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!!