Celebrating a birthday in Tokyo

Never mind that we would have done all these things anyway!  I did receive one present from the hotel management.  A small card with a plate and two small packages of candy   was waiting for us when we got back from our days adventures.

As sometimes happens when you have family all over the world, it just so happened that daughter Lisa had planned a girls trip to meet a friend in Tokyo at the same time we were there.  So my birthday was special in that we got to see and have lunch with her and her friend.  Lisa told us to meet them by the famous lion statue at the Ginza Yonchome corner in Ginza.  In the pictures we had seen the lion looks huge.  It is right in front of the Mitsukoshi department store and is a common meeting place for people.  There were a lot of others waiting around with us.  L & friend came from different direction than we had and walked right past the statue!  The cat like figure next to the lion is the Mitsukoshi mascot.

Very nearby is the famous Kubuki-za theatre.  You cannot go in it unless you have a ticket for a show.  Our timing was not right - but it would be nice to see the real Kubuki theatre in action.  When I was in Japan 11 years ago we saw a short tourist version in Kyoto.

This area in Ginza is known for fabulous shopping.  You will recognize some of these name brands.

 The channel store - look what we will be wearing soon!

 And lots more stores I did not take pictures of.  We thought this was unique - This store below is a cross between a museum and a candy store.  The kitKat bars came in vintage wrappers and was very expensive - and no we did not buy any.  Sorry the second was is out of focus.

Street scenes - It is very popular for girls to get dressed up and go around popular tourists points in kimonos - even guys do it.  Even non - Japanese to it.  We saw a lot more of it in Kyoto

 We found this foot massage station in a small city park.  We have seen several in our travels around Japan.  You are suppose to walk on each texture in bare or stocking feet.  We didn't see anyone try it here!

We were on our way to see the Sensoji Temple when we spied this statue across the way.  I thought it looked like a carrot or potato, Mike guessed a sperm.

I looked it up when we go back to the hotel.  It was listed as number 1 on a list of the world's most unusual statues.  It is know as the "Golden Turd" and the building under it is called the "poop" building.  It was designed by a very famous artist for a beer company - that is their building below it.  It is suppose to look like the foam on a glass of beer.

So now onto the actual temple.  This first few photos are views on the street leading to the temple.

 The Sensoji Temple.

 You can see the smoke from the incense in the above photo.  Below the burning incense.

 The pagoda complete with scaffolding and cranes!

While we were walking around the temple area we were stopped by a young Japanese mother with two children who asked us if she could take pictures of us with her children.  I am not sure what her motive was but we suspected it might be some sort of school project.  The young girl had made origami items which she gifted us with.  The mother was all beaming smiles, the boy shy and hiding his face, and the girl not smiling at all at first.

 School kids getting their picture taken - they were told to place their hands in different positions to relax them.

 Husband helping out schoolgirls - who wanted a photo of all of them together.

Friday in Tokyo

It is our first full day in Tokyo.  And even in our neighborhood of Shikoku there are so many people!  Our hotel charges about $11 USD each for a breakfast buffet.  Most of which I won't eat - so we decided to explore our options.  We ended up at Dean and Deluca - which had lots of pastries most sweet, but some savory.  We got a hot dog in a roll each.  Mike got a white sausage roll and me a Cinnamon roll - total cost around $20 USD.  UM! we need to try harder.  But it was all good - we did not get the Rugalach cookie!  This is not a Jewish restaurant!

We next went to the Shinsuku - Gyoen National Garden.  They had several gardens here.  A traditional Japanese garden, A formal French Garden and an English Landscape garden.  There were also a lot of Cherry trees.  The French Garden was small and not in bloom - so boring.  The English Landscape garden turned out to be a big lawn with lots of dead spots as people walk all over it.  But the Japanese Gardens were beautiful.  Lots of school groups go here.  The preschoolers all have different colored hats to distinguish which class they are in.

 Everyone told us we had missed the prime cherry blossom time when we left Japan the first time.  But there were many cherry trees in blossom in this park.

 They had some trees that looked like they were in fall colors.

Now, what is the best angle for this shot?

On to another part of the park.

 Husband took a pic of me next to a cheery tree.

They had a green house at the park with plants not native to the area.  They also had many more green house buildings that you were not allowed in.

 Cuing for the escalator to the train station.

And last  some street scenes of Tokyo.

 Husband in our hotel room.

 Night scenes around Shinjuku

 We ran into some Australian tourists who told us about China Town - No such thing, but we did find a Japanese temple and a Japanese drama group putting on a show for free.  We were too far back to get good shots, but they were pretty good.

 Another local restaurant.

 Part of the temple complex.  An example of Tori gates.

 Note our hotel Citadine is just behind this area.