It was another fantastic day here in Japan. We started by having a late breakfast. Sarma made his own breakfast of sushi (mixing stuff together) but then ruined it all by having Coco Pops sushi (seaweed, rice and Coco Pops). After breakfast we headed to Ginza which is meant to be the heart of Tokyo City. We started with a few photos at the International Forum building, which is a huge glass building with many walkways. We then headed to Character Street which is not really a street as it is under a station This place was not very exciting unless you like Hello Kitty or Snoopy. Or Domo Kun. What is that guy anyway?. Saying that, Rob seemed to enjoy himself there… That boy has issues!
Our next stop was the Imperial Palace. On the 2nd of January the Emperor lets the public into the actual palace grounds for his New Year greeting. Normally the public are not allowed into the grounds. We were lucky enough to go into the palace gates and see the emperor and hear his new year greeting. To get into the imperial palace we had our bags checked, got metal detected and frisked in case we had any concealed weapons to kill the emperor. Anthony felt very frisky, he likes this stuff. They thought my gloves were a lethal weapon, until i demonstrated how they worked. Then they grabbed my arse! I thought Duy was there for a minute…
The walk up to the palace was beautiful the bridges and water made the place very magical. I do not know how many people were actually there, I think in the thousands and they were all so excited to see the Emperor. He came and did a speech in Japanese, waved and went away. During this time Chipi made a friend in this Japanese man who spoke no English. They spent the next 40 min swapping camera advice while we waited for the next Emperor visit. Chipi speaking English and this man speaking Japanese, yet they both seemed to understand each other. As we departed with the mob an elderly Japanese man, who may have been quite drunk, asked us where we were from. After the third attempt, he finally realised we were from Australia to which he replied in semi broken English “Good Luck”. Sometime later I saw an ideal place to take a picture and I decided to use Sarma’s head as a tripod, the old Japanese man came out of nowhere laughing and pointing at us strange foreigners.
After the Emperor we slowly followed the crowds out and saw more of the imperial palace and gardens. On the way out we saw two beautiful little Japanese girls, both dressed in Kimonos, I stopped to take a picture with them asking their parents permission of course. I think the mum was quite flattered and she took some pictures of us too. We got some photos in front of the moat which was pretty cool and then headed to our next place. We stopped for lunch at a place called Freshness Burger, which we do not recommend (unless you are a fan of mango and tzatziki smoothies, yeah I was surprised too) and then continued to the Sony building.
The Sony building is pretty much a 8 story building showcasing Sony products. It was pretty average but there was a dancing machine which was pretty cool. Sarma and Anthony also found their new TV. Oh I did get my picture with a polar bear (girl in bear suit) at the Sony building. I’m still unsure why there was a polar bear there though. There was also a guy doing ice carving, when finished it was a tiger which was pretty cool.
We then went looking for the toy shop. By the time we found it was closed. Tired and annoyed we wandered the streets of Ginza and found a waffle shop (still no Sushi) so that Lee could enjoy a waffle. With most of the food places closed we had no idea where to eat. It was then something magical happen, the sort of thing that would never happen in Melbourne. Steve asked a girl and her mum if they knew where a sushi restaurant was and lucky for us the daughter (who was cute) spoke english and told us there was some near the station. in the end the mum and daughter took us on a tour of Ginza and to a restuarant. But the lovleyness did not stop there. The girl left her mum and came with us to the restaurant, which was some place we would never go. She then told us she would come in and help us order as it was in Japanese. This place was a traditional Japanese restuarant at its best, with cushins and low table and all. She was the lovelest person we met, and i think she liked Chipi. In the end she stayed for a while and then took off to meet up with her mum. We did get her number and she has asked us to call her so we can meet up in a few days and go out. Hopefully Chipi will have some luck, she was very cool
The meal itself was unique and awesome. One of the best meals we have had in Japan. We were very lucky to have met her and hopefully she can come out with us later in the week.
Before we went home Steve attempted to take some photos of a busy intersection, which failed as a taxi pulled in front of the camera. Now its time to wash our clothes and get ready for Ueno tomorrow.
YAY Zoo time.