Japan Holiday: Day 3 - Tokyo

We began Wednesday with a taxi ride to nearby Ginza because the cold wind blowing that morning made us less enthusiastic about finding our way on foot.

The Ginza district is known for its upscale shopping and our first stop was the Sony Store where we actually waited in line to enter the store at 11am to experience several floors of hands-on demonstrations of new gadgets and technology. It just seemed like a good thing to do while visiting Japan. We enjoyed the Ginza area with its classy window displays, flower stands and even a tasty little Belgian waffle shop we discovered along the way.

Loving the Pretty Plastic Food Displays

Megan received a nice surprise when an elderly man gave her an origami crane during our stroll. He patiently showed her how to make the crane's wings move and she was flattered by the gift. We couldn't leave the area without checking out a large toy store in the neighborhood and I'm sure we spent more than an hour wandering through several floors of goodies. The top floor featured a huge slot car racing track that entertained the Dean family.

Friendly Competition at the Track

After lunch we did a half day tour, simply because it sounded good to let someone else transport us around the city to see some highlights. We visited the Hama Rikyu Garden near our hotel that provided another taste of Japanese-style gardens. From there we boarded a river boat for a cruise up the Sumida River.

Boarding our Boat on the Sumida River

When we disembarked further up the river, we then walked a short distance to Asakusa and the Senso-ji Temple. The temple and nearby pagoda were typical ornate Buddhist structures and Nakamise, the shopping street leading to the temple, was the most crowded space we had encountered in the city. The girls enjoyed shopping for souvenirs among the stalls and naturally found more ice cream!

Our guide explained that Japanese people share both Shinto and Buddhist beliefs and traditions. She also shared that while it's extremely expensive to live in Japan, it's also expensive to die there. A funeral typically costs $20,000 USD in Japan.

We finished our tour after dark in an unfamiliar part of town but managed to find the train to get back to our neighborhood. Emily was exhausted so I took her back to the hotel while Brian ate dinner with the older girls. I stopped at a market by the train station in search of something to feed Emily and myself before bedtime and was reminded of how much more difficult grocery shopping becomes when you cannot read labels. In the end we did fine and Emily even successfully found some tasty yogurt but it wasn't the quick excursion I anticipated.

And by our last evening in the city, two out of three Dean children had seen enough locals wearing masks on the trains around town that they wanted their own. When in Tokyo...