Tokyo - Day 16

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Our third day in Tokyo was a mixed bag of temples, harbours and shops!

We started with a visit to Sensoji Temple, Tokyo's oldest temple, founded in the 7th century and dedicated to Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. However there is not a statue in to her in the temple, as legend says that two fishermen pulled a statue of Kannon from the sea and housed it in the temple, but the statue is preserved in three boxes.

From there we took a long walk down to Tokyo Bay to see the harbour, the waters of the Pacific Ocean lapping into the shores of Japan and the Rainbow Bridge to Odaiba. The area is still predominantly used for commercial purposes and little has been done to develop it for the purposes of entertainment, leisure and tourism. However, the city is beginning to remember that it is a waterfront city and that such things as harbour areas do present golden opportunities for tourism, hotels and expensive living accommodation - we shall see how it develops. Having said that, global warming and a reasonable rise in water levels will see the harbour area eat into the city. Couple that with the threats of either a major earthquake or a geologically imminent eruption of Mount Fuji (it has an average recorded frequency of 400 years and the last was in 1608!), Tokyo with 35 million residents isn't exactly the safest city whn it comes against nature!

From the harbour we went off to buy gifts for various people, managing to find the shops we had already spotted certain items in and finding some new ones. One word of advice for anyone touring Tokyo - you need to plan your journey with military precision and you need to bear one thing in mind, the Japanese may have public transport that runs with incredible timekeeping, but when it comes to them getting on and off the transport and moving between locations they are incredibly slow and just stop at the most inappropraite moment - especially on staircases at metro stations. How we haven't bowled someone over yet we don't know - still there's always tomorrow, our last full day in Japan.

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Photos

The Market Place in the Temple
The crowds can enjoy consumerism before heading off into the temple at Asakusa, Tokyo

The temple gate
Welcome to Sensoji Temple, Tokyo

Sensoji Temple
Dating back to the 7th century and dedicated to Kannon

Kannon - Buddhist goddess of mercy
Housed in three boxes at Sensoji Temple, Asakusa, Tokyo

The stunning ceilings at Sensoji Temple
The artwork on the ceilings of the temple was most impressive and appeared to be missed by most visitors

Here Buddha is relegated to outside
Buddha has to endure the wind, rain, snow and sun at Sensoji, as the temple is dedicated to Kannon.

Pagoda at Sensoji
The nine rings above the roof signify mankind's greed, while above is a metallic representation of a water spray to protect the building from fire

What the hell is that?
This strange golden object adorned the top of this otheriwse perfectly normal building!

Tokyo skyline
Taken from Tokyo Bay

Love United, will travel
Alistair poses (as usual) at Tokyo Bay

Rainbow Bridge
This amazing bridge goes across Tokyo Bay to Odaiba

Work may be 6000 miles away...
But some things are always there to remind you what you've got to go back to (for those who don't know, Alistair works on a project called VAN)

As promised on Day 15!
Here's a shot of some of the crowds crossing the road at Shibuya station, Tokyo

Tokyo's neon light show
Just a flavour of some of Tokyo's many hundreds of advertising displays atop the buildings of Shiboya

A few minutes later...
...and more crowds flock across the cross roads that criss-cross Shibuya station's exits in Tokyo

And more again!
The crowds seemed to be never ending, even though it was 7.30pm on a Saturday night. Now if this were the UK, they'd all be watching Doctor Who!

Comments

[Alex]

First comment! Go me!
Hya! I've just caught up on all the blogs I missed, and I have to say it looks fantastic! We'll compare holiday notes when you get back, but I have to say it looks like you win already! It was almost entirely rainy in Germany but still quite fun. Hope the rest of your stay's brilliant. PS. I've left some FA Cup (boo hoo!) memorabillia on your settee and I've brought some more presents from 'the Land of Chocolate'! See you!

[liz]

Dr Who
They should have stayed in to see Dr Who this evening; good story! Make the most of the time remaining, and get Anthony to take lots more photos.

[dorothea]

here we are back home. See you tomorrow - but I am sure you are not looking forward to such a great holiday ending. did you sample the delights of Cafe Van?