David was sent to Tokyo for work, and we decided that this was a great opportunity to mix business with pleasure. Unfortunately, the one-flight-a-day to Tokyo leaves at 6:00am, requiring a 3:30am alarm setting. David had a telecon at midnight the night before, and decided to just stay up the whole night and sleep on the plane. Which resulted in us ordering room service as soon as we got to the hotel in Tokyo, and falling dead alseep at 7:30pm. I took one single picture the first day:
Aaaahhh, finally a cool breeze. That's a nice 62F for those of you who were hoping I'd do the conversion for you.
Day 2 in Tokyo, we rose early and took a Gray Line Tour to see a few sights and get oriented in the city. The first stop on the tour was Tokyo Tower, which looks remarkably like an orange Eiffel Tower, and is really just a bit TV antennae. Great views, though:
They had the oddest mascot at the tower... what is this thing?
Here's what the tower looks like from the bottom. Don't worry, we'll get a better view later.
Next was the Meiji Shrine. We learned about what the those big wooden gates ("torii") were, and not to walk on the gravel path in the middle, because that's where the gods walked. "This is the biggest wooden 'torii' of the Myojin style in Japan, built in 1975 and modeled after the original built in 1920. The material wood used is Japan Cypress, 1500 years old from Taiwan."
We learned how to cleanse ourselves before entering a shrine (rinse left hand, rinse right hand, sip and spit, tilt the dipper up to empty for the next person). Here's me caught in the act:
We were lucky enough to see not one, not two, not three, but four wedding processions. Here are two of them:
They're supposed to look somber, to convey the seriousness of the committment. We also learned that when the obi (the thing around your waist when wearing a kimono) is in a bow, you're single, but when it's in a square, you're married:
Next stop on the tour was the Imperial Gardens. No sign of the Crown Prince, but the flowers were pretty. FYI, a traditional Japanese garden has five elements, real or symbolic: Water, island, bridge, stone lantern, and tea house or pavilion.
The tour ended in a shopping district called Ginza, and I won't go into detail about how we got completely lost (the first of many times) in the neighborhood where we were dropped off, even with the guide pointing on the map exactly where we were. We did manage to find the Sony building, where they had the latest and greatest in Sony gadgets. Here are the coolest headphones ever. For a mere $400 or so.
I also found a fantastic camera I would have loved to buy (duty free!), but they were sold out. Crap.
That evening, we went to Jingu stadium and saw a baseball game, one my favorite things we did. Tigers vs. the Swallows, and we had a great time.
Outdoor stadium:
Beer girls:
Hot dogs (or noodles, if you prefer):
Potstickers in a cup!
There was no "Take Me Out To The Ballgame", but here's their 7th inning stretch tradition. Press Play and wait for it...
This guy walked by every 1/2 inning with this sign. I couldn't read what it said of course, but the picture was fairly clear.
Swallows win! Good fun was had by all.
All this in one day. Just wait for tomorrow...
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