Day 2.
After going for a run around Tokyo Dome and then grabbing some breakfast, I walked down to Yasukuni Shrine in Chiyoda. This is the shrine that is often in the media whenever the Japanese prime minister (controversially) pays his respects to the war dead.
I then visited Yūshūkan, the war museum next door. A Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka, or rocket powered flying bomb used by Kamikaze.
The museum wasn't as controversial as I expected, with most of the exhibits and information being relatively factual. The Pearl Harbour attack had quite alot of displays, model aeroplanes, photo's etc. but the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki were limited to a few sentences of text though. The description of the
Nanking 'Incident' also differed significantly from the Chinese version.
Just outside Yasukuni Shrine, a busy flea market.
I then walked down to the Imperial Palace Grounds. It was Saturday morning, and literally hundreds of runners were doing laps of the grounds
.
Some blossoms in the east gardens of the Imperial Palace.
Some buildings on the Palace grounds beside the moat.
Back in Ginza again.
No photo's
!
A street closed for pedestrians in Ginza.
Pachinko
!
At the outer markets of Tsukiji.
[
Lots of different foods as well as fish for sale.
Queueing for bbq'ed shellfish.
Stopping for lunch at one of the Tsukiji restaurants.
The chef preparing my dish.
It definitely tasted as good as it looks
!
After a good feed at Tsukiji, I caught the metro out west to Shinjuku, and went up one of the observatories of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.
Looking down at a flea market in Shinjuku Central Park.
Looking South-East. Not as high as Tokyo Skytree, but a great price though (free
).
Sofia Coppola, the director of the Tokyo film, 'Lost in Translation'.
Walkway.
More pachinko in Shinjuku.
The ubiquitous Japanese drink vending machines which seem to be everywhere
.
Prayer cards at Hanazono Shrine.
Some of the neon in Shinjuku.
One last photo of the day, back at Shibuya crossing
.
