The last three days have been very busy port days, filled with tours and some very different experiences. Now we’re back at sea, headed for Osaka. This is the first chance I’ve had to download my photos and reflect and report. We sailed into Yokohama, which serves as the port for Tokyo, early on the 21st. It was another beautiful sunrise before we sailed under a major bridge to dock.
Of the 140 million people who live in Japan, 33 million live in greater Tokyo, which includes 3.2 million in Yokohama and 13 million in Tokyo proper. It’s the largest city I’ve ever been in, and really comes across as such. It’s sprawling and has an unbelievable number of very large, very high buildings. To my mind, Tokyo makes New York look small and Chicago, tiny. I signed up for a Best of Tokyo tour hosted by Cruise Specialists, my travel agency. It covered major sights in downtown Tokyo.
The drive from Yokohama through Kawasaki to Tokyo took an hour and a quarter during Friday rush hour. Our first stop was the huge garden and park surrounding and encompassing the Imperial Palace. It’s a beautiful space, with many different areas to see. In the second picture you can see some of the moat the encircles the area. Alas, the guide took off without waiting for all of us, including me, to exit the bus and use the facilities. Seeing that I could not catch up with her, I chose to stay behind with my friend Ann and enjoy the immediate park and the gift shop. Of course.
Driving through the city to our lunch destination, I was struck by several features of many buildings. One is that lots of them have tile siding, which I am assuming is used because Tokyo is or has been prone to fires—as many as 300 in a year. A second feature is small red triangles in building windows. These triangles show first responders where there are emergency exits of a sort: windows that open more than most, maybe rope ladders, perhaps hatches. A third thing I noticed is that many, many apartments had clothes (laundry?) hanging outside on balconies. I have no idea why. The day was in the mid-90s with 85% humidity; didn’t seem like a good day for drying wash outside.
Lunch was a buffet at an elegant hotel. It offered a combination of Japanese and Western foods. It had a large chandelier and a gorgeous screen in the lobby. I’m thinking the screen depicts the 1870 opening of Japan to international trade after the landing of Commodore Perry in 1853.
After lunch our destination was the Asakusa area and the Senjo-ji Shrine and busy shopping street in front of it. We walked to the shrine from the drop-off point and had free time to explore. It was very, very hot and very, very crowded. This is an extremely popular site, and this past weekend has been a festival/holiday. The pictures give a feeling for what it was like there.
I was struck by the juxtaposition of the old and new—something that you see a lot in Tokyo.
Our final destination was the Meiji Shrine area. Along the way, we had a good view of the Tokyo Tower, a communications tower that everyone there seems very proud of. And we saw rows of gingko trees everywhere.
We also passed the National Stadium, built for the Tokyo Olympics. My picture, taken from the bus so it includes reflections, shows a bit of the plantings that are integral to the look of the stadium. They come from all sections of the country.
The Meiji Shrine area is lovely but the shrine itself is a bit of a walk from the parking lot. Again, the guide was not good at waiting for the crowd. I was going to turn back when I came to the first intersection in the paths because I was afraid I'd get lost, but I was “rescued” by the Cruise Specialists host, who accompanied me and another laggard woman to the shrine. It was actually a pleasant walk and an attractive, pleasant place to see.
After that, we headed back to Yokohama. Overall, the guide was great at giving us lots of interesting information but not so good at guiding a group of older people. It was long day, and we were all tired. After grabbing some dinner and lots and lots of water at the Lido, Eula and I headed to the theatre to see the show, which consisted of a group of 14 local drummer/dancers. It was fabulous! They were excellent and the performance included a lion dance.
Returning to my cabin, ready to drop, I went out on the balcony to get a look at the skyline of Yokohama and OMG—there was a light show at the Ferris Wheel. It went on for maybe 20 to 30 minutes after I stepped outside. What a way to end the day! Tomorrow I will write about the second day in Tokyo—a very different experience.
It's good to see your pictures. I didn't know what to expect when combining 2 such different cultures-the old and new. I'm sure you really do sleep well at night. Enjoy.