Days 70-71 Sunday and Monday, March 24-25, 2025, Tokyo, Japan

Arrival: 08:00 Overnight Departure: 19:00

I have titled this blog - "Trains, Subways and Walking (lots of it)." Janice had booked a 1 ½ day tour with Viator. The tour used trains and subways to get around Japan.

Welcome to Tokyo. It's the largest city in the world with a population of 37.4 million people. We expect it to be busy and crowded.

Our guide, Yasuhiro Suzuki meets us at the Tokyo cruise terminal at 10:00 and off we went to explore Tokyo. We took the monorail from Tokyo's International Cruise Terminal into Shimbashi Station. Hopping on the Ginza Line subway brought us to Shibuya station. From the second floor of the Shibuya Station, you could see the Shibuya Scramble Crossing. You may have seen this crossing in films, it is considered one the busiest intersections in the world.

It is time for us to descend towards the chaos. People are crossing in all directions with some people like us stopping in the middle to have our picture taken by Yasuhiro. It was so fascinating that we wanted to come back in the evening.

We also explored some of the backstreets in the area where we found small little bars that are opened at night.

Although cool the weather is cooperating as there is no rain in the forecast today or so we think.

It is back to Shibuya station to make our way to the Meiji Jingu Shrine located near the Harajuku Station. Our guide purchased a day pass for us. The shrine completed in 1920 was dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and the Empress Shoken. The shrine can be found in Yoyogi Park.

As a brief history lesson, Emperor Meiji was the first emperor in modern Japan. He was born in 1852 and ascended to the throne at the young age of 15 in 1867. During his time on the throne Emporor Meiji oversaw the rise of Japan as a world power. Emperor Meiji passed away in 1912.

To reach the shrine we needed to pass through three massive wooden gates. At each gate you stopped and out of respect bowed then carried on. This being a Sunday, the park was crowded with people walking to and from the shrine.

The two main religions in Japan are Shinto (shrines) and Buddhism(temples). We were also able to see several wedding processions during our time at the shrine as well.

The last two weeks were cooler than expected so the cherry blossoms were not yet out. Hiro showed us a photo taken at the same point last year where the tree we were looking out was in full bloom. We can only hope to see them at some point.

After a lunch break which Janice and I had difficulty with given that we are not foodies it was a quick stop to an adjacent flea market, not for us.

The final stop of the day was to the Seno-ji Buddhist temple located in Asakusa. The avenue was crowded with people and shops as we make our way towards the temple. We had decided to part ways with Hiro for the day as we wanted to stay in the area for a while longer. Earlier in the day Hiro provided written instructions to make our way back to the ship. We were confident in our ability to make it back.

The subway cars running to Shibuya station were jammed with people and Janice said we should get in. I declined as the next train was in five minutes and this was the final stop on this subway. This was a good choice as we were able to get a seat before it filled up again.

As you look around people are either sleeping or on their cellphones while on the subway. In Japan no one eats, drinks or speak on their phones. It is not an actual law, however. The culture is just very respectful and do not want to disturb others or have smelly foods that others could possibly smell. The subway also has cars that are strictly for women only. This is a good idea. At one instance a man jumps into this car only to realize he was the only male and quickly moved into our car, he seemed a little horrified.

I did mention the weather was cooperating earlier but when we made our way back to Shibuya Crossing to see it at night the rain had made its way to Tokyo.

It was a lot different seeing this crossing at night especially with the rain as you needed to maneuver through the crowds with everyone holding umbrellas. It was impressive.

While walking around the area we bumped into Gail and Gino two fellow passengers, so we decided to have dinner in the area. We ordered salad (Janice) and a meat with rice dish for me while they ordered some very interesting food that we barely could look at. They are certainly more adventurous with food choices than us although most people are. Unfortunately, we did not see the sign outside which indicated that it was a smoking restaurant. It was surprising given that it is illegal to smoke on the street, only in designated areas.

It is now back to the ship after a full day in Tokyo. We are both tired but certainly enjoyed our first day in Japan.

Monday March 25, 2024

I forgot to mention a stop to 7 Eleven was in order the first day to pick up our first but not last egg salad sandwich. It became a staple for us. Our cruise director has been talking daily about them for the past 2 months so we could hardly wait to try them. They were delicious and rivalled Janice's moms who were very good. White bread with no crusts and special mayo was their recipe. Most of you now that Janice doesn't eat gluten, but she seemed to digest them ok with her pills and it was better than the alternative of raw fish.

Unfortunately, the rain from last night continued throughout the day.

We meet Hiro at Shimbashi Station for a half day tour which took us through the Tokyo station on our way to the Imperial Palace Garden. There are only 2 weeks of the year where the public is allowed to walk the roads of the Palace inside the walls. This period usually coincides with the cherry blossom season which has been delayed this year as mentioned earlier die to cold and rainy weather. It is the current residence of the emperor, his wife and their 22-year-old daughter.

The Gardens are open yearly to the public through a different entrance.

The final stop was near Ueno Station where we found a crowded shopping street running at the bottom of a JR (Japan Rail) track. Everything a person wanted could be found here from meats, vegetables, clothing, and medication. Janice wanted to find a Japanese noodle dish which we could enjoy but surprisingly to us all dishes were with wheat noodles so we ended up at a Vietnamese restaurant for Pho.

We said goodbye to our guide Hiro and made our way back to the ship via 7 Eleven to buy three egg salad sandwiches. That is two in two days however we did buy an additional two to give away on the ship.

Yes, Japan is called "the land of the Rising Sun" but it is also the home of the vending machines. My mission is to photograph as many different ones as possible on our journey around Japan.

It has been a good start to our travels through Japan. We cannot wait to for the next ports.

Our next stop is Shimizu 102 nautical miles away.

We are now beginning the Dynastic Treasures segment of the World Cruise. The Far East Memories cruise from Bali to Tokyo was completed yesterday with Insignia travelling 4,086 nautical miles.