To drown our depression when our wives headed back to Okinawa without us, Rick & I checked out the "electric" neigborhood of Akihabara (where basically any product that uses electronic circuitry or electricity can be purchased). Our mission was to locate cheap SD memory cards for our cameras. Mission was accomplished at about the 5th huge store that we checked out in a 2-block radius - a 2GB card for $16 & a 1GB for $7.50!
We spent the next lovely day in the eastern area of Tokyo, first strolling from the subway station to the Museam of Contemporary Art (in Miyoshi, Koto-ku). After investigating its works, we photographed our way thru Kiba Park before eventually finding ourselves on a blue bridge spanning the Sumida-gawa [river] which offered some wonderful city views around dusk, at which point we strolled our way to the brightly-lit Ginza district. We found some yummy ramen & gyoza for dinner not far from Shinbashi station. We awoke to a very snowy winter's morning on Wed (& I was already starting to miss Okinawa's balmy weather), but it didn't really seem that much colder (thankfully). We set out by subway to the National Art Center just north of Roppongi Hills for our first stop. We were thrilled by its very intriguing architecture & intrigued by its method of hosting changing exhibitions in its multiple gallery areas. None really piqued our interest, although we did briefly stroll through what seemed to be a cooperative show, crammed full of pieces showcasing myriad themes, artists & mediums. So we spent most of our time just marveling & photographing around the building's public spaces. After that we decided to walk in the snow (which soon turned into drizzly rain) rather than jump on the subway again (a rookie mistake, by my calculation). I snapped a few shots in the very scenic cemetery near the art center. Our eventual destination (after a weather reprieve at Starbucks & a delicious lunch of Kaiten-zushi on Omotesandō Street) was the Meiji Jingu shrine located alongide Yoyogi Park near Harajuku station. The weather ruined quite a few photos, but it did not keep us from marveling at this very impressive Shinto site. Thursday turned out to be quite clear so we made our way to the East Gardens (Higashi Gyoen) of the Imperial Palace. Despite the day's brightness & the gardens' beauty, my camera battery did not recharge itself overnight for this visit, so it wasn't a huge ordeal for me when we only really inspected half of it thoroughly, before heading off to the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art. After checking out of the hostel on Friday, backpacks in tow, we made our way (after a souvenir stop at the gift shop of the Edo-Tokyo Museum) to Odaiba for some stunning views towards Tokyo, especially from the suspended Rainbow Bridge stretching across Tokyo Bay, which we walked across on separate sides (Rick got the city side & I took the harbor view) to let our combined photos tell the full story, as our limited time mandated. It was not fun being separated for 4 days but Tokyo definitely impressed us both. As far as cities of that size that we've seen (i.e. New York, Chicago, London, Hong Kong, Seoul, etc.) it seemed to be the cleanest & least congested. It really seemed quite livable (unlike our opinion of the rest). Perhaps we'll find ourselves spending more time there someday! ;-)Friday, January 25, 2008
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