Tokyo, Day 1: Sensoji Temple, Hamarikyu Gardens, and Tsukji Market

Last Friday we left Hiroshima bright and early for a full day of traveling that would end with us arriving in Kamikochi (a small town in the Japanese Alps) just before dinner. Our plan was to spend the weekend hiking and exploring Chubu Sangaku National Park. Private cars are not allowed to enter Kamikochi, so I had planned our travel carefully to ensure we'd reach a nearby town with plenty of time to catch one of the park service's buses.

Our travel started off well with two relaxing bullet train rides that delivered us to Nagoya, where we planned to transfer to a local train that would take us the rest of the way. We arrived at 11:45AM for a connection to a 12:00PM train. After a little searching trying to find the right platform, we finally asked for some help and were told that our train had been cancelled due to monsoons somewhere in the area. We spent the next three hours waiting around in hopes that later trains would be allowed to depart, but eventually were forced to give up on our plans to visit Kamikochi. By the time 3:00PM rolled around, there was no way we would make it for the last park service bus into the park. 

At this point, we weren't really sure what to do. The only accommodations we had booked we're in Kamikochi, and we didn't have a backup plan. Finally we decided that our best bet for finding a place to stay last minute would be to continue on to Tokyo which was our final planned destination after Kamikochi anyway. We boarded the next bullet train from Nagoya to Tokyo and the clock started ticking down. I had one hour and 20 minutes to find a place for us to sleep! About an hour in, I started to panic - apparently it's pretty common in Japan for hotels to book rooms with two twin beds or one king bed for an entire family to share. We were exhausted and neither Jason or I really wanted anything to do with a scenario that involved sharing a bed with Fiona for two nights.

About ten minutes from Tokyo station, I stumbled upon the Tokyo Tobu Levant Hotel which seemed to have good reviews, offered three twin beds in a room, and was just a short, one stop connection from Tokyo station where we'd be arriving. What's more, the room was a screaming deal by Tokyo standards at "only" $250/night. I nervously booked and crossed my fingers for the best. You can imagine my relief when we finally arrived to a nice, clean room with this amazing view!

We all passed out not long after our arrival and woke up to our next challenge - what to do with two extra days in Tokyo and absolutely no plans. Jason knew that I wasn't particularly jazzed about visiting Tokyo in general (I'm am SO not a fan of huge cities), and much to his credit took it upon himself to quickly plan not one, but two fun filled days for us!

Our first stop on Saturday morning was to Sensoji Temple with its unique entrance path lined with hundreds of stalls selling all sorts of foods, souvenirs, and more. We started our visit by meandering the stalls - eating and shopping our way to the temple gates. One of my favorite food discoveries in Japan has been all the varieties of rice crackers, so I was extra excited to find this stall selling every flavor you could imagine:

Next we spotted a sign advertising "ice cream burgers." Intrigued, we had to give them a try. Turns out the "buns" were made of wafer cones with your choice of ice cream flavor forming the "burger." We tried matcha, strawberry, and vanilla - yum!

Finally, along with seemingly every other tourist in all of Tokyo, we arrived at the ornate gate of Sensoji Temple:

More impressive than the temple itself (in my eyes) was the beautiful five-storied pagoda.

Near the temple is a large earthenware drum know as Jokoro. People flock to the temple to "immerse" themselves in the smoke from the Jokoro because of its believed healing effects. Jason, who felt like he might be coming down with a cold, decided to give it a go. The results?: "As I expected, filling my lungs with smoke did nothing for my soar throat and headache. If anything, I think I may feel even worse!" Hmm...

After exploring the temple grounds a bit more, we walked the couple of blocks to nearby Sumida River where Jason had found a water bus that would take us down river to the Hamarikyu Gardens. As we waited for the ferry to depart, we had to google the interesting gold sculpture that was in front of us and that was also visible from our hotel room.

What we learned turned out to be pretty funny. The sculpture, known famously among locals as "kin no unchi" (Japanese for "golden turd") sits atop the Tokyo's Asahi Beer building (referred to by locals as "unchi biru" - poop building). So massive that it is made of 300 tons of stainless steel, it was meant to look like foam rising from a beer mug...somehow, I just don't see it...

After a relaxing ride along the river, we eventually arrived at Hamarikyu Garden. Although it's use has varied from public garden to a private strolling garden and duck hunting spot for members of the imperial family, it has been in existence since 1603.

I was surprised at how many flowers we found blooming in the flower garden despite it being late in August, hot, and humid.

The garden is also home to this 300 year old pine tree - it is massive!

The garden is beautiful in its own right, but also really interesting to walk around given the strong juxtaposition between the peaceful, green gardens and the skyscrapers of Tokyo that surround it. It is surrounded by a seawater moat which is connected to all of its salt water ponds. Both the ponds and the moat change levels with the tide.

The gardens are so immaculately tended that the grass is apparently trimmed by hand!

Toward the end of our walk around the garden, Fiona stared to get a little hot and tired. She kept dragging her feet along the dirt path - kicking dirt everywhere and just generally being a little obnoxious. Jason told her to stop to which she replied, "What? I'm just walking!" So he told, "Well you need to pick up your feet when you walk." In true six-year-old going on sixteen-year-old fashion, she proceeded to "walk" like this - literally picking up her foot each time she took a step" - for the next ten minutes. Jason and I were thoroughly entertained!

The last stop on our tour for the day was the Tsukiji Fish Market. Unlike the tourist-centered fish market in Sapporo, this Tsukiji is a busy commercial market that would prefer not to have the interruption of tourists. Somewhere along the line, I think it became clear that the tourists were going to come whether they were wanted or not, so a small area of stalls has been created to cater to them, but by and large this is a huge fishing port with numerous warehouses were fishing vessels arrive and unload in the middle of the night in preparation for fish auctions that take place at some insane hour (I think 5AM?...). It's actually possible to go to the auction and watch it which I've read is really interesting, but none of my travel companions are huge morning people, so we decided to do a lunch time visit.

One of the main draws to the fish auctions is for the sheer amazement that comes with seeing the huge tuna that are auctioned off. We got lucky in that we got to see one (well, at least what was left of it) in the tourist market.

I think we may have a budding fishmonger on our hands...

And finally, no trip to Tsukji would be complete without stopping for sushi at one of the nearby restaurants serving fish that was literally still swimming around the ocean less than 24 hours earlier! Jason says he thinks Japan has forever ruined sushi for him at home.

After our late lunch, we navigated our way back to the hotel - no thanks to this clear as mud subway map posted in the Tokyo metro. Thank goodness for the public transit directions offered by Google Maps! I don't know how people survived without!