Friday, October 18th - Day 38 - Tokyo City Tour
Because Tokyo is such a huge city (14 million residents) and occupies such a large territory, and because our time here is so short, we decided that it would be best to take an organized day tour. So while in France last week we consulted TripAdvisor and made a reservation for our second day in Tokyo, Friday the 18th. Our reasoning was that the 17th might be lost - in whole or in part - to jet lag!
That probably was a sensible decision but, unfortunately, most of Friday turned out to be rainy with low clouds. Nonetheless, we were up at 6am and showered and ready for breakfast when the restaurant in the hotel lobby opened at 7am. We had scouted out the rendez vous point - a love" sculpture - to be picked up by the tour - it was only a 10-minute walk from our hotel, so that was great. We were there with 5 minutes to spare - at 7:40am.
We met Aya, our tour guide, and got our assigned seats on the bus (3A and 3B). Aya is from Osaka and has only lived in Tokyo for 3 weeks. But she speaks excellent English and has a good sense of humor. We learned later that this was her first tour - though I suspect she'd shadowed tours in advance of going solo. She certainly turned in a polished performance and we learned a great deal from our 10 or so hours with her. And it turned out that - despite the disappointing weather - we felt like we'd gotten a tremendous deal for a very full day of sightseeing.
Meiji Jingu Shrine
Our first stop on the tour was the Meiji Jingu Shrine, Tokyo's largest Shinto shrine. Shinto holds that all of nature is divine, and the shrine itself is set amid a forest planted about 170 years ago, so it is now fully mature and the entire property looks like a vast urban park. We had a lovely, quiet walk through the forest before the crowd arrived.
Along the way, we came across a display of many kegs of sake and, opposite, another display of many barrels of Burgundy wine. Evidently, the Emperor had developed a taste for wine and introduced it to Japan. The display may have been a thank-you gift from a French producer.
About the Emperor....
Emperor Meiji was an enormously consequential leader in Japan's history. Before he assumed the position, Japan had been sealed off from outside influences. Accordingly, life was traditional - travel was by horse or by foot. Meiji, however, wanted to open the country up to Western (primarily) influences - he had developed a taste for wine, and he enabled its import and sale. He took many other modernizing influences so his reign (1868 - 1912) was marked by tremendous social and economic change.
Before entering the two gates and the shrine, Aya explained that we would need to bow twice before passing beneath the gates that surround the shrine, since we would be entering 'God's space' and would need to show respect. She showed us how to pray at the shrine, and Deb filled out a card expressing her hope for health and many safe travels for us and our descendants. She accompanied this with a small monetary offering that was left on the site.
We had our photograph taken at the "Happy Marriage Tree."
East Gardens of the Imperial Palace
Our next stop was as the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, which Deb and I had visited the day before. We approached from a totally different angle, though, and parked with at least a dozen other tour buses in a special lot. Deb went out for this part of the tour - Munroe was suffering from a little delayed jet lag (hadn't slept well the night before) and, since it was raining lightly, he decided to catch a quick nap on the bus! Deb was pleased she went because she could see the entrance (heavily guarded) used by the current imperial family, and she could see part of the Emperor's family residence that we hadn't been able to see yesterday.
Matcha Tasting
We stopped for a matcha-tasting at a local matcha shop. Tour participants had a choice of hot matcha tea, a matcha cream puff, or a matcha beer. Both Deb & I opted for the hot tea - it was very herbal and grassy tasting, with a heavier and thicker consistency than our regular tea. We weren't offered seconds, but we probably would have declined them anyway!
JFC Lunch (KFC in USA!)
We then went to lunch at a nearby restaurant - everything had been laid out in advance and we were assigned seats next to a nice couple from Dallas, TX who do a great deal of traveling. In fact, they're booked on a cruise that leaves Boston and stops in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Greenland on its way to Iceland next summer. When a woman at a neighboring table heard us speaking of Nova Scotia, she introduced herself as being from Kelly's Mountain, Cape Breton! Another couple were from Gatineau - and a woman who lives in Pittsburgh identified herself as being from Niagara Falls, Ontario! So we had quite a gathering of Canadians!
Lunch itself was JFC - Japanese Fried Chicken, prepared according to Karaage tradition that adds corn starch to the flour before deep frying, giving the chicken a crunchy coat. The chicken with a mayonnaise-like side dish, tofu, and finely shredded cabbage. Tasty and filling.
Senso-ji Temple
After lunch we had about 1/2 an hour to shop for souvenirs along Nakamise Avenue, along with half of humanity it seemed! Then it was on to the main attraction - the Senso-ji temple. You approach it by walking past an incense pit that is streaming smoke - you're supposed to waft it over yourself in an act of cleansing. It was pretty strong smelling! The temple (temples are Buddhist in Japan; shrines are for the Shinto religion) itself is impressive.
Japanese people rent traditional outfits to go to the temple. Deb thought maybe we should go for it!
Tokyo Skytree
Moving right along (and Aya kept us on a tight timeline), our next stop should have been a stunner - the Tokyo Sky Tree - the world's highest (634 meters) tower allowing visitors. The CN Tower, by contrast, is about 100 meters lower. Deb was concerned about her fear of heights kicking in (along with some others on the tour, judging from the jitters being expressed!). Sadly, when we got to the observation deck at the 350-meter level you were completely enveloped by the low-lying clouds. Fortunately, these broke after we'd been up there awhile (we had almost 2 hours in the tower) and we were able to see the ground for a mile or so around the tower. 
Deb bought a few Skytree postcards, stamps and mailed them right at the Skytree. Had a cappuccino in the cafe to do the writing.
Tokyo Bay Cruise
ur final stop on this busy day was at a ferry terminal along the river (advertised as a 'bay cruise', but really just a crossing of the wide river. We were able to take some pictures of the skyline at sunset as we made our way across to the other side - and the balmy temperatures (mid-70s) made for a surprisingly comfortable crossing just in shirt sleeves.
We were dropped off at the Shinjuku subway station about a 10-15 minute walk from the hotel. We decided to get some dinner en route back and went up and down streets near where we had eaten the previous night. Frankly, we find the array of dining opportunities seemingly endless - and extremely daunting and difficult. We finally settled on a nice sushi place but they were full. So in the end we settled on a ramen noodles place about 2 minutes from the hotel - RAMEN WARS. We were so disappointed in our first experience of ramen noodles that we were hesitant about going this route, but in the end, we were both more than happy satisfied with our meals. And the two of us - with a drink each - came to about $31 US!!!
We got back to the room around 8pm - exhausted but VERY happy!