I met the Brackens today at 11 in at Gotanda, that way they only had one easy train to brave by themselves. From there, we headed to Tokyo station to try and find the Imperial Palace. The biggest difficulty was trying to find an exit to get out of the freaking building. Then we walked across the road and off into the big city. It was fun to see the Brackens so excited about everything around them. They wanted to stop and look at all the trees and plants. It probably would have driven Chris crazy cause he's like that, but I loved seeing Tokyo through their eyes. It's like experiencing Christmas morning through the eyes of a 4 year old. Everything is still magical and surprising and different and unexpected. It was just what I needed after the really crappy week I've had. I'm hitting another bout of either home sickness or culture shock, or more likely both at the same time, so listening to them admire everything around them from the clean streets, to the different flora, to the trains that are on time...confusing, but on time, really helped me to be able to look around again with new eyes and say, "Yeah, I live somewhere cool. I live in Japan. When else am I going to be here to experience this."
So we saw the Imperial Palace grounds as the main part of the Palace you obviously can't go into as there's people, Imperial people, living there. We decided to walk all the way around it which was quite the distance but it was really pleasant and an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was out for most of the day and it wasn't warm so it was crisp and beautiful. We came around the side where the Buddokan is and went down to the subway from there to Ginza the shopping district. We found a random little restaurant to have lunch. We had a brief Japanese lesson again at the table and a nice meal. Robbin kept trying out her Japanese on the waitress. It was great fun. Then we hit the washroom before walking some more. She found the toilets with the controls. I laughed. Lots. She even took pictures of the controls. You all thought I was making this up before about the toilets. I'm not the only one infatuated with the mystery that is Japanese toiletry. After lunch we walked around Ginza a bit. We went to the Apple store which is unbelievable. I think Coulter would end up being the troll that lives in the corner that never leaves if he were ever to enter the door. Then Robbin and I went in a giant paper store that has 9, yes count them, 9 floors of stationary type items. We barely hit 3 floors and our feet gave out on us. We met back up with Keith and we were on our way back to Tokyo station where we split up for the evening.
So we saw the Imperial Palace grounds as the main part of the Palace you obviously can't go into as there's people, Imperial people, living there. We decided to walk all the way around it which was quite the distance but it was really pleasant and an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was out for most of the day and it wasn't warm so it was crisp and beautiful. We came around the side where the Buddokan is and went down to the subway from there to Ginza the shopping district. We found a random little restaurant to have lunch. We had a brief Japanese lesson again at the table and a nice meal. Robbin kept trying out her Japanese on the waitress. It was great fun. Then we hit the washroom before walking some more. She found the toilets with the controls. I laughed. Lots. She even took pictures of the controls. You all thought I was making this up before about the toilets. I'm not the only one infatuated with the mystery that is Japanese toiletry. After lunch we walked around Ginza a bit. We went to the Apple store which is unbelievable. I think Coulter would end up being the troll that lives in the corner that never leaves if he were ever to enter the door. Then Robbin and I went in a giant paper store that has 9, yes count them, 9 floors of stationary type items. We barely hit 3 floors and our feet gave out on us. We met back up with Keith and we were on our way back to Tokyo station where we split up for the evening.
