At the Tokyo Haneda airport, just after clearing Customs
With 38 million people living in Tokyo (30% of Japan’s population), the world’s most populated city feels like it never sleeps and is in constant motion—an undercurrent of adrenaline rush.
It is a shock to the system from where we come from and it takes a few days to adjust especially when using the subway system.
It is good to experience the pulse of other cities and places—we become too insular if we stay too long in our little corner of the world.
We learn and grow from travel challenges and experiences.
Here are our photos from our first week in Tokyo when it is even more crowded because of the cherry blossom season.
Parks surrounded our hotel (some are on ground level while others are on second and third levels)
Cherry blossoms along a street close to our hotelAt the Shinjuku Gyoen (about 144 acres blending three styles: French Formal, English Landscape, Japanese Traditional)Hanami under the cherry blossoms in Shinjuku Gyoen (Hanami means flower viewing—Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers, usually consists of an outdoor party beneath the sakura or cherry blossoms during daytime or at night)At Shinjuku train station, the busiest in the world where more than 3.8 million passengers daily (yes, that is the population of Alberta going through every day)Ginza District—considered one of the most expensive, elegant, and luxurious streets in the world; home to flagship stores of many leading fashion houses and electronic retail stores such as Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Carolina Herrera, Cartier and Sony
Food truck near a park for people celebrating hanami (truck is small)More hanami celebration—this time at a small park near our hotelCherry blossoms from our river walk near our hotelJapanese work long hours—this is after 9 pm at an atrium inside an office complexTokyo National Museum—established in 1872, sixth largest art museum in the world and the world’s largest collection of Japanese art (its compound includes other gallery buildings, research and information centre, restaurants, shops, garden)Karamon (Chinese style gate) at Toshogu shrine—gate built in 1651 with gold foils, hard carved flowers and birdsOutdoor food stalls on the path to Toshogu shrineCopper lanterns at Toshogu ShrineThe Blue Whale outside National Science MuseumJapanese restaurant serving kaiseiki (traditional Japanese multi-course meals) in Ueno ParkJapanese do dress up even to the parks—here at the Imperial Palace East GardensAt the bamboo groves in the Imperial Palace East GardensTaking a break at the Imperial Palace East Gardens (part of the inner palace area and are open to the public while the rest are closed and currently the residence of the Imperial family)Ote-mom Gate at one of the entrances to Palace East Gardens (part of the structures survived through numerous disasters since it was reconstructed in 1659)Fujimi-yagura (inside the Imperial Palace East Gardens) was a defence tower built in 1659.
