Tokyo – First Day

I’ve already had one action-packed day in Tokyo.

I first went to the Senso-ji Temple, near where I am staying. I discovered there that some cherry blossoms have already started. It is very early! Apparently, this was the first winter in 136 years in which Tokyo got no snowfall.

Then, I took a short cruise down Tokyo’s main river, Sumida-gawa. At the start, you can see Phillipe Starck’s famous building with the giant poop on top:

I disembarked at Hama Rikyu, which is a large Japanese garden. It used to be reserved for the Shogunate, but it is now a public park. While the Chinese like twisted rocks in their gardens, the Japanese seem to prefer twisted trees:

I also had “green tea and a sweet” in the teahouse:

Then, I strolled into Ginza for lunch, and to find the Nikon and Contax photo galleries. The galleries have both moved from the locations in my guidebook. A local camera shop was able to help me find the Nikon gallery.

After that, headed for Yebisu to visit the Contemporary Museum of Photography. One surprise I had there was to see Joel Robochon’s restaurant. It is the European-looking building at the end of the mall.

If you watch Iron Chef, you might remember that Joel Robochon is frequently mentioned.

Finally, I had dinner at Kirin World restaurant, in Shinjuku. Kirin is one of the big beer companies, and the restaurant had their beers on tap. While only Kirin Lager is available in North America, they do actually make some more interesting beers.