Hibiya Park/Imperial Palace

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Well, jet lag had me up at 4 am. Pretty good for my first day here, but way too early to do anything. Had a lazy morning in the room catching up on emails / reading my lonely planet guide / watching BBC World. (It was that or more Japanese telenovelas. I can't follow them - it's just couples in kimonos screaming and crying.)

After sunrise (around 7 am) I ventured outside. I decided to start small by exploring what was in walking distance of the hotel. And I got lucky - directly across the street was Hibiya Park.

At 7 am it was pretty deserted, although it apparently has its fair share of homeless inhabitants. Many of the benches were covered with blue tarps and sometimes there was movement underneath the tarps. I can't imagine sleeping outside in this weather. The park was really beautiful - I can't even imagine what all these gardens must look like in April when all the cherry blossoms are in bloom. The most color I saw was from the pines, which are a bright green compared to the dreary day and from the occasional winter cherry blossom tree (much smaller flowers than its spring cousin).

From Hibiya I walked across the moat and into the grounds of the Imperial Palace.

The first tour bus showed up around 8 am, and I was soon surrounded by Japanese tourists. I wandered through the western gardens, where I caught a glimpse of the Imperial Palace which is off limits to tourists. From there I wandered to the Wadakura Fountain Park which was really impressive. I spent 30 minutes there and the fountain show changed multiple times. I also met a nice Japanese couple and we took each other's pictures. Ah - the universal language which is pointing and showing cameras...

From Wadakura I wandered into the Imperial Palace East Garden. They're doing a lot of renovation work there, so between that and the season the gardens were far from being at peak beauty. And the museum is closed until March. But it was still an enjoyable and informative stroll. After wandering through most of the gardens I came across what I thought was a tour group. It turns out that they were a group of foreign tour guide trainees, and they adopted me as a customer to test their skills. It meant seeing everything a second time, but they were a great group.

We helped each other out - they explained the history of the Imperial Palace (most of which burned down at one point or another) and I helped them with their English (they had some trouble with duck vs goose). The leader of the group gave me both of his business cards (which is a great honor here) and I promised to email him pictures.

By then the rain was coming down pretty hard, so I headed back to the hotel. My jetlag got the better of me and I spent most of the afternoon napping. I probably would have slept through the night had the front desk not called to tell me my dad was here.

The weather tonight is pretty prohibitive to exploring, so we settled for the corner sushi shop (very good, and prices were actually on par with eating at Ismi or Kabuki back in LA) for dinner with two of dad's coworkers.

It's already 10 pm and the time change is killing me. Time for bed! But I expect to be fully on Tokyo time by tomorrow. For more pictures than the select slideshow here, go to my photo gallery.

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Photos

Hibiya Park
Despite the dreary day, it was easy to find beauty in the park.

Hibiya Park Birds
It must be even more beautiful in the spring when it's filled with cherry blossoms...

View of the Imperial Palace
I couldn't get that close, but just peaking over the bridge and up the hill to the Imperial Palace was breathtaking.

New Friends
The new friends I made on my tour of the Imperial Palace grounds. I helped them with their English, and they shared stories of Tokyo's history.