Tokyo again

Sensoji temple in Asakusa

 As always, more pictures, full resolution, are on Picasa. Click on the ones in this blog post to see a larger version.

 We had another meeting in Tokyo. This time the trip there was much easier than the disastrous adventure last time, and I was able to stay over the weekend. On the last trip I barely made it there and then had to turn around to fly to San Francisco to be at Anika's graduation. The only problem this time was that it was too short! Tokyo is a wonderful and interesting city.

Glitter in Akihabara

 Two of my colleagues also stayed over the weekend and we set out to explore the city together. After the business part of our trip was over, we headed for Akihabara on Friday evening. This is the flashy, modern, electronics and manga-centric corner of Tokyo.

Multi-story buildings full of plastic, LEDs, and electronics. Cool!

 We went into several gigantic stores and explored floor after floor full with the latest gadgets, tons of plastic manga figures of every size, and, of course, the actual manga books and magazines themselves. One store even had a curtained-off section, over 18 only, manga section.

A neighborhood street in Nezu

 Saturday was our first full day of sightseeing in Tokyo. In the back of one of my guidebooks it listed neighborhoods in the Yanesen area as a place to go to see some of the old Edo charm and get away from most of the tourists. We picked Nezu as a starting point. There were no specific sights or a guided walk. Just narrow streets, temples and shrines everywhere.

Temples galore

 From there we wandered into Ueno park. Lots of museums, but the weather was too nice to spend time inside. Ueno is a large, wide open park. Perfect for children to play and street artists to show off their skills.

It was cold, but the tulips and children didn't seem to care.

 One of them walked up to us and asked, in very good English, what kind of animal we liked. He then proceeded to draw a horse, upside down, using water dripping from a sponge attached to his umbrella.

Using water from a sponge to draw figures on the ground.

 This was right after we had a long discussion of whether a picture of a piece of art is also art. Some photography, Ansel Adams for example, is art. Is taking a picture of a sculpture even more art? Art squared?

He drew and wrote this upside down, standing above the title of his artwork.

 By the way, the subway system in Tokyo is excellent. Easy to navigate and use. Each line has a color and a letter assigned to it. For example A for the Asakusa line or H for the Hibya line which had the closest stop to our hotel. On each line, the stations are numbered sequentiality. It is always easy to tell whether you are going in the right direction, and how many more stops until your destination. The stations and cars were very clean. And, during the workweek, they even have cars reserved for women.

Some subway cars are reserved for women only

 For the later part of the day, we took the subway to Asakusa. The 17th century Senso-ji Shinto shrine is at the heart of this neighborhood and attracts a lot of tourists. The many shops surrounding it help. We had sushi and sashimi for dinner and I figured out the difference. Sushi is served on rice. So, all you Atkins diet fans, order the Sashimi!

Shopping and dining in Asakusa.

 Sunday was another sunny but cold day and we headed out to see Yasukuni Jinja, a memorial dedicated to about 2.5 million Japanese, Taiwanese, and Koeran soldiers who have fallen in various wars since 1869. It is a popular spot for visits but also controversial. Since 1978 there are several class-A war criminals listed, yet Japanese prime ministers keep visiting the shrine, infuriating China and Korea who suffered under Japanese colonialism. I didn't even know there were different classes of war criminals!

Why are the names all six symbols long?

 On the way to the shrine from the subway station we walked through a very interesting flea market. Really not that different from other flea markets in the world, but there were things for sale you would not usually see.

A picture of cameras taken with a camera. Is this photography?

Items for sale.

 Next we strolled through the Imperial Palace East garden. It is a little bit early in the year to fully enjoy it. A visit in Spring or Fall would probably be great.

In the Imperial Palace East garden.

 For dinner we tried to find a restaurant recommended in the guidebook. This was the second restaurant out of that book that we were unable to find. Instead, we had dinner near Tokyo Station in a modern shopping complex in a California-styled restaurant named after Italian Autostrada A17. The pizza and wine was good, and our feet were tired from walking.

Sunset in the water park next to the Wadakura Funsui Koen Restaurant.

 After dinner, I tried again and found the water park we had been looking for. The Wadakura Funsui Koen Restaurant right next to it, the one we had been searching for, was boarded up for renovation. I was just a little late to get a really good sunset picture, so I headed over to the Ginza district that is famous for its shopping and large crowds.

Too late in the evening to compete with the Getty Image

 I got some good nighttime shots in Ginza, but it was already late enough for the sky to be pitch black. So, no Getty-quality images, but it was fun nevertheless. A little bit more planning and extra time on another trip should do the trick.
 The clock on top of the famous Wako department store commemorates the Hattori tower which stood at this location before the store was built.

Mushu from Mulan. No, wrong dragon, wrong country ;-)

The neighborhood temple near our hotel, guarded by the dragon above.

 Monday, the last half day of our too short trip to Tokyo. We decided to go one subway station up the hill into the center of Roppongi. This is a business district with few attractions, but we had hopped to reach the top of the Mori Tower. It is a sky scraper with an observation deck on the 52nd floor that we wanted to visit. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovations. The shops in the large structure were not open yet, and we didn't have time for the museums also located in that tall building. So, we headed to Shibuya.

Shibuya.

 With its underpasses, overpasses, and cars, buses, and trains flitting by, this reminded me of a science fiction movie. I had left my guide book at the hotel, since we had only a short visit to the Mori tower planned. Shibuya was fun, although we did not have much time and wandered around aimlessly.

Shopping in Shibuya.

 The back streets of Shibuya belong to the worker class and it seemed a little bit more rundown than the other, more touristy parts we had seen so far. It was not dirty by any stretch of the imagination, but this was the first time we had seen a little bit of trash laying around. Nevertheless, a very worthwhile visit and I would like to come back and explore it more.

An interesting building in Shibuya.

  In the afternoon we took the train back to Narita airport for our flight back.

Takeoff in Tokyo. The sun is about to set on Monday evening.

 From here, Tokyo is on the other side of the date line, and crossing it is a little bit weird. We left on a Tuesday morning, flew to Seattle, changed planes, flew to Tokyo and landed Wednesday afternoon. The short trip to Seattle was uneventful except for the bit where we didn't actually land the first time around. It was fogy and we -- and the pilot -- could not see the ground. Just before we should have set down, I started to see the runway a few feet below us, but just then the engines roared up and we went up again. The pilot said he didn't like the conditions. We flew a big circle and tried again without any problems.

Still above the clouds approaching Portland. The Monday morning sun is greeting us.

Below the clouds now with a nice mirror effect on the Columbia.

 For the flight back, we left Tokyo on Monday afternoon just as the sun was setting and then landed in Portland on the same Monday just as the sun was coming up! That was interesting. I went home for a shower and to repack. Then back to the airport for an evening flight to Albuquerque. My sleep pattern over the next few days was erratic. Back now and recovered. No trips until the end of February.