Day 4 – 11/2/2017 – Sneaking in some Tourist Time, and Leaving Tokyo

I awoke early this morning, intent on catching up on any work that had come in during Americas hours and heading right out into the city today. We’d be checked out by 11:00, have lunch quickly, and then be on a bus to the airport for our flight. Today, in general, was just supposed to be a travel day… but I’d gotten the Internet working on my phone (Thank you Sprint, data was actually free while I was there!), had looked  up the location of Tokyo Tower the night before… and with little extra effort in the morning I had eaten my normal dumpling breakfast and was out on the town. I wish I would have brought my larger camera on this trip… but really getting out to do anything touristy was a surprise to begin with so I had not even considered it. My cell phone would have to make do.

 

I’d navigated a path from my hotel past the Starbucks (location noted, I’d want coffee later) and up a hill, then down the same hill on the other side. I should run right into Tokyo Tower if I did it right, and the roads seemed pretty straightforward. It should be just over a mile to get there, and about a mile back. I also planned on heading into the very large parks behind the tower just to see what I could see (Here’s a rough map of where I was… starting at Ark Hills near the top of the map in the middle, and heading down to Tokyo Tower).

 

 

As I began weaving through Tokyo, I ran into closed streets due to Embassies with large fences… and had to alter my route. At the same time, some of the roads were so narrow cars could barely fit through… and at seven-ish in the morning I wasn’t about to risk it when the roads seemed somewhat busy. I kept letting my phone choose new paths, eventually setting on the old and trusted “Well, I can see the Tower. I’ll just keep turning toward it every time I can” routine. This eventually worked, and I found myself at the base of the tower.

 

 

 

 

Since the Tower was closed, I decided to head into the park and got some great pictures of the more “natural” way parks here are laid out. Pathways are not paved, and any time stairs are needed they are likely created with stumps or rocks (though some are still cemented in place).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I kept walking, I exited the park and headed across the street following a line of something red I could see in the distance. Have no idea it was here, I’d stumbled upon the site of a relocated a Buddhist Temple!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would come to learn more about the children with the knitted hats, as well:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Realizing I was running short on time to get back and have a coffee now (though our flight had been delayed a few hours already by this time), I decided to take a quick look at “city hall” which was across the street. It wasn’t picture-worth, just an office-park, but I did stop and use one of the famed Japanese vending machines that line the streets… I mean I had a lot of Yen now!

 

 

 

 

I decided to take a path back through another part of the park, and ran into a shrine where passers-by would stop, say a prayer, and bow before continuing along their way. I took some pictures on the way back through the park as well. I’m not sure that I was supposed to, but I walked right through this arch anyway!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually I’d find myself on city streets again, though I did find one building that was quite literally growing on me. I’d end up really enjoying the amount of green that I saw along the way through Tokyo, and all the places they found to put shrubbery and trees.

 

 

 

 

After my Starbucks stop (where I had a Mocha just as delicious as you’d expect, though they did not have peppermint which wasn’t really a surprise to me), I headed back to the hotel and we ate dim sum on the 3rd floor at the place I mentioned earlier in the trip. It was delicious, and the presentation (even for something as simple as bok choy and pork) was fantastic:

 

 

 

After lunch, we killed some time sitting around the lobby before our bus came, and then it was a whirlwind of highways lined with metal and signs with few opportunities for pictures. I’m depressed I didn’t make it to the docks as many of my friends suggested, but this will just have to be something I do the next time I go (I hear I may be back in a year or so maybe!) so I’ll keep you all apprised… there’s so much more to see in Japan overall (Including Fox Village!). The flight back I had been lucky enough to upgrade to International First Class by playing some miles games with United Airlines. It takes eleven hours to fly from Tokyo to Denver… and I slept for nine of them with my seat in a nearly full recline (almost lying flat). It was worth every mile to upgrade! Before I knew it, I was back in Denver, back through customs, and on to the next adventure.