Sakura

Sakura (cherry blossoms) are very unique to Japan. Most pictures that you see of Japan feature these Sakura. They come out once a year around spring time. They are very beautiful flowers that line the streets. For us they are absolutely gorgeous because we have never experienced them before, but it’s funny because it’s like the Japanese people have seen them for the first time too. There we are with our cameras out taking millions of photos of the gorgeous Sakura, but so are the Japanese people. I think it’s lovely that they get so excited about them even though they see them every year. It’s such a fantastic atmosphere, people are everywhere relaxing under the Sakura trees just taking in the beauty that surrounds them.

Greek Shop

I finally spotted a Greek Shop. In the whole 3 months that I have been here, this is the only Greek Shop that I have found. Of course I had to take a photo of it. Steve and I bought a yiros from there - it had to be done. They actually tasted really nice too. So everyone never fear because there are yiros' and souvlakia here!!! :-)

Yokohama - Last Day

31st March, 2007

We had one more day to look around the city of Yokohama before we headed back to Himeji. We were originally going to see Mount Fuji but decided that it was too difficult to get there and that it was best to just head home. So we had about half a day to wonder the streets. We walked in a different direction to where we went the previous days. We came to some beautiful streets lined with Sakura. There were lots of people taking photos and just checking out the scenery – we joined them! It was nice and relaxing.

After a while we had a wonder through a mall and then we decided to head back to the ferris wheel since we now had some more time up our sleeve. That made me happy and put a skip into my step! The ferris wheel was one of the largest in the world. You had a really good view of Yokohama from the top. I’m glad to be able to say that I have been on that ferris wheel!

We arrived back in Himeji feeling very tired after having a full on week in Tokyo and Yokohama. It was a great holiday. Too bad it’s over!

Yokohama - Sankeien Gardens

30th March, 2007

Most cities in Japan seem to have some kind of gardens to visit. Well the Sankeien Gardens have been my favourite gardens so far. They were so beautiful and it was very peaceful and relaxing just strolling through them. We spent a good 3 hours there and I would have been happy to just sit on the grass and lay down for another couple. They were quite a big garden and there was lots of things to see in there. I think the time of year that we chose to go in helped in making it one of the best gardens so far. The reason for this was because the gardens were covered in Sakura (cherry blossoms). The blossoms are gorgeous. You can see for yourself in the pictures. The gardens had a temple, lots of old beautiful houses – some which you could walk in, a lake, a bridge and lots of plants and flowers. It was a very busy park especially since all the Sakura were out – people were having their own little picnics and chill out sessions. It was great to see the Japanese people enjoying the Sakura as much as we were.

When we left the gardens we headed back to where our hotel was. Marie had found a place called Akarenga which she wanted to show us. It was like an old shed which had been transformed into a department store (inside). It was a really cool area, very busy too. There was a little flower garden just outside it which was nice too. We spent a while perusing the stores before we got hungry and found a Sizzler – in Japan, how’s that!! It didn’t have the good old Sizzler bread and potato skins but it was still good. We really wanted to go on the giant ferris wheel and into the tallest building so after Sizzler we headed to the tallest building, to my great disappointment it was closed. We then headed to the Ferris Wheel and found that that too was closed. I was extremely disappointed. I had had my heart set on doing both of those things and found that I wasn’t able to do either. I was sour for a while but soon got over it.
Instead we took a really cool photo just near the ferris wheel – I think that was meant to cheer me up! It’s a pretty cool photo though – what do you think?

Yokohama

29th March, 2007

We left Tokyo and caught a train to Yokohama. Our hotel was in the best location – right in the heart of the city. We could go for beautiful walks and see amazing views. Once we checked in we went for a walk to China town which is the biggest in Japan. There were lots of gates to see here and it was just nice strolling through the streets. We then ended up at the harbour. There was lots of tourist things to see here.
We weren’t in the mood to enter the museums but be walked through a park and stopped to watch a street performance – Japanese style. That captured our attention for a while. The tallest building in Japan is in Yokohama. It looked fantastic.

Night time was magnificent. The city lights were amazing to look at and there was a really nice walk to take in the beautiful views. We walked around for a while until our empty stomaches started grumbling. We headed to an all you can eat place to fill ourselves up. The food was delicious.

Emperial Palace, Tokyo Tower

28th March

The Emperial Palace is only open 2 days of the year for people to enter, so we weren’t lucky enough to be able to go inside. We could only wonder the outside of the palace. It was a bit of a bummer that we couldn’t go inside but the outside was still good to see. Once again there were lots of beautiful well kept grounds to photograph.

After we had looked around the gardens for a while we headed to Tokyo Tower. Steve wanted to go to Akihabara which is the electronic district so he went there and Marie and I set off to find the Tokyo Tower on our own. We actually found it too – all by ourselves!! We were very proud. We went inside and discovered that there were heaps of cool museums to check out. We bought a ticket so that we could enter all of them. There was a Wax Museum, a Gallery Deluxe which had all different holograms in there, Trick Art Gallery – which had all 3D art in there (some of it was really impressive), Guinness World Record Museum, and then there was the Main Observatory. All the different Museums were very interesting to look at. We spent about 3 hours in Tokyo Tower. The view from the top of the tower was brilliant. By the time we actually got to the top it was dark but it looked cool with all the lights. There was a jazz band playing so we watched that for a while. They were really good. We left the tower at about 9:30pm and decided to head to Ueno a different part of Tokyo for dinner. This place wasn't so happening. It took us ages to find a place to eat but we eventually found one that we agreed on and it was delicious! We got back to our hotel at about midnight.

Asakusa - Tokyo

27th March

We headed to Asakusa which is another part of Tokyo. It was a very busy place. There were some really cool shrines, temples and gates to view here. We spent quite a while just wondering around the area taking photos and watching the busy lifestyle of all the people. It was a very relaxing day and I thoroughly enjoyed it.








For tea we thought that we would head to a different area of Tokyo. The more places we get to see the better. We decided on Ginza. Ginza was an amazing place, very up market! All the people were dressed to the nines – we felt a little out of place. It was like Rodeo Drive – Japanese style. All the shops were Chanel, Louis Vitton, Tiffany, Guess – you get the gist.
We ate in a pub for a reasonable price. I’m glad that I went there.