After two days of trains and temples and crowds I needed a slow moving morning, so we didn’t rush off to anywhere until noon. When we looked out the window in the morning we realized we had a direct view to Mt Fuji. It’s a little lost in the clouds and haze, but it’s there!
We had to get our JR Rail Pass vouchers turned into JR Rail Passes at the station, which didn’t take long, once we found where to go. Shinjuku station is enormous and confusing and in our 5 days here riding the subways and the train lines we haven’t once come into or exited the station at the same place. So many people all heading in different directions — kinda like traffic in LA!
We were going to see what there was to see in the Imperial Gardens. We had been unable to get a ticket to a tour of the palace itself, so we thought the Gardens might be a good substitute, and we even wondered if we might see over a hedge (hahaha) to the Palace itself. We were disappointed in the Gardens overall, and of course there was no view of the Palace. The postcards that we did see of the building itself weren’t all that grand anyway, so I suppose we didn’t miss much. The only section that resembled what we might call a “Japanese garden” was the Nimomaru Garden, near an old tea house, which as designed based on an 18th C garden. Pretty, but not what we had anticipated. We have missed the timing of the cherry blossoms here in Japan, and most azaleas have come and gone, and we are early for the Iris… so the gardens were mostly just a large green park with lovely little paths.
We had lunch in the bottom of an office tower in Marunouchi, a prestigious business area of Tokyo.The cafes in the little park next to the Mitsubishi Museum, and in the bottom of the Bridge Building were all dedicated to serving Japanese business people, so we were lucky to find one with an English menu. When we left the area, we came across a long line of people all waiting for entrance to the Haagen-Dazs Bakery! They do love their sweets here in Japan.
Then is was time to brave the subway again to get back to Shinjuku. We were meeting some friends of another Camino friend (my Camino boot angel Kim had suggested we get in touch with Krishnan). He and his Japanese wife, Ebi, had arranged a dinner for us that was truly local and Japanese — down several flights of stairs with a pre-set menu from the teppenyaki grill (which isn’t done table-side like in the Western world)! With an expert to guide the menu and the sake, it was a memorable meal. I so appreciated having a local, authentic meal and guide. And the conversation flowed as easily as the sake!
And tomorrow we are off to Nagano — the adventure continues.
