Thursday, July 17, 2014

Day 8: The Imperial Palace


Saturday morning we woke up, left Abe snoozing in the room, I got breakfast at Starbucks, and Martin decided to eat this disgusting waffle-with-cream-in-a-package from the convenience store.
Not good.

We then headed back to the apartment and forced Abe to get up because we were taking a free tour as per his recommendation. Apparently, Abe does this in every city he visits--takes a tour of an area of the city given by volunteers. At 1 pm we were planning to take one such tour of the Imperial Palace.

Before going on the tour, however, we decided it was a good idea to have some lunch in Tokyo Station (plus Abe hadn't woken up for Starbucks and was starving). We wound up having Indian food again in the very fancy mall across the street from Tokyo Station.
Abe with giant naan bread

We then crossed the street and met with the very friendly tour guides at Tokyo Station.
Tokyo Station

Volunteer tour guide in front of Tokyo Station

Concerned about how hot the day was, we ran to buy some waters at the nearest FamilyMart before making it back in time for the tour. We were split into several groups. Martin, Abe and I were in a group with two guys about our age, one Canadian and one Californian. We had three tour guides for our little group, and they were super friendly and enthusiastic about our tour of the Imperial Palace.

Now before you get any ideas of what the Imperial Palace must have looked like, I have to mention that there wasn't any palace to speak of. The history that we understood from our tour was that the Palace (and most of Tokyo, for that matter) had fallen victim to fires over and over and over again. We were surprised that after a while someone didn't recommend they stop building entire cities of wood, especially after a metal dragon spirit meant to ward off fires became a lightening conductor and started a fire itself.

A spirit supposed to shoot water out of its mouth in the event of a fire...

...except it's metal so it actually started fires.

The tour was very interesting, though, especially learning about the many checkpoints and defense systems that the Imperial Palace had. Every ten feet we walked there seemed to be another wall with another elaborate mode of defense (holes through which to drop rocks, ways to trap intruders, etc.). After hearing about their extensive defense system, Martin finally asked whether the castle had ever been attacked. Embarrassed and laughing slightly, the tour guide said that no, the castle had never been attacked and none of these extremely complicated systems had been used. This was hysterically funny to everyone on our tour. Turns