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Our Round The World Trip home page is here.
Part Two is here.

October 4 (Thursday, Day 3, Tokyo—continued) –

After lunch we walked to Meiji Shrine.  After seeing the shrine, we took a bus back to Roppongi Hills and sat in our room talking with Arisa.

At the Meiji Shrine

Sanctified wine

Sanctified sake

Around 3 PM Snookums decided we needed to restock our refrigerator with Regency Club beverages so the three of us went upstairs.  They had chocolates and cookies out (and beverages) so we sat in the Regency Club and talked.  We finally left the Regency Club at 7:30 PM and the three of us enjoyed the evening appetizers, too!!!  After all of the walking we did, sitting and talking (and eating) for hours and hours and hours was just what the doctor ordered. 

Regency Club eats

Arisa-san is currently unemployed but very happy about it since she gets $2000/month unemployment.  She is holding out for just the right job.  Since she has so much experience being a great executive assistant for expatriates, that is what she hopes to continue to do.  Her most recent employer, the president of Gap, just left Tokyo after living here for 9 years which is why she is no longer employed.  She went to Paris and London with him this summer to help him get set up there.  Arisa-san’s husband doesn’t mind since the employer is gay.  Otherwise, it would have been a little awkward for her to go with him.

We said goodbye to Arisa-san around 8 PM and around 8:30 there was a knock on the door and champagne was delivered with a “happy anniversary” note from the Hyatt.  (Snookums told each of our Hyatt’s that we are celebrating our 3rd anniversary--since we are on our 3rd Anniversary Round-The-World Trip.)  Filbert had two glasses and then we turned out the lights at 9:30.  We had a great “first” day in Tokyo but our legs are pooped!

Tokyo at night

October 5 (Friday, Day 4, Tokyo) –

We woke at 5:30 and lounged until 7:30 or so when we headed out for Hama-rikyu Gardens.  This was the first time in 2 ½ years of using Snookums’ free Tokyo subway program on her Palm that it was wrong!  We went the wrong way on the subway and realized it after about 4 stations.  So, we got off and got on the one going the right way.  Not a big deal at all, but this software program has never failed Snookums before.  You put in the starting and ending destination and then it tells you what public transportation to take to get there.  (We’ll be using it in most of our other cities, too, since they all have public transportation systems and people have gathered the data for others to use.)

When we got off the subway at the correct destination, a brand new office complex had been built since Snookums was last there.  We looked at the maps that were posted all over the place and it seemed really easy since we just had to get to the other side of the building for Hama-rikyu Gardens.  Well, it wasn’t that easy.  We finally asked a security guard and even he had no idea.  It was pretty funny since he was basically telling us that we could go around the building either way (we were basically in the middle of one side of the building and needed to get directly across to the other side).  However, there were highways running all over the place and the lack of sidewalks seemed to be the tricky part.  We ended up getting there just fine, although we did spend about 10 minutes looking at the map and “talking” to the guard.

This wasn't here before!

Flowers in Hama-rikyu Gardens

Hama-rikyu Gardens has origins stretching back 300 years (and has a 300 year old pine tree that was planted at the time the garden was created), when it served as a retreat for a former feudal lord and as duck-hunting grounds for the Tokugawa shoguns.  We walked all over and saw a bunch of fish that would leap two or three feet out of the ponds.  They were pretty neat.  We then caught a boat for a cruise on the Sumida River in order to get to our next sight, Asakusa Temple.  The Sumida River Cruise took about 1 hour and went under 14 bridges.  The banks of the river were concrete walkways and had a bunch of tents and tarps set up for homeless people.

In Asakusa Temple

In Asakusa Temple

Asakusa Temple was built in 645 (yes, 645) and it is Tokyo’s oldest temple (but not Japan’s oldest temple!).  It is a bustling temple and has streets leading up to it where all sorts of Japanese souvenirs and various traditional local snacks are sold.  The snacks include rice crackers and soft cakes with red bean paste filling.  Snookums sampled these when she lived here and didn’t “appreciate” them so neither of us bought any of these local snacks on this visit.  The streets were packed with Japanese tourists (and not many Gaijin, or foreigners).  It was a good time for people watching and we saw what appeared to be a homeless man wearing a very short skirt, a long blazer and a stocking cap.  It was just a weird get-up. 

By now we were hungry but since it was around 2 PM, we had a hard time finding any restaurant that was open as we walked up and down many streets.  So, we did what a lot of Japanese do on a daily basis and stopped in one of the many convenience stores and bought our lunch.  We bought tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet) and rice and the clerk heated it in the microwave.  Snookums also bought a small plate of pickled vegetables for $1.80 (green cucumbers, bright blue cucumber-like vegetables and pickled shredded cabbage) since she really enjoys the different kinds of pickled vegetables that are basically served with every meal.  Filbert bought a $1.50 container of coffee and cream jelly which was coffee Jell-O with a runny cream top.  We found a bench to sit on and ate our lunch.  It was food, but the tonkatsu wasn’t that tasty.  Snookums said it was like buying a burrito at a 7/11 in the US and knowing that it isn’t really Mexican food!

Near Asakusa Temple

Near Asakusa Temple

We were pooped by now so we headed back.  We stopped at a department store in the Asakusa subway station so that Filbert could see the food hall in the basement.  It is kind of like a grocery store but it is where a lot of ready to eat food is sold. There aren’t any microwaves, though, since it’s really to buy and take home and serve your family.  A lot of housewives were buying items for their family’s dinner that night.  We walked by the gourmet fruit section where we saw a wooden case containing two honeydew melons for $200.  (The Japanese give fruit as gifts and when Snookums worked here she asked Arisa-san if the gift receiver really knew the worth of it.  She assured us that they did.  Somehow they know whether it is a $50 melon or a $100 melon.)  There were a variety of honeydews that ranged in price from the normal one for everyday consumption ($8 each) to the gourmet ones that started at $80 for two all the way up to $200 for two! As Filbert often says of the Japanese (with real affection, by the way): “They are a silly little people.”

The trip continues in Part Four, here.
Part Two is here.
Our Round The World Trip home page is here.