Today, we go back to Tokyo. The owner kindly took us to the train station in the morning. We arrived at the station just past 9.00 am, and our train is not leaving until 9.30 am. So we have a quick stroll around the station, and saw our first sakura (cherry blossom) tree 
This is the train we are catching to go back to Tokyo (the green one).
We also bought a lunch box set at the station, called eki-ben. This is similar to bento box that some of you might be familiar with, but this is pre-packed and meant to be eaten on the go.
Arriving at Tokyo, we took some pictures of the buildings around the Tokyo station area and on our way to the hotel. There is also a bus with Hello Kitty on the front seat .
Then we arrived at our hotel, which is a Mariott hotel. Pretty fancy eh? Thanks to my wife’s company, she gathered all these points from Mariott during her work travelling, and we ended up spending 4 nights (3 + 1) at Mariott Tokyo for free Did you notice the TV? It’s LCD TV hehehe…
After a quick rest, we start going around Tokyo, starting from Hibiya Park, which is just next to the Imperial Palace. It’s a lovely park, supposed to have lots of cherry tree but we seemed to have missed its blossoming period.
Then we walked to the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, the Imperial Palace is not open for public, except on New Year and on Emperor’s Birthday. So we can only take pictures from a distance. Lucky I got my telephoto lens so I can get up close and personal with the palace (but the emperor is nowhere to be seen LOL). Around the palace is the Imperial Garden, and apparently some of the Sakura tree is still blooming.
From the Imperial Palace, we went to Senso-ji (ji = temple), which is one of the most significant temples in Japan. The temple’s ground is really big, comprising of a street full of souvenirs and food shops, the temple’s gate (which unfortunately is covered due to restoration work), a pagoda, and the temple itself. There are so many stalls, selling different kind of food. There are takoyaki (octopus balls), deep fried chicken, yakitori, okonomiyaki (japanese pancake), and other food we’re not so sure what they are. We tried the takoyaki, it’s pretty nice. There’s a big octopus leg and a prawn inside, and the ball (the flour mixture) is very soft inside. It’s quite expensive for our standard though, 6 balls costing JPY 500.
Oh, I just want to point out that a typical Japanese trains/subways is usually full of ads. Ads are hanging from the roof, on the sides, and even on the hanging handle (the handle you hold if you’re standing)! The stops (stations) are also shown in the train, which makes it quite easy for foreigners to travel by train in Japan. The information are written both in Japanese and English.
From Senso-ji, we went to Ginza, which is the shopping district of Tokyo. It has lots of boutique shops, expensive stuffs! But the display of lights is very entertaining. There’s Sony Building in Ginza area, which showcases the latest and greatest of Sony’s gadgets. We went there and saw all these electronic stuffs, from MP3 players to Home Audio/Video system, that we haven’t seen in Australia (probably not in a couple of years).
That’s the end of our 2nd day in Japan (or our 1st day in Tokyo). Stay tuned for more…
