About 7:00am on Monday, March 12th, we arrived in Tokyo after traversing the very busy waters of Tokyo Bay and through Tokyo harbor. Tokyo spans over 200 square miles and is the world’s largest city. We were greeted with glorious blue skies and a spectacular view of Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan.
A traditional Japanese band, mostly of big drums welcomed our arrival. Today we choose a tour to visit the Imperial Palace Grounds, Meiji Shrine and Sensoji Temple ( Asakusa Kannon Temple), free time for shopping and a city tour covering Tokyo North, South and East.
The first stop on tour was the vast expanse of the Imperial Palace Grounds, the primary residence of Japan’s Emperor, the private homes f his family, elegant gardens, a museum and administrative offices and was built atop the original site of Edo Castle. Nijubashi Bridge (which means double bridge) is one of the most well-known bridges in Japan. If you are looking at the bridge from the front, the two separate bridges appear as a single two story bridge. There are approximately 2,000 beautiful Japanese Black Pine trees planted in the National Garden Plaza area. Before Edo Castle was built, this area was an inlet of Tokyo Bay.
As we travelled through the city of Tokyo we arrived at the Meiji Shrine. Originally completed in 1921, this is a Shinto Shrine and is surrounded by a forest comprised of thousands of trees in the heart of Tokyo.
This woman is preparing to pay respect at the Shrine by rinsing her hands and by using water from the stone basin at the place called Temizusha, then proceeds to the Shrine building. At the Shrine she bows twice, claps her hands twice and bows once again.
Travelling again back across town we stopped for lunch at the beautiful Le Meridian Grand Pacific Hotel. The lunch was delicious and the service impeccable. However, we were disappointed that it was a western style food.
Next we moved onto one of Tokyo’s most colorful and popular temples Sensoji, also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple. Legend says that in the year 628, two brothers fished a statue of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy, out of the Sumida River. Even after they put it back into the river, it returned. To commemorate this miracle, a temple was built in 645, making it Tokyo’s oldest temple.
After touring the temple we had free time to shop the streets. Unfortunately, things are so expensive that all we did was a lot of looking and laughing at the unusual objects.
The weather was wonderful and it was a very good day. Tokyo, although big and busy is fascinating and a sight to behold. The Pacific Princess set sail at 9PM for Hiroshima.
