3 Days in Japan

2 Japanese Foxes at a Shrine / Temple near our hotel


Shinjuku at night


Reception aged children in the park


Wednesday 17th Sept - Lots of walking!! First we walked to the Chuo Park and looked at the Kumano-Jinja Shrine. Lovely, with spiders and lots of dragonflies. Interesting how many homeless people there are in the park, washing clothes, living under blue tarpaulins and collecting cans to recycle. Then we walked to the other side of Shinjuku Station to Gyeon National Garden, a 1906 Imperial Park. Very pretty with turtles, crows, baby five lined skink and great Japanese, French and English Gardens. Had lunch at the restaurant where you put money into a machine, pressed the buttons for meals of choice, get a ticket and change, go to table, waitress collects tickets and brings you food!! I had soup and rice blocks in seaweed and Gordon had beef and tofu with noodles in a soup - yum. Walked through Templ Town. All lovely but very similar and most of them shut. I got badly bitten by mosquitoes as I had sweated off the insect repellent!! Very hot - about 80F and humid. Back to hotel via Starbucks and Isetan (department store). Hotel is lovely and new; comfortable with all mod cons including a bidet toilet with a heated seat that washes and dries your bottom to music!! What more could a person want on holiday. Went out later to get tea and take pics of evening lights and to work out how to use train / underground.



Ladies in traditional dress

Thursday 18th Sept. - Museum day: first costume Museum where 2 galleries had a selection of Chinese and various other Asian costumes. Lovely. After getting a little lost we went to the Japanese Sword Museum. Again very small but interesting. By this time we were rather damp (yes - we are in Typhoon season!) as the start of the rain storm was upon us. Went to the Meiji-Jinju Shrine which was a lovely forest laid out after the Emperor died in early 1900s (he was a deity!!) It was so wet and hot that we packed away our anoraks and bought an umbrella each. Back home and waited for directions to Geoffrey and Rivka Sue’s house for dinner. Went on the Metro and by taxi. Had a great dinner and little Miriam aged 2 was adorable.


Us at the Edo-Tokyo Museum. Sumo Wrestler

Friday 19th Sept. - Up at 10.15am. We must have needed our sleep. Mind you, we were too late for breakfast so we went to Starbucks for coffee and muffins and then onto the subway to Ryoguku. Headed for the Edo-Tokyo Museum which has a detailed exhibition telling us about the history of Japan. Fabulous. We then walked round the Earthquake Memorial Park which was pretty despite the rain. Nearly got shut in main shrine though!! Went back to the station via the Sumo Stadium. Decided we didn’t want to see a match enough for a £12 ticket each so went for a burger at McDs. Saw loads of Sumo Wrestlers along the way. Took the subway back to the hotel for a rest, then went for a perambulate around the party area of Shinjuku (very interesting!!) but cut it short as it was still raining!