Melinda's Japanese Adventure: Tokyo Tower and Kidzania

As promised, here is an update--courtesy of the Blackboard troubles which have made it impossible to grade during this busiest week of the semester!

Last week we had a visitor stay with us. One of the other Fulbrighter's wife came to stay for a couple of days and so we took her around to see some of the sights in the big city of Tokyo (Beth is in Kyoto--which by American standards is also a big city, but not quite like the largest city in the world!). In particular, we visited the East Garden of the Imperial Palace and the Tokyo Dome.

The Imperial Palace is surrounded by moats and gardens and, for the most part, these are pretty open to the public. It's common to see people fishing or boating on the moat or for them to be strolling around the gardens. At any rate, it's an interesting system. Visiting the gardens is free, but, of course, there are all kinds of security guards and police. So, you walk through a bit gate (the doors are huge--maybe 4 times my height--and they really do close them when the grounds are closed) and get a ticket from the ticket booth. It is free and looks a little bit like a thin domino and you return it when you leave (I guess it's their way of making sure the emperor has no uninvited overnight guests). Then you stroll around.

It was the funniest thing. Back home my mom is in Garden Club and they go around and have places in town they clean up and keep planted in flowers and whatnot. I guess it was Garden Club day at the East Garden. There were hundreds of little old ladies all dressed in little uniform type things (different colors in different parts of the gardens) and they were raking and planting and trimming and taking care of the garden. (And, of course, chattering away as old ladies do!)

This time of year the gardens don't have much by way of flowers--a few roses and what looked to be camellias and pansies--but the grounds were still beautiful.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures as my camera battery was dead, but Sid and I stopped back on Monday to take a few shots. I got some from the outside--the gardens are closed on Mondays. So, here are some sights from the East Garden--the moat, a bridge, an old building, some swans....:

As you can see, the palace is surrounded by Tokyo. It is a green spot in a city of buildings.

And, most of those buildings are under construction.

This is near the East Garden. I believe it is MacArthur's Tokyo HQ. I have read that it was located only a short drive from the palace--for us it was about a 7 minute walk.