Day 4: Tokyo Part Ni

After our adventures at the fish market, the day was still early so we continued to explore Tokyo. We went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Buildings which are within walking distance from our hotel. They are two huge goverment buildings (about 60 floors) which are connected with a walkway about 30 stories up. They allow tourists to go up for free to get an amazing view of the city. They take you up to the 45th floor and from there you have a 360 degree view of the city - amazing!!!
We still can't get over the number of skyscapers in Tokyo - there are so many buildings that are 60 stories or above. The other interesting thing is that they are spread all over the city. Unlike a typical city where there is a concentration of tall buildings and that's it, these skyscrapers are spread all over the city. It was a great way to get a sense for the size of Tokyo, there was development as far as you could see in all directions! We were grateful for the clear day so we could enjoy the view.


While we were looking out over the city we spotted a neat waterfall really close to the Tokyo Metropolitan Buildings so we went to take a quick look. It was so pretty to see this in the middle of the city. We were surprised to see that there were tents set up all around the waterfall where homeless people lived. We were a bit surprised the city allowed them to setup here, but if you had to be homeless there are worse places to setup shop!




Next, we went to the Imperial Palace which is right by the main Tokyo subway station. It was interesting to see the mix of the new and old world. There were the traditional buildings and grounds from the Imperial Palace surrounded by the modern skyscrapers of Tokyo's financial district.










They don't let visitors into the actual palace but we could visit the East Gardens. It was amazing the amount of green space in the middle of the city. We wandered around the grounds, they had this huge open area of grass the length of probably two football fields. We were pretty tired from our early morning and lots of walking so we laid down in the shade for a little rest.

For dinner we went to a tempura restaurant in Shinjiku recommended by our tour book. While it wasn't the best meal, it was interesting food (strange fish, etc..) and a very interesting process. Lots of dishes, different dips, sauces, salt, etc... We sat on mats on the floor with our shoes off and drank hot sake with our meal - we felt very authentic. The one nice thing that we love about Japan is that there aren't many, if any, white tourists. We love this compared to visiting supposedly authentic sites elsewhere and seeing only white tourists and no locals. Whether its the case or not, we felt very legit last night! :) The restaurant was located in an area of Shinjuku that we hadn't visited before and we were amazed at how much was going on. It made us realize how big that the city is and how many cool nooks there are!

We are about to begin our 4 hour journey north of Nikko to our Ryokan and can't wait!