Japan - Day 14

Last full day in Japan and the weather could NOT be nicer!  As was the case last year (in Easter Europe), March is not the best time to visit some places from a weather point of view.  Most of the trip has been cold and rainy but today was spectacular.  So what do you do on a beautiful spring day in Japan?  Well, if you are lucky you spend the day admiring cherry blossoms…and this is what we set out to do.

• Bottom right: I found Dr. Pepper in a vending machine.

First we headed to the Imperial Palace to walk around the garden.  You can only go inside the palace on two days during the year, and this was not one of those days, but the gardens are always open.

• Top left: Look at the stone work...no mortar.

Next we headed to the electronic district of Tokyo to check out the stores.  None of us were in the market to buy anything, but it is pretty cool none the less.  Imagine a Best Buy on steroids crammed into ¼ of the same space…then add lots of flashing lights and excited/screaming advertising.

• Top and bottom right: These girls got pissed when I took pictures of them, but that did not stop me.  You dress up funny in public and I'm going to take your picture.
• Bottom left: Apparently they don't have trash cans in Asia.  I carried that Dr. Pepper can for a couple of hours.
• Bottom middle: Victory!  Not only did I find a trash can, but a recycle can.

After that we headed to the Tokyo museum which has an awesome lane of cherry blossoms.  We knew none of this at the time.  We were heading to the museum because someone in our group was reading the New Yorker (obviously a hippy) and he read about a tea house there that we should visit.  When we got to the museum area we were blown away with the cherry blossoms and the number of people celebrating outside.  It felt like the fourth of July in the US.  We headed to the museum and the hippies went to the tea ceremony and a few of us went in the museum.

• Bottom right: The picnic looked fun.

• Bottom left: I love samurai swords.  This one was from the 12th century.

After the museum we just wandered the area for a little while.  The festive atmosphere was just too good to leave.

• Bottom left: Everyone was taking pictures of the cherry blossoms.
• Bottom right: Worst case of Asian Plush that I have ever seen (I only recently learned about this term but apparently many Asians turn very red when they drink).

• Bottom right: This dog loved to eat cherry blossoms.

Next we stopped into a sushi shop so the boys could get a snack (I don't eat sushi) and a drink before dinner.  Then we headed to dinner (taking a few pictures along the way).

• Bottom left: At the end of the day, I am American...which means I have to insult foreign cultures and their works of art.

Dinner was an event and a half.  The place does not typically take English speakers but someone in our group had their mother (who speaks Japanese) call all over town to find a place that would take us.  The dinner setup was fantastic.  It was all you can eat and all you can drink (beer and sake) for 2 hours.  Since only one person in our 28 person group spoke Japanese, dinner took about three hours…but they did not charge us extra.  The end result was a group in quite good spirits…so it was time to go clubbing.

• Top right: I was more than full.
• Bottom left: Steak.
• Bottom right: Pork.

From 3-27-10 Tokyo

• Sake Bombs!  After this, we did a round with everyone there.

We stayed in the club until about 3:30 AM and since it is a Tokyo tradition, after a quick bite to eat, we took the first subway home (5 AM) with hundreds of our new best friends.