to see the temple there. The place was super-crowded, and I think I saw more westerners there than any other place I've been to so far in Japan, other than the military bases and the airport. We gave an offering at the temple of 50 yen (you have to throw a coin that has a hole in it---either 5 or 50 yen will do) and then made our way out of the crowds and on to a side street, where we found an awesome bakery and yummy sandwiches for lunch. I'm so addicted to the bakeries here.

After lunch, we gathered at the boarding point for a riverboat cruise down the Sumida River, which goes through the city. The boat was also crowded, but we had a nice time visiting with our tour guide. She tried to explain as much as she could, because the boat tour guide only spoke in Japanese.

Once we finished the boat tour, we went to our final destination called Odaiba Palette Town, which was a big shopping mall and Toyota car museum. It seemed like a strange combination for entertainment, but we had fun. The shopping mall had a bunch of fun stuff for dog lovers, so I snapped a few photos for my dog-loving friends. :-) We were pretty tired by the end of the day, but it was a good tired.