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Published: March 30th 2024
Cherry Blossoms at Ueno Park
Some of the first Cherry Blossoms of the 2024 season at Ueno ParkMy next destination after Vietnam was Japan, I landed in Tokyo at an odd hour and just crashed the first night.
While end March is spring time in Japan, this year the winter has lasted longer and the cold, rain and the winds have lingered.
The next day, I went out in search of Cherry Blossoms to Ueno Park, but due to the cold weather, only a few trees had bloomed.
At Ueno Park, I was fortunate to see a Torii Gate without people though. Torii Gates are found at the entrance of Shinto Shrines as a mark of transition from the mundane to the sacred.
As I explored more, scattered cherry blossoms trees appeared and I saw both the Yoshino cherry blossoms and the weeping cherry blossoms.
Next day, I headed to Sumida Park in search of Cherry Blossoms, but ended up finding other flowers more.
My next stop was Shibuya, where I experienced the crazy Shibuya Scramble Cross. It's best seen on a video, but given that videos are not supported by this platform, you can make a sense out of the picture. Shibuya is the part of Tokyo where youngsters hang out,
it's full of hustle and bustle.
After exploring Shibuya and its surroundings a bit more, I headed to Shinjuku.
There are many interesting attractions at Shinjuku including 3D billboard of a cat (which does look real), a Godzilla and a Don Quixote store which had the widest collection of Kitkats I have ever seen.
Having explored these, I headed to the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in search of Cherry Blossoms. This is a beautiful garden with a lovely walk and I enjoyed it a lot.
Unfortunately, the next two days rained heavily in Tokyo and I had to spend most of it indoors (it was cold rain). I did explore the Senso Ji temple one evening (too crowded in the day time). It is the oldest temple in Tokyo which explains it's popularity.
I also spent the time I was in Tokyo learning a bit about Japanese culture, customs and ways to be.
My quick takeaways are
1. It's important to learn the rules that people here follow and respectfully follow them.
2. Everyone sticks to one side in an escalator if they standing (left in Tokyo, right in Kyoto, Osaka) and allow
Shibuya Scramble Square
The made scramble at Shibuya Scramble Square to cross the road people to walk the other side.
3. Heavy perfumes are not ok when you go to a restaurant, especially a Sushi restaurant. Because Sushi has its own smell and if a guest is wearing heavy perfumes, he will impact the experience of other guests.
4. No one talks on the phone in a train/bus, not only because it's polite but also because it can impact people with pacemakers.
5. People eat with their mouths covered, do not litter.
All this may seem a lot to a traveler, but it takes just couple of days to observe and then it's easy to follow.
Tokyo, like any big city is a crazy melting pot. But it taught me the basics of how to be for my time in Japan and helped me start off my travels in this country.
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