Tokyo Part 1

I'm back from a 5 day trip to Tokyo and to celebrate I came down with a cold... Actually I think it's just one of those end of term things, but I'm glad it did hold off while we were enjoying our adventure~

We went by overnight bus, which actually felt a lot like being in a plane, only it deposited us right at Tokyo station, not at an airport another 2 hours away by train... I would definitely recommend the bus if you're on a budget (though if you're not, why would you even consider anything other than the Shinkansen?!) We arrived bright and very early, left our bags at the Ueno station, near our hostel, and went exploring!

A beautiful tree in Ueno park.

Ueno is famous for its zoo, so a lot of stuff in the area (vending machines, flower displays) is panda themed, including this panda bun that I just had to buy. Each one had its own expression, but my favourite was this mildly disappointed and disgruntled one.

We wound up in the gardens of the Imperial Palace, which are very quiet and full of nature, but are also surrounded on every side by tall office blocks.

Oh, and this awesome moat.

On our wanderings we found an area called Jimbocho which is famous for second hand book stores ( Tokyo has lots is specialised districts, Jimbocho is right nice to the area for big skiing and winter sport department stores...). This shop extended right out of the building and down an alley to the side.

After a quick journey to check into our hostel, we headed straight out to the other side of the city despite our painful feet (at this point, 3ish, we had been walking near constantly since we arrived in Tokyo at 8am). We walked through Harajuku, which I loved, and headed to watch the crossing at Shibuya from the Starbucks that looks out across it. It was kind of late by that time, so we didn't quite get to see it in its full rush hour glory, but it was still relaxing just watching the ebb and flow of people, and, it being Tokyo, they were all pretty interesting people.

That's it for part 1 ~ in a few days I'll tell you all about Nikko, the day trip we did to where Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo period (I.e. when I say shogun, it's him and his family you're thinking about) has his tomb.

~