Tokyo

Tokyo

As expected, the city is full of high-rise buildings, but these are interspersed with a few older buildings, some oriental and some western style. There is a lot of building work on the site of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

It is very disconcerting to be in a country where the script is unreadable, the language unintelligible and credit cards are mostly not accepted. Obtaining currency using a Western card is difficult. TSH and Diva hope that those who have left the Silver Shadow (without any Silversea support) know what they are doing.

The excursion took TSH and Diva to the area of the Emperor’s Palace, which is attractively landscaped. They saw the closed gate and the two bridges which form part of the ceremonial entrance. The Palace itself is hidden from view by dense trees.

They also visited temples and shrines, which were very crowded, mostly with foreigners. These are the commercial temples – local religious people go to much quieter places. Some non-Japanese people had hired traditional Japanese dress. The guide explained that Buddhism had never driven out the older pagan Shinto religion - most shrine areas contain shrines of each kind and most people have allegiance to both religions.

Lunch was taken at the traditional restaurant of a sake brewery. It consisted of many small bowls of unfamiliar food, including raw salmon and tuna. Diva ate the salmon and TSH managed some of each.  A picture will be included in an upcoming photoblog. There were fine views of the city from the 21^st floor restaurant, including some of the city’s waterways and railways.