Hello everyone, thanks to those of you who have been posting. Always nice to hear from those of you who are elsewhere, especially Chris, who I havent spoken to in years...have a great trip!
Dimitar and I have been very busy in our last two days in Tokyo. Yesterday was our day to visit Central Tokyo. Walking through the downtown streets, we both felt that we could almost have been walking through Manhattan. Everything was written in English as well as Japanese, the people were dressed the same as Westerners, and the hustle and bustle was the same as in our cities. After taking in the sights and sounds, we made our way out of the financial district to the outside of the Imperial Palace. Dimitar asked one of the people at the entrance whether it was closed, to which he laughed and said that it was always closed unless we had an invitation from the Emperor. This ranks among my favorite moments of the trip so far, up with Dimitar trying to ask a waitress for hot sauce in Japanese and her returning with a fork. In any case, we walked around the palace grounds, which are surrounded by a moat on all sides, and we saw a very official looking procession into the compound with a horse-drawn carriage.
In the afternoon Dimitar and I went to the viewing deck of Tokyo Tower, Tokyos highest point. Traveling through the city, you come to appreciate the size of this place, but seeing it stretch out on all sides for as far as we could see took that understanding to a whole new level. The pictures I posted dont really convey what we were seeing very well, as the hazy skies are magnified by the camera, but hopefully they help you to get some sense of what were seeing.
At night, we headed to the foreigner-heavy Rappongi district to meet up with Anamaria, a Stanford friend who has been working for MorganStanley here for the past year. She took us to the first nice restaurant weve been to, and we certainly appreciated having a fluent Japanese speaker. After dinner, we went to a shot bar called Geronimo which was full of Americans, had some drinks, and managed to miss the last train. We took a different train which got us near, and after wandering the streets for a while, we managed to get back to our hostel in one piece.
Today, we set our sights for West Tokyo. To me, this was probably the least exciting part of the city that weve seen so far, but it seemed to be a highlight for Dimitar. He guided us through many crowded streets and intersections, and he took about 15 photos of each one. In total, he has taken about 600 photos since weve left. He also guided us through Tokyos charming red light district. The highlights for me were seeing the old Olympic complex and a protest, where pro-Taiwanese people seemed to be blocking the entrance to a TV studio using a bus. I have no idea why.
Weve now made it back to our hostel and are getting ready to go out for dinner with Anamaria and our friend Philippe, who just arrived. Dimitar seems to want to stay out all night, but I plan to head back soon after to get some sleep, as well need to be up at 5am to leave here for the airport, where we have a 10am flight to Hong Kong.
Goodbye, Japan!
Dimitar and I have been very busy in our last two days in Tokyo. Yesterday was our day to visit Central Tokyo. Walking through the downtown streets, we both felt that we could almost have been walking through Manhattan. Everything was written in English as well as Japanese, the people were dressed the same as Westerners, and the hustle and bustle was the same as in our cities. After taking in the sights and sounds, we made our way out of the financial district to the outside of the Imperial Palace. Dimitar asked one of the people at the entrance whether it was closed, to which he laughed and said that it was always closed unless we had an invitation from the Emperor. This ranks among my favorite moments of the trip so far, up with Dimitar trying to ask a waitress for hot sauce in Japanese and her returning with a fork. In any case, we walked around the palace grounds, which are surrounded by a moat on all sides, and we saw a very official looking procession into the compound with a horse-drawn carriage.
In the afternoon Dimitar and I went to the viewing deck of Tokyo Tower, Tokyos highest point. Traveling through the city, you come to appreciate the size of this place, but seeing it stretch out on all sides for as far as we could see took that understanding to a whole new level. The pictures I posted dont really convey what we were seeing very well, as the hazy skies are magnified by the camera, but hopefully they help you to get some sense of what were seeing.
At night, we headed to the foreigner-heavy Rappongi district to meet up with Anamaria, a Stanford friend who has been working for MorganStanley here for the past year. She took us to the first nice restaurant weve been to, and we certainly appreciated having a fluent Japanese speaker. After dinner, we went to a shot bar called Geronimo which was full of Americans, had some drinks, and managed to miss the last train. We took a different train which got us near, and after wandering the streets for a while, we managed to get back to our hostel in one piece.
Today, we set our sights for West Tokyo. To me, this was probably the least exciting part of the city that weve seen so far, but it seemed to be a highlight for Dimitar. He guided us through many crowded streets and intersections, and he took about 15 photos of each one. In total, he has taken about 600 photos since weve left. He also guided us through Tokyos charming red light district. The highlights for me were seeing the old Olympic complex and a protest, where pro-Taiwanese people seemed to be blocking the entrance to a TV studio using a bus. I have no idea why.
Weve now made it back to our hostel and are getting ready to go out for dinner with Anamaria and our friend Philippe, who just arrived. Dimitar seems to want to stay out all night, but I plan to head back soon after to get some sleep, as well need to be up at 5am to leave here for the airport, where we have a 10am flight to Hong Kong.
Goodbye, Japan!
We really enjoy your blog, as do some of our friends. Thanks!
ReplyDeletejudging by these pictures...it's hard to tell that you've even left stanford! hahaha duhduhduhduh doodoo dundun dee. play lots of dance dance revolution and enjoy the collection of anime porn.
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