Our stay in Tokyo - Korakuen Garden

LaQua amusement park

We set off southwest towards the Koishikawa Körakuen Gardens , which was about a mile away. Close to the gardens we came across an amazing sight. a large building which had a Big Wheel (Ferris Wheel), the Big-O, which didn't have either a hub or spokes. Running around and over the building and through the Big-O was the track of a roller coaster, The Thunder Dolphin. The building was the LaQua amusement park, part of the Tokyo Dome City. Unfortunately it was not scheduled to open until 1st May by which time we would be back in England.

Korakuen Garden and the Tokyo Dome

As we walked around the building we came face to face with the Tokyo Dome, a massive indoor baseball stadium, the home of the Yomiuri Giants. Luckily for us the area was quiet as there was not a game on at the time, apparently it gets rather crowded when there is.

We arrived at the park just after noon and there were plenty of other people entering the gardens carrying bento boxes. We paid the entry fee and bought a box and some drinks for ourselves. The park was beautiful and the statement that the gardens are a Special Place of Scenic Beauty is certainly fitting.

Tsutenkyo Bridge

The gardens were laid out and contoured so that you could not see the whole of the gardens. Even though there were many people around we often found ourselves in our own private park.

In order to eat our lunch we made our way to one of the rest area where seating was available. We were not the only ones doing this and by the side of the lake, under the cherry blossom were many groups of office workers enjoying the warm weather and the scenery.

Lunch under the cherry trees

The jet lag, early morning and warm weather joined together to make us both rather sleepy. It would not have taken much for us to close our eyes. But we still had a great deal to do.

It was while we were checking our next destination, the Imperial Palace, we realised it was closed on Mondays. So where should we go. I then had a brilliant idea we could walk to Akihabara , the Electronics district of Tokyo. I thought it would be a treat for Rita and she agreed. What a lovely wife. Our journey took us along the Kanda River, now a canal running through Tokyo. Looking down on the river all we could see was a pink and white covering of fallen cherry blossom.

Akihabara is a bustling area full of bright lights and colourful signs. We did look around a couple of stores but the real big thing was mobile G3 phones. There were racks upon racks of handsets, covers and other accessories in all possible colours. The prices for computers and cameras were very similar to the prices in England. I was even more pleased to discover the Minolta digital camera I had purchased in London was only fractionaly cheaper here in the electronic centre of Japan.

Busy junction in the Ginza district

From Akihabara we headed south towards Tokyo station . We needed to identify somewhere in the station to meet Elizabeth. We got to the station quite easily. The station is very extensive far larger than any British station I have been in. We finally located a Starbucks coffee shop. The ideal place to meet Liz.

Getting from Tokyo station to Ginza proved to be very difficult. We seemed to be going round in circles. Most streets are not named but our big mistake was to assume when we found an entrance to a subway we were close to the subway. What we discovered was that an entrance could be as far as 600 metres from where the station is shown on the map. Once we had realised this our map reading improved considerably.

Asahi Beer Hall

By the time we finally made it to Ginza we were too tired to do more than find the nearest subway entrance and return to Asakusa. After years of travelling on London Underground the experience of the Japanese chikatetsu was pleasing. Well signed, clean and the trains had electronic multimedia displays so we knew just when to get off.

After a shower we set forth into the night to find a place to eat. We ended up in a place just off the Nakamisedori that sold all types of sushi , vinegared rice usually with fish, seaweed and pickles, and samashi, , raw fish. We each choose one of the set meals that were displayed in the shop window. The two types of fish in the meal were, Maguro (Tuna) and Tai (Sea Bream). I do not understand why people say they could not eat raw fish, the texture and the taste were excellent. We walked back to the ryokan down the lantern bordered Nakamisedori. We were ready for bed after walking over 10 miles.