FINAL EPILOGUE.... A few weeks back one of my notes referenced “more on that later”.... it is now later.  Tokyo Bay... maybe at the exact spot where the battleship Missouri laid anchor in 1945...

 “It is my earnest hope—indeed the hope of all mankind—that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past, a world founded upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance, and justice."  ....Douglas MacArthur... Tokyo bay ...  signing of the instrument of surrender...September 2, 1945

We ended our journey with a cruise out into Tokyo Bay... again not sure if exact spot... but we were there.... end of our journey.

Thank you Irvin....And The Greatest Generation.  May we learn from history and never repeat.  RIP

June 30

Our last day—our trip went fast!! 

We saw quite a bit of things considered touristy yesterday and didn’t have a lot planned today except to wander around and enjoy the city.  Tokyo and Japan, of what we have seen, are amazing!!

We walked over the grounds of the Imperial Palace.  The current Imperial Palace is located on the former site of Edo Castle, which was the residence of warrior Edo Shigetsugua.  It is a large park area surrounded by moats and MASSIVE stone walls.  It is currently the residence of Japan's Imperial Family. The Emperor is "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people".  The Emperor does have some official and public duties while other members of the Imperial Family perform ceremonial and social duties only; they have no role in the affairs of government. The duties as an Emperor are passed down the line to their children.  The Japanese monarchy is claimed to be the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world. The palace was destroyed during WW II, and rebuilt in the same style afterwards. 

From the large plaza in front of the Imperial Palace, we stared, entranced, at the Nijubashi, two bridges that form an entrance to the inner palace grounds. This stone bridge is called Meganebashi (Eyeglass Bridge) for its looks. The entire scene was magical! It really did look like something from a fantasy movie!

The inner grounds of the palace are generally not open to the public. Only on January 2 (New Year's Greeting) and February 23 (the Emperor’s birthday), visitors are able to enter the inner palace grounds and actually see the members of the Imperial Family, who make several public appearances on a balcony.  Everything was so pretty and well-kept.  The trees, grassy areas, even the moat.

We also wandered around the East Gardens.  So pretty with lots of different flowers and trees and rocks!  The Tenshudai (a big rock wall!) is the foundation of the once-tallest tower in Japan and has been standing since the 1600s.  

I can’t even imagine what it’s like earlier in the year when the cherry trees and zillions of other things are in full bloom!! 

We took a detour to walk past the Budokan.   A number of famous rock music acts have played at Budokan. The Beatles were the first rock group to ever play there in a series of concerts held between June 30 and July 2 of 1966.  Tina Turner played there in 1985. Another big act to enter the stage at Budokan was ABBA. They ended their last tour there, “ABBA: The Tour.” Their final show, on March 27, 1980, also turned out to be the last live concert they did together. Several live albums were recorded at Budokan, including releases by Bryan Adams, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Cheap Trick, Dream Theater, John Hiatt, Kiss, Mr. Big, Ozzy Osbourne, and Journey. There were lines for a concert there this evening, Kreva, their 15th anniversary tour! They must be popular as the lines were really long and it was still very early in the day! 

We then met up with an acquaintance from home for lunch.  Yes, from home—St. Anthony even!  Kris was between John-Paul and Max in school, in their scout troop, and also an Eagle Scout!  We knew he moved here after school because we see his dad periodically but weren’t sure where in Japan he actually lived.  It turns out he lives just north of the city and could come in to meet us!!  Thank you, Kris, for taking time out of a restful weekend to accommodate us!  It was so nice to catch up with him as he was always such a neat young man! And still is.  He met and married someone from here while he was visiting several years ago.  His wife is a kindergarten teacher (who teaches 5-6 days a week nearly year round  and will be part of a sleepover next week with lots of littles (!)—teachers everywhere just get it done!!) and he teaches English, with his current students aged children to adults!  We can certainly see why he lives here—it is a phenomenal city!!  He said if someone would have told him when he was younger that he would have gone to visit Japan and then meet and marry someone, and then live and work here and learn the language and culture, he would have thought them crazy, and yet here he is, living it.  Life is all about the journey and we never know what routes our lives will take along the way! We didn’t, unfortunately, get to meet his wife, but maybe next time! We WERE sort of last minute! 😃 I can definitely see us coming to Japan again!

We hopped onto a train, and then another, and then walked a bit for our final agenda item, a boat tour of the bay. We boarded and were shown to our seats. It was an enjoyable trip, lasting about two hours.  We had some snacks and drinks and could see much of the city from a new perspective.  We couldn’t see Mt Fuji as it is officially the rainy season and thus still pretty cloudy.  It was a great way to end our trip.  Japan officially surrendered in Tokyo Bay and we crossed those same waters.

We slowly made our way back “home,” wandering through very quiet and  peaceful neighborhoods, and near home stopped for some sake (Japanese rice wine).  We have been in Japan for a week and hadn’t had any yet!  Since not all restaurants serve alcohol, we stopped at the first restaurant and asked if they had any and she smiled and said they did not as they were a Chinese restaurant.   Well, that was embarrassing! She suggested the restaurant two doors down but they were already closed. Many businesses were closed and the streets were really pretty quiet. It is Sunday evening! We did find a bustling place and finally enjoyed some sake!  It wasn’t nearly as strong as I’d imagined.  We did go back to the Chinese restaurant and have some dessert, which was a custard of some kind (Andrew thinks it was the inside of a coconut due to its texture!) with fruit cocktail on it)—it wasn’t really what we envisioned for a final dessert but we wanted to sort of make amends for not realizing it wasn’t a Japanese restaurant.  

