Visitors 57
46 photos, 1 videos
We had two full days in Tokyo. We knew on arrival that one day would be nice albeit extremely windy, and the second day would be rainy.
We used the nice day to hop around the city, partly on foot and partly on the trains using a SUICA card – with destinations that included Ueno Park and surrounding area, Asakusa/Senso-ji (Nakamise-dori was packed, but it was a Saturday), Ginza, and the gardens around the Imperial Palace.
The rainy day was more challenging. We started with the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and then sought out Hibiya Okuroji (a newer shopping restaurant development under the viaduct between Shimbashi and Yurakucho stations for lunch.
We spent a couple of our evenings wandering east of Shinjuku station. The other we spent at Meiji Jingu Stadium taking in a Yakult Swallows game. We arrived a little late and could hear the chanting and singing several blocks from the stadium. At first glance, we thought the 8-1 on the scoreboard was just some display element we weren’t used to – but, no, we missed a lot of action in the first 1.5 innings (and mostly not by the home team). Nevertheless, that didn’t seem to get the Swallows fans down. They chanted. They sang. And when their team scored, out came the umbrellas. One nice fan nearby bought us beer. It was fun, even if the home team wasn’t looking so good.
The stadium was packed, and not just the locals. Yokohama brought a very large contingent of fans, a few with musical instruments.
Hover over photos for captions.
We used the nice day to hop around the city, partly on foot and partly on the trains using a SUICA card – with destinations that included Ueno Park and surrounding area, Asakusa/Senso-ji (Nakamise-dori was packed, but it was a Saturday), Ginza, and the gardens around the Imperial Palace.
The rainy day was more challenging. We started with the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and then sought out Hibiya Okuroji (a newer shopping restaurant development under the viaduct between Shimbashi and Yurakucho stations for lunch.
We spent a couple of our evenings wandering east of Shinjuku station. The other we spent at Meiji Jingu Stadium taking in a Yakult Swallows game. We arrived a little late and could hear the chanting and singing several blocks from the stadium. At first glance, we thought the 8-1 on the scoreboard was just some display element we weren’t used to – but, no, we missed a lot of action in the first 1.5 innings (and mostly not by the home team). Nevertheless, that didn’t seem to get the Swallows fans down. They chanted. They sang. And when their team scored, out came the umbrellas. One nice fan nearby bought us beer. It was fun, even if the home team wasn’t looking so good.
The stadium was packed, and not just the locals. Yokohama brought a very large contingent of fans, a few with musical instruments.
Hover over photos for captions.
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