10/29/23 1st Full Day In Tokyo

Weather:  Mostly Sunny 70 degrees

Great 1st full day in Tokyo!!

Started off with a lazy morning at Ellen's place with her cooking breakfast (I got a ratatouille omelet while Carrie enjoyed a smoothie).

Hopped on the train near Ellen's (the train system here is off the charts) Nishi-ogikubo (nishi means west) station to Tokyo Station.  Tokyo Station was built in 1908.  This is where we'll take the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto/Osaka on Tuesday.  Beautiful architecture!







Stopped for a drink at the Palace Hotel (next to Imperial Palace - more on that in a bit).  I got screwed up on the menu and accidentally ordered scotch (when I wanted Japanese whisky) so I ordered a Japanese whisky and again got screwed up and ordered a $45 shot of whisky.  Oh well - it was good. 


View from the lounge where we had drinks (and a wagyu beef steak sandwich) - overlooking the park that surrounds the Imperial Palace.


One of the 1st gates we came upon........Imperial Palace is where the emperor of Japan has lived since 1600's.  The old Emperor Palace, etc. used to be in Kyoto which is where we'll be visiting later this week.  The moat around this place is ginormous!  Very intricate with lots of 90 degree turns.


Japanese black pine trees - kind of like huge bonsai trees.  Of course, pic doesn't do them justice.




Cue the swan!


We were able to walk through one of the gates. Huge wooden gates!



Gate hinge.........remember, this was all built over 500 years ago!


Carrie and Ellen in Hibiya park (1st European park in Japan) with the Tokyo Midtown Hibiya building in the background where you'll see from a different angle in a bit.........


I swear 75%+ of the dogs I see here are dressed up.  People here dress very "smart" - I feel underdressed and definitely look like a tourist - maybe not being Asian also has something to do with that.


Had a drink at sunset from a rooftop garden at the Tokyo Midtown Hibiya building.  Beautiful view of the park and Imperial Palace grounds.  By contrast, this park is roughly 1/3 the size of New York's Central Park.  So, for those that have been to NYC - you can appreciate the size of this park.  Oh, and Tokyo is roughly 5x as big as NYC.  IT'S HUGE!  The below picture seems like just one of many "downtown" looking areas.  Amazing city!


The Godzilla statue in front of Toho Cinemas who invented Godzilla.....
 


Ginza - beautiful city lights!  Lots of beautiful shops - all the fancy top brands have huge stores in this area.  Crazy nice bars and restaurants....

 Architecture is beautiful - a dime a dozen really but all jaw-droppingly beautiful.  Nissan building here as an example:

 
Fujiya building...



The city and everything is so clean!  And they don't have any garbage cans because people basically don't eat or creat trash when they are moving about and if they do, they bring it with them.

Here is a little video and a couple of pics of the food area we ate at underneath the train tracks in Ginza for dinner.....Yurakucho




Gyoza..

Ended the night at Ginza Lion beer hall - a very Germanesque beer hall and Japan's oldest.  One of few buildings to survive the bombings of WWII.  Ellen waving.......














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