We got all packed up and ready to head home.  We head out at 5 AM since we have to get to the airport via train and monorail, and get our boarding passes printed.  Japan to Shanghai to Los Angeles to Indianapolis.  It certainly has  been a trip of a lifetime!  Who would have thought we’d ever retrace Irvin’s trip of a lifetime, 75 years later.  

Thank you, Andrew for making it real and always planning everything out just right! Of course, everyday with you is another trip of a lifetime. 😉😊😘  You are the world, my world! Thanks for all the experiences of the past and I look forward to more in the future!   I love you!!

 

June 29

We didn’t have to haul around heavy backpacks so all is good!! We had a few things we wanted to see so off we hoofed it to the train station. We did a lot of waking today, over 10 miles, and utilized a bunch of public transportation!  Tokyo is a big city. 😁

We went to the Tokyo Skytree, a broadcasting and observation tower.  It measures 2,080 feet, apparently making it the tallest tower in the world and the 2nd tallest structure when it was completed in 2012. A large shopping complex makes up the lower floors.  The highlight of the Tokyo Skytree is its two observation decks which offered spectacular views of Tokyo. The two enclosed decks are located at heights of 350 and 450 meters respectively, making them the highest observation decks in Japan and some of the highest in the world. There is also a “glass” floor area you can stand on and see DOWN.  They have a special exhibit I guess you’d call it as it is devoted to Hello Kitty!  Apparently Hello Kitty is 45 this year!  

The view from near the top was awesome even though it was drizzly and cloudy so basically we saw clouds! But that means we were really up there!! And we did make out buildings straight down!!  On a clear day you can see Mt Fuji!  We did not! 

 

Since we hadn’t had breakfast yet we shared a cream roll and Salisbury steak on rice, complete with an egg on top!  Not bad! 

As we were walking we found a craft beer brewery so of course we had to stop to sample a few. I actually had a ginger beer that was a beer! Not bad!! The Asahi Beer Hall is one of the buildings of the Asahi Breweries headquarters and is considered one of Tokyo's most recognizable modern structures. The shape of the building is that of a beer glass, designed to complement the neighboring golden beer mug-shaped building housing the brewery offices.

A shrine was next on our list:  Asakusa.  Asakusa's main attraction is Sensoji, a very popular Buddhist temple, built in the 7th century. The temple is approached via a VERY, VERY busy shopping street that has been providing temple visitors with a variety of traditional and local snacks and tourist souvenirs for centuries. There are over 50 shops!! Talk about lots of people!  Many were even dressed in traditional kimonos! 

We then headed to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and stood in line for about 30 minutes so we could take an elevator up to the top to see the city.  High up views are neat!! Such a different perspective!! We met a nice couple with their little ones—ages 3 1/2 months and almost 5. You can tell we’ve been away from the grands a bit long as we keep gravitating to littles!!  The day was less rainy but still cloudy.  It made it less hot though!! It is apparently “rainy season” now and really hot and humid comes next.  Sounds like home!!

The Meiji Jungu is a shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. The Meiji Shrine and the adjacent Yoyogi Park make up a large forested area. It reminded me a little of Central Park! The spacious shrine grounds offered beautiful walking paths.  Entry into the shrine grounds is marked by a massive torii gate. The approximately 100,000 trees that make up Meiji Jingu's forest were planted during the shrine's construction and were donated from regions across the entire country. It is stunning and peaceful! Meiji Jingu is also one of Japan's most popular shrines. During the year, traditional Shinto weddings can often be seen taking place there, of which we witness a wedding processional while we were there. An interesting thing you will spot at Meiji Jingu Shrine is this huge collection of sake barrels. They are called kazaridaru in Japanese and are a decorative display. Sake traditionally has been a connection between the gods and people in Japan. These sake barrels are offered every year to the enshrined deities at Meiji Jingu Shrine. They have been donated by sake brewers from around Japan to the shrine with the sake being used for shrine ceremonies and festivals. And if Sake isn’t enough, an array of wine barrels are placed at the front approach to Meiji Shrine in a wooded area and serve as proof that the beverage has created strong ties with France and serves as a bridge for cultural exchange. 

We then headed to the busiest intersection in all of Tokyo, Shibuya Station. Apparently you can’t come to Tokyo without experience this phenomenon. On sunny afternoons or clear evenings or cloudy days like today, the area is packed with shoppers, students, young couples, and commuters, and tourists! When the lights turn red at this busy junction, they all turn red at the same time in every direction. Traffic stops completely and pedestrians surge into the intersection from all sides. It is truly organized chaos.  

Our sort of final spot of the day was the Tokyo Tower, a communications tower. At 1,092 ft, it is the second-tallest structure in Japan.  The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety regulations. We walked around it and then tried to find something to have for supper but the Korean restaurant we stopped at completely ignored us so we left and so many others were closed.  We finally found a great Indian restaurant and then headed back to the tower. We went up to the observation decks, one at 490 feet and one at 819 feet!  Andrew had it timed so we'd see the city come alive with the lights of the night while we were on the top deck.  So pretty!!  Tokyo is a big and beautiful city!

Yes, we saw lots of views from up high but no mountain climbing today.  My Maggie knee is still sensitive and the steps down to the trains nearly did me in.😕

We headed back to our home away from home to do a quick load of laundry, grabbed a quick bite from down the street, and set up our final full day.  Forty days and forty nights are soon coming to an end.