Adventure
Alien
Around town
Aussie
Australian
awesome
Fun
Imperial Palace
Japan
Japanese
Koi
March
New experience
Tokyo
Train
Forgive me though I was appalled, as I indicated, it was a joyous horror.
With my bag now heavily laden with a few publications short of everything they had, I took the elevator back to street level, already considering my journey a success. Eager to devour my plunder, I headed again for the train station. Waiting at a set of traffic lights, I hesitated, remembering my former Google Maps research, I checked my watch. 3:45pm, plenty of time.
Accordingly, with a quick about-face, I walked the wrong way through the waiting crowd and struck out towards what I thought to be a park. As I walked, I recalled my research; close to this train station there had appeared to be a large park. I like parks. On the way to my destination, there was a large map, mostly in English, a slightly unusual occurrence, indicating that this section of the city was a very popular tourist destination.
Perusing the map, I noticed that there was a park as I suspected, but upon further scrutiny, I realised that the majority of the 'green area' on Google Maps had not been a park, but the Imperial Palace itself. Fascinating. With a new spring in my step, I sauntered off towards the intersection of Hibiya Park and the Imperial Palace.
Arriving at 4pm, I realised I would not have time to see both of these. Following a brief internal dialogue I decided upon the Imperial Palace, since I had been previously informed that therein lay a fantastic garden too observe as the cherry trees blossomed. Pivoting towards the Palace, I mourned, realising that not only did I not have my camera, but that I also had still to purchase batteries for it.
The place was huge. I had started to explain how to find it on Google Maps, then I realised I could simply show you a map. My path is marked by the red line, I started at the southernmost part:
The Imperial Palace
Yesterday, Friday the 19th of March, I went for a walk, or more accurately, a walk and a train ride, towards the very centre of Tokyo. My plan was to visit the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, to procure for myself some English literature, in which to search for jobs and other interesting pieces of information. Unfortunately, however, what I found was far removed from what I had imagined. Instead of finding one or two small English publications, mostly full of what one calls 'the classifieds', I was shocked and horrified to find a huge variation of publications. The range was immense, from advertisements for Art Galleries, to a pamphlet detailing what appeared to be every single ski field in Japan.Forgive me though I was appalled, as I indicated, it was a joyous horror.
With my bag now heavily laden with a few publications short of everything they had, I took the elevator back to street level, already considering my journey a success. Eager to devour my plunder, I headed again for the train station. Waiting at a set of traffic lights, I hesitated, remembering my former Google Maps research, I checked my watch. 3:45pm, plenty of time.
Accordingly, with a quick about-face, I walked the wrong way through the waiting crowd and struck out towards what I thought to be a park. As I walked, I recalled my research; close to this train station there had appeared to be a large park. I like parks. On the way to my destination, there was a large map, mostly in English, a slightly unusual occurrence, indicating that this section of the city was a very popular tourist destination.
Perusing the map, I noticed that there was a park as I suspected, but upon further scrutiny, I realised that the majority of the 'green area' on Google Maps had not been a park, but the Imperial Palace itself. Fascinating. With a new spring in my step, I sauntered off towards the intersection of Hibiya Park and the Imperial Palace.
Arriving at 4pm, I realised I would not have time to see both of these. Following a brief internal dialogue I decided upon the Imperial Palace, since I had been previously informed that therein lay a fantastic garden too observe as the cherry trees blossomed. Pivoting towards the Palace, I mourned, realising that not only did I not have my camera, but that I also had still to purchase batteries for it.
The place was huge. I had started to explain how to find it on Google Maps, then I realised I could simply show you a map. My path is marked by the red line, I started at the southernmost part:
At the corner, I looked down into the water...
It turns out all the water you see on the map, is actually large ponds! That fish is a Koi, related to the goldfish but... noticeably larger.
Those things you can see breaking the surface of the water are the fins of more Koi, they swim slowly and close to the surface. In my first post, An Australian in Japan, I referred to 'an amazing Japanese style garden.' This was Hanno-en, and when I observing the pond there, I saw a Koi leap out of the water 3 times. Fascinating fish.
This photo is still at that first corner on the map, no doubt the sign says 'don't feed the fish.' It should say below that in English, "If you cannot read the above writing, you shouldn't even consider feeding the fish."
This photo was taken just after that first left turn on the map, I couldn't resist. Though the 'no camping' section of these sign seems illogical, the same signs were posted throughout the park, so it makes sense.
I'm not sure how well you can see that, but on the ladder there is a man, and he is pruning these trees. Interesting.
This photo was taken as I walked 'west north west' on the map, just before the 'u-turn.' I'm not sure if you can see, but there are guards in front of that building, and on the bridge.
How cool is this tree?! This was taken in the short 'eastish' section of the journey, between the two long 'north' bits.
This awesome building was on the last section of the walk, as I was leaving the area. The building is marked by a red dot on the very corner.
So that was my adventure. I apologise that the photos are not that fantastic, before the cherry blossoms... blossom I will ensure that my proper camera is functioning.
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