It was a day of celebration, though. We had our first shower and change of clothes in three days! We traveled for two and fell asleep in our clothes, then woke up so early for the fish market, we just stayed in the same clothes.
Breakfast at the Ryokan was very nice. We got one Japanese breakfast and one western breakfast to try all of the local fare. The extra special treat was a lovely koto player providing breakfast music. That alone was worth the price. It appeared that her mother and her grandmother had arrived to listen. The grandmother couldn’t have been much over 4’5” tall and was absolutely beaming over the performance of her granddaughter.
The Japanese breakfast below – grilled fish, eggs, a mixture of eggplant and okra in a brown, sweet, hoisin-like sauce, green beans in sesame paste, rice, miso soup, pickles, green tea.
After breakfast, we hit the door for Ueno Park and the Tokyo National Museum. It has been unbearably hot and humid here every day. We are soaked literally within a few minutes of walking outside. The biggest change to our budget has been adding a lot more purchases of liquids. The drink below has become my drink of choice in this weather. The name isn’t very appealing, but it’s kind of like Gatorade.
The park was a great experience. We saw various shrines, all very interesting in their detail and design.
We thought we would go into the zoo just to see the giant Panda, a rare opportunity, but a note on the ticket the machine said that there is now no Panda exhibit. Ling Ling passed away April 2008. Very sad!
We reached our destination of the Tokyo National Museum. It was such an experience for the eyes and mind - great treasures of sculpture, armor, swords, Japanese calligraphy, art, kimonos, and silk. The most impressive thing to me were sculptures carved from wood dating from 700 to over a 1,000 years ago brought in from various temples. They ranged from the small, to life-size, to three times life-size. The detail in the human sculptures were so fine, that at first glance it looks like a real person.
We walked a little through the Ameyoko market across the street – a black market area in the 1940's that is now a bustling, vibrant bazaar.
We then hit the subway back to our hotel. We at lunch at Maguro Bito, a conveyor belt sushi bar.
We then got in our shopping for souvenirs for family and snapped some more pictures around the Sensei-Jo Temple and the massive gates, the Kaminari-mon and Hozo-mon, along its path. We had our first ice cream burger – two “buns” made from a thin, light ice cream cone type substance with a scoop of mango ice cream in the middle. Very refreshing on another incredibly humid and hot day.
We contemplated going to the Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Harajuku districts, if nothing else to keep us from falling asleep early in the room, but we couldn’t work up the energy. We decided for something familiar again in a McDonald’s dinner, then headed for our room for the night to pack for our departure to Beijing. Along the walk home, with some welcome rain drops starting to fall and fierce lightning starting to burst, we both talked about how if Tokyo had been the only part of our trip, it alone has been fantastic.
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