Here We Go!

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Rightio as the title says here we go..

So I arrived in Tokyo following a long and uneventful flight in which i had both seats to myself. This is an advantage when it comes to the logistics of trying to sleep but it nearly killed me not having anyone to talk to for 11 hours.I also missed Martin being there to laugh and ridicule my OCD tendencies when it comes to organising my airline food tray.
I made it without incident to my hotel only to be met with a monsoon like downpour and no coat or umbrella to hand- very poor planning on my part!

Oh..just to add everything is ok here- transport is running, there are no rolling blackouts and there is plenty of food and water. It is far from the apocalyptic picture the western media would have you believe Tokyo is.
There are still earthquakes happening but i have only felt one so far and that was 5.1 and to be honest it barely registered in my hotel room on the 10th floor.


So what have i been up to.....

Lets see.. I ventured to Ueno Zoo and Park to take full advantage of the beautiful weather and to hopefully take some photographs of the sakura.

Being a Sunday and such a lovely day the Park was packed and the queue into the zoo was big but moving at a steady pace. Once i had negotiated the ticket vending system to get into the zoo i joined the throngs of people heading towards the newly acquired Pandas only to find a queue of epic proportions. On weighing it up i decided not to stand around in sun for over 2 hours to look at an evolutionary cul-de-sac (sad but true) and wandered off to look elsewhere and avoid the man dressed in a panda suit due to my innate fear of these things.

The Blossoms were still out although they had passed their best but it still gave opportunity for a few nice shots here and there. Everyone in the park seemed to be enjoying the tranquility with many people painting by the lake, having picnics and playing board games.

I then decided to spend the next day in Asakusa partly to scope where i was meant to be catching my transport for my travels the next day and partly to explore round when it was not crammed with tens of thousands of people like when we went to watch the Sumida River Fireworks.

Walking round the decidedly less busy temples of Asakusa i stopped to take a picture and suddenly remembered that it was pretty much the same spot that i dropped my camera last time from a great height. Despite the sickening noise it made as it hit the ground it lived to tell the tale and managed to make a return journey to the scene of the crime.

So on to Nikko.......

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Photos

Ueno
View from my hotel

Ueno Zoo
Towards the entrance