Tokyo Part Ichi

Now that the holidays are over we have taken some time to explore Tokyo. We took our first trip on January 3rd which is still part of the New Year's holiday here in Japan. New Year's is celebrated for three days starting on New Year's Eve. Japanese people traditionally visit shrines and temples on New Year's Eve to pray for good fortune in the new year and then watch the first sunrise of the year in the morning. We saw that there has been some western influence and there were some fireworks in the larger cities like Yokohama. However, partying like we do in the states is not the popular thing to do here.

We started our trip by arriving at Tokyo Station and walking to the Imperial Palace. Because of the holiday most of the palace grounds were closed to the public, but we could still see the palace and the famous bridge at one of its gates.

Next we went to Ueno Park in the northern part of Tokyo. This park will be beautiful in April and May when we can see the cherry blossoms and it is the location of the zoo, the National Museum, the Science Museum, and the Western Art Museum as well as some shrines, temples, and statues. We decided to go to the Tokyo National Museum where we saw military apparel, swords, art, sculpture, and many other Japanese artifacts. After the museum we visited the Toshogu Shrine where I threw my 5 yen coin in and wished for good fortune in the new year. From the shrine we could also see the five story pagoda that is located inside the Ueno Zoo. We left the park passing the statue of Takamori Saigo, a famous figure in Japan, and headed for our next stop.

We went to the Shinjuku area as it started to get dark outside. This is one of the hot spots in Tokyo for partying at night and among the neon lights you can find restaurants, bars, and even the red light district. Times Square is located across from Shinjuku Station, the busiest train station in the world. We ate at a Yakatori restaurant which serves meat (mainly chicken) on skewers. Some of the appetizers were a little strange and I'm not exactly sure what I was eating.

We left from Shinjuku Station for the approximately one hour train ride back to Yokosuka satisified with our first big trip to Tokyo. We were looking forward to our next trip as we hardly made a dent in all there is to see in Tokyo!