Japan Trip Day 7
Day 7, Wednesday 18th March
After a bit of a sleep in which was very much needed after the day before, got up and left at about 10am to go to the Imperial Palace and city centre. Somehow unknown to me I got on the wrong train! All the time I had been catching the train from near where I had been staying I thought it was only the one line with one destination and I didn't realise that actually it broke off onto another line and the occasional train went that way! It took me a while to figure out what the hell was going on but once I did I got off at one of the stations and sat down to examine my map. Once I did I found I had accidentally found a quicker way to my destination so got back on the train!
Got of at the right station and went to look at the Imperial Palace. Apparently you can arrange a tour of some of the palace grounds but it needs to done before hand so all I could do was look in from the outside.
Close to the palace as I was going to get
However the Imperial Palace East Gardens are open to the public and free (big drawcard) so went and had a look. It was a very pleasant stroll and I was there for a fair while but nothing real outstanding, noteworthy. There was some very nice gardens and layouts but coming from Toowoomba, I see gardens all the time plus the brown grass was a big mood killer.
From there I went to have a look at the Tokyo International Forum as I had heard it was a fairly unique piece of architecture. Didn't actually take many photos of the buildings as there was a graduation ceremony going on and there were heaps of young girls in kimono and young guys in suits going around.
Got back on the train and headed around to Harajuku where I had a look around Yoyogi park and the Meiji shrine. It was another very nice walk around the park and I enjoyed the forest atmosphere with mix of buildings. I also went into the Meiji garden which cost to get into but was very interesting to go through and see. I sat down next to the lack and had a very relaxing lay down for a while.
One of the cards hanging up among previous photos. Some people might disagree XD
Old and modern Tokyo
After walking through the entirety of the park I went for a walk around Harajuku itself. Didn't see to many people dressed in unique fashion but there were a couple. The one funny thing I did see was three girls dressed up as cheer leaders with a guy dressed in a huge purple pimp outfit handing out free samples for Coke flavoured Mentos! I checked out a few stores as I was trying to find something Juunana had asked for but couldn't find it.
One of the more 'unique' Harajuku stores XD
After a bit of a sleep in which was very much needed after the day before, got up and left at about 10am to go to the Imperial Palace and city centre. Somehow unknown to me I got on the wrong train! All the time I had been catching the train from near where I had been staying I thought it was only the one line with one destination and I didn't realise that actually it broke off onto another line and the occasional train went that way! It took me a while to figure out what the hell was going on but once I did I got off at one of the stations and sat down to examine my map. Once I did I found I had accidentally found a quicker way to my destination so got back on the train!
Got of at the right station and went to look at the Imperial Palace. Apparently you can arrange a tour of some of the palace grounds but it needs to done before hand so all I could do was look in from the outside.
Close to the palace as I was going to get
However the Imperial Palace East Gardens are open to the public and free (big drawcard) so went and had a look. It was a very pleasant stroll and I was there for a fair while but nothing real outstanding, noteworthy. There was some very nice gardens and layouts but coming from Toowoomba, I see gardens all the time plus the brown grass was a big mood killer.
From there I went to have a look at the Tokyo International Forum as I had heard it was a fairly unique piece of architecture. Didn't actually take many photos of the buildings as there was a graduation ceremony going on and there were heaps of young girls in kimono and young guys in suits going around.
Got back on the train and headed around to Harajuku where I had a look around Yoyogi park and the Meiji shrine. It was another very nice walk around the park and I enjoyed the forest atmosphere with mix of buildings. I also went into the Meiji garden which cost to get into but was very interesting to go through and see. I sat down next to the lack and had a very relaxing lay down for a while.
One of the cards hanging up among previous photos. Some people might disagree XD
Old and modern Tokyo
After walking through the entirety of the park I went for a walk around Harajuku itself. Didn't see to many people dressed in unique fashion but there were a couple. The one funny thing I did see was three girls dressed up as cheer leaders with a guy dressed in a huge purple pimp outfit handing out free samples for Coke flavoured Mentos! I checked out a few stores as I was trying to find something Juunana had asked for but couldn't find it.
One of the more 'unique' Harajuku stores XD