Imperial Palace East Garden and Ueno

Okay, so as I said in last night's frenzied post, I actually did have a very big day yesterday, but it was all overshadowed by a certain provocative singer/songwriter...

So yesterday was my day off, I'd planned with Chris and Christie to go to see the Emperor's Palace, so met up with them at Otemachi station. It was such a freakin' cold day! It was drizzly all day, but because I'd been inside until pretty much the last minute, i didn't realise how cold it was, and so didn't take any gloves with me - pretty much just had my beanie, and didn't even take my 150Yen umbrella! When Dad called around 5pm when I was outside the Tokyo Museum, I had to keep changing the hand I was holding my phone in, as they kept freezing!

So we spent the morning walking around the Imperial Palace East Garden (the only part of the palace grounds open all year round) and freezing our little fingers off...

Some photos:

Beaker in front of the main gate


Beaker inside the main gate


me! inside


Christie in front of the huge gate


Beaker getting stuck in the thicket, trying to climb into the moat (the castle has a moat!!!)


Interesting contrast - shows you just how close to the Imperial Palace entrance the city is - it's literally just across the road


Samurai quarters


The Mt Fuji View Keep - used to store things, but also used by the Emperor to watch fireworks over the bay in old times, and it used to have a clear view to Mt Fuji


A keep, which they think used to be linked to somewhere else... i can't really remember


a cherry blossom tree, not quite in bloom - all of my students believe they'll bloom early this year, as it's been a very mild winter


This was the base of a huge tower, destroyed by fire sometime in the 1600s


The view from the top of the base


More cherry blossoms - very pretty already!


A Music Hall built for the Emperess back in the 1960s... yeah, kinda ugly


Beaker about to leave - that's Chris and Christie on the left


Exit gate - wasn't sure if the guard would have a problem with me taking a photo, but he seemed okay


The bridge back to 2007


Me between worlds - looking back to the 1800s, forward to 2007


Some type of statue - I can't really remember who he was, so lets just say he's the Patron Saint/Samurai of Pigeons


Chris and Christie encouraging the pigeons


So after seeing the Imperial palace gardens, and feeding the already fat pigeons, we headed to Ginza for lunch. Ginza is said to be to Japan what Park Avenue is to New York - and you could tell as we exited Ginza Station, very swanky stores, advertisements and restaurants. We ended up settling at a little Italian restaurant, as we all had a craving for spaghetti - and it was so an awesome meal! Lol it felt a bit odd though, coming all this way to Japan to eat Italian food.

Anyway, Chris and Christie had to work later that night, so they headed off then. I'd made arrangements to meet up with Stevo, a British guy I work with, for some drinks at Ueno, so headed there, then spent about 10 minutes walking around Ueno trying to find the Hard Rock Cafe, before getting a message telling me that I'd walked past it, as it was right in the station. Doh!
So I spent a good hour or two chatting to him over my ice tea (free refills! woot!), it was great, we sort of had similar upbringings, so got on quite well. So it's good to know someone else at my work a bit better now. I think we're all planning on going out for Cheryl's birthday this week (Cheryl is from Seattle), so that'll be a great way of getting to know people as well.

After chatting to him, I spent a couple of hours walking around Ueno-Koen, the huge park at Ueno. Some of the features of Ueno-Koen include an amusement park, a fountain, a huge Shinto shrine and a 5 storey pagoda (very impressive). Ueno also has the highest concentration of museums and art galleries, but as it was fairly late in the afternoon I didn't really get a chance to go into any of them (except once when i went in to warm up!).

So I'll let the photos do the talking:
A statue outside the Tokyo museum of modern art (I think? or another art gallery?)


A huge whale outside the Tokyo Science Museum...


... which Beaker managed to piss off


Inside the Shinto Shrine, looking towards the temple (?)


and looking back out


A flame from the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki - kept burning all these years. A man found his uncle's house still burning, and kept some of the flame burning as a symbol of regret, and a whole lot of other stuff happened, such as it being combined with flames created from the friction of two Nagasaki roof tiles hitting each other, and at some stage it was taken into the UN, and then a lamp was created for it in Ueno, where it now resides


The temple (?) inside the shrine


The pagoda (I couldn't find a way to get a better view of it, so this is all I could get)


The front gate of Inshu Ikeda's Residence (known as Kuro-Man, or Black Gate) - and a van....


a cool "sculpture" in front of one of the art museums - that flash is me!


The Tokyo Museum


8 degrees!!! this was at 5:30pm, I was soo cold. Okay, so I know it gets a lot colder than this, but for a Brisbane/Gold Coast boy, this is damn cold!


After walking around Ueno till around 6, hoping to avoid the rush hour trains, but getting tired of walking around, I decided to go home - and had my first true rush hour train trip! So many people packed into the trains, and they all act like it's the most natural thing! People are reading while being crushing into one another, then at a station people surge towards the exit, so people get pushed out, then if they want to stay on the train they have to get back on, but they look so nonchalant.

Also, the whole time I've been here I've been saying "sumimasen" when I wanted to get past people, as I was told it means "excuse me". Well I realised yesterday or the day before that it does mean "excuse me", but is used as a way to get their attention... so that explains why people looked kinda weirdly at me whenever i said it.

Tomorrow I get my alien registration card so can stop carrying my passport around - woot! I'm also having a hard time finding a swimming pool that's close to me that also doesn't charge a ridiculous amount to use (such as the private gyms)...

Well, today marks 2 weeks since I arrived, and it seems like I've been her so much longer! I keep stressing out, thinking that I haven't seen enough, but then I have to realise that I've only been here a fortnight, and well, I've got a lot more time here. I think I'm just in holiday mode, thinking that I've only got a short amount of time here, so trying to fit a lot in.

One stupid thing - you can't send sms or free messages to people on different phone networks to you! You have to send them emails from your phone, but of course you have to know their phone email address... Seems so ridiculous. But I have been receiving the sms's everyone from home has been sending, including the one message sent from someone telling me they had a new phone number, but didn't bother including their name :P So I have no idea who's new number I have!

Anyway, I'm still very much enjoying myself here, and am settling in quite nicely - I'm used to the train systems, have already bought my first Tekei (monthly pass), and little things like going to the shops aren't freaking me out. Work is fine, a bit brainless, but this is what I wanted, a holiday for a year or so, so it suits me fine. And I have two imminent CD releases to look forward to! Patrick Wolf's The Magic Position, coming out next week, and that should keep me happy till May when Tori's American Doll Posse is released! Huzzah!

Currently listening: Sufjan Stevens - The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us!