(re) turning Japanese.....

So with our second time here in Japan, we decided to take a few days and head north to Tokyo. It has always been one of those cities I was timid to visit, cause you hear so much about: it's overcrowded, it's a mass of  traffic, it's dirty. I didn't find any of this. So either I am in the wrong places, or it's just not that bad. Of course I have lived in other major cities, so perhaps my rural-ness has worn off.  I found it averagely crowded and traffficed for a city it's size, the people lovely (only the yung adults are afraid to speak English), it is very clean (or clean enough for me) and there is something for everyone!! More so than in Singapore.
We travelled up from the south two nights ago, and since we didn't take the express train, our 1.5 hr journey was closer to 2.5 hrs. Oh well. Now we know. We had instructions on how to get to our hotel (The New Sanno), so we navagated the metro just fine. We were greeted warmly and shown to our room, which turned out to be the Japanese suite.

entry hall

futons - ready for bed

view from our window - private garden

ceiling outside the Japanese restaurant at New Sanno

No cheesy stuff heere, only the real McCoy. Futons on the floor and dining chairs without legs. Everything Japanese compfy. I ahve to say the beds are extremely good. I must have been Jpanese in a former life. There is a deep soaking tub in the bathroom as well. Ahhh

Deep and wide tubby

Yesterday we explored the area surrounding the hotel. I still don't know what the neighborhood is called, but  the metro stop is Hiro-o. There are many embassys here and the area is mostly residential but has a very "western" feel.

down a side street, near hotel

local park

neighborhood cemetery

local temple

There are many European restaurants around (we did find the chain curry house Coco Ichiban though).  In the after noon we took a five hr bus tour to familiarize ourselves with the city. It covered only a portion, but we were pleased. Like London, there is so much to see, you can't do it all at once, or even all on one trip.
We visited Hama-Rikyu Gardens, which had been a duck hunting grounds for Shoguns since 1654. This lovely park has a 300 year old Pine tree, shaped and controlled as a bonsai would be...only life sized. It also features tidal ponds from Eto Bay. The Kanto earthquake and WWII bombings left the garden in disarray. But in 1945 the Imperial family donated it to the city and it has been returned to the public as an historical site.

tea house

Then we took the Sumida River cruise up river to the Asakusa Kannon Temple. We did the gauntlet of Nakamise shopping street (after Singapore, no biggie) going through two gates, the outer Thunder Gate and the inner Treasure Gate. Originally built in 942 ad, this current ( Thunder Gate) gate dates from 1960. Apparently they have a lot of fires.... The "lantern" in the picture below weights 700kg. Eek, I'm not walking under that!

Thunder Gate

Our Guide with flag!!

Nakamise Shopping Street 80+ stalls

Giant slipper on Treasure Gate

fortunes tied to rope, to bring them "true"

Sensoji Temple 

The Treasure Gate has a pair of giant slippers believed by invading people to be the shoes of the temple guardian. Hopefully it scares them off. Buddha's ashes were distributed between some 8000 temples. A portion of them are housed here somewhere ( I didn't quite catch that part).  Legend has it that two fishermen in the year 628, pulled an idol from the local river. After throwing it back, they pulled it in again many times. At this point they built a small shrine for it and placed it here. Then in 645, a traveling sacred priest had a dream that this was a secret relic and should not be on public display. At that point it  more sacred, and today is only viewed for 20 minutes once a year ( I assume by the "chosen")
Poked around and took tons of pictures before hopping back on the bus to do a drive by of Kappabashi and Akihabara. Boy, those were right up our alley, so today we spent 6 hrs exploring those....