Tokyo, Day 2 - Guided

Today and tomorrow we have a guide (Chaika) who will be walking us around the main tourists attractions of Tokyo.  But before we meet up, I thought I would note a few observations thus far.  First, there are no churches, that is not strange but it is very different from what one expects in other large cities in Europe and even the US.  Second, I haven seen a single police car, though policeman are stationed at "boxes" positioned on major street sidewalks.  Third, the drivers seem polite and patient, there are virtually no honking of horns.  Fourth, there are few if any parking lots; where do all the cars park?  Every building must have large underground parking areas.  Fifth, there are few if any short squat buildings; with earthquakes, fires and WWII, the city infrastructure is young and modern.  Sixth, public transportation is amazing; look at this map for just one system.

It is time to meet are guide now.  We met up with Chiaki and four other people, who had just finished a guided walk with Walk Japan on the Nakasendo Trail.  One couple was from Sydney, Australia; the other from Montreal, Canada.  They reported good things about the trail (which we do self-guided near the end of our trip), including the walking conditions, accommodations and evening activities.    Our tour today was focussed on the pre-Meiji Restoration (or Modern Renaissance) of Tokyo, when the city was named Edo and during the 15 generations of Tokugawa Shogun rule, roughly form 1600 to 1868. This was an unprecedented period of Japanse unity, stability and peace.  It ended when Commodore Perry and others forced Japan to open itself up to foreigners and a number of lesser samuri rebelled against who would become the last Shogun.  The emperor moved back into power and back to Edo, which changed its named to Tokyo.  the letters "to" stand for capital, hence Tokyo translates to Eastern Capital as compared to Kyoto (the former capital, also wiith "to" in its name) which means Central Capital.  

Our tour began with a subway ride from our hotel (which is next to a subway station) on the Ginza Line to the Nihonbashi Bridge (which is redundant since "bashi" means "bridge).  The bridge is where all roads led from in the early days of Edo.  It was originally constructed of wood (much of it Japanese Cypress); though the current one is built of stone. 

We next walked to a couple of monuments (an early Englishman who became a Shogun confidante and a famous poet (Basho) credited with developing haiku (a 5 syllable line, followed by a 7 syllable line and finishing with a 5 syllable line).  We next walked to one of the large department stores (note, not reflective of the Edo period) which was about to open. It is grand affair each morning with 3 minutes of bowing by all sales persons.  It reminded us of Selfridges in London - the display cases were immaculate and stocked with the most upscale items.  Each case had a sales person in formal dress or uniforms who were polishing their counters and wares.  There was a huge statue in the central atrium (see photo) and shortly after opening, an organist  began playing.

We exited the store, walking toward another subway station but passing by the Bank of Japan buidling.  It was designed by an English architect and an aerial view reveals that the building is in shape of the japanese character for yen.  The bank was built on the site of a former gold mint.  The same architect designed the main train station, which was our next stop after a short ride on the subway.  We next walked to the Imperial Palace and the Inner Garden.  We passed through a number of gates with massive wooden and iron reinforced doors with huge granite block ramparts.  The seams were very tight, thanks to tireless laborers.  Chiaki told us that seaweed was used to help in sliding the stone blocks from the ships to the site.  Fire destroyed the original Shogun house (which was the largest wooden structure ever built) which is now a flat open, grassy field.  We learned a little about the current emperor, his hiers and the spare.  They lived on the western half of the castle/palace hilltop and is closed to the public except on New Years Day and the emperor's birthday (December 23rd).  That's right, it is open only 2 days a year. 

We walked downhill, caught a subway to the Koishikawa Korakuen, a garden started by one of the noble families per the order of the second Shogun.  It is described as a "strolling garden" and has the ambience of a typical Japanese garden, with three ponds, numermous wooden bridges and an historical stone-constructed Moon Bridge. 

The garden was laid out in 1629.  Our group did a complete walk around with lots of photos.  The garden is next to the Tokyo Dome and within earshot of  an amusement park.

Our last stop of the day was the Edo-Tokyo Museum (after another subway ride).  We entered and rode to the top floor where there was a full size reconstruction of the Nihonbashi Bridge.  There were numerous models of historic buildings, and various other displays.  The bridge separated the Edo-era artifacts and displays from the modern Tokyo ones.  The museum also had several live performances while we there.  We enjoyed over an hour of wandering around.  It was Tokyo's version of the Smithsonian, but its was more selective in its collection.  

We took our last subway ride back to the hotel station, said good evening to Chiaki and the rest of us immediately went for beer and food at a funky, small restaurant with traditional fare, known as a shokudo.  It was inexpensive and fun.  There was a single English menu which named items like pork belly, rectum of pork, head of tuna, cuttlefish, and the like.  We ordered the best we could, sharing the fare all around.  We topped off dinner with ice cream bars from a convenience store.