JAPAN: Tokyo Area

 

We arrived in Tokyo on 9/3/25 after a long flight from Hawaii. Our hotel was in Ueno, a little north of Tokyo. 

TOKEYO

IMPERIAL GARDENS / PALACE

Got up and went to see the Imperial Palace, but we couldn’t find the way in, but we did see the Imperial Gardens, which were very pleasant. As it turns out, there are still people living at the Imperial Palace, so you can't go in (without a lot of difficulty). 

We went to find lunch just south of the Imperial Palace, but it is all government buildings and businesses, so finding a place was difficult. We found a food court, and after waiting a while to order our food, we discovered that all the tables had buttons to summon the waiter or waitress. This is common in Asia.

TOKEYO NATIONAL MUSEUM

(1000 yen per person)

We started in the Asian Gallery. They have art and artifacts from across Asia and parts of the Middle East. 

Then we cut our efforts short and went over to the Japanese Gallery (Honkan). The second floor has an overview of Japanese art from prehistory to the 19th century.

SHRINES

We visited a few of the shrines in Ueno Park. There is also a zoo.

RAINING! 

The next day it rained due to a typhoon in the area. We trudged in the rain for about 30 minutes, and we were thoroughly soaked! Both our shoes need to be more waterproof, though my boots did a little better. 

We went back to the Tokyo National Museum. We only saw half of it yesterday. We started in the Japanese Gallery, did the second floor, and finished it. 

Then we went to the Heiseikan building. It has 10,000 years of artifacts from Japan’s ancient cultures.

Some of them were from 40,000 years ago. Frankly, I didn’t know that Japanese culture went back that far. I always thought of 10,000 BC as caveman time. But I suppose our understanding of that has changed over the last century.  Or maybe I was just thinking of a sci-fi film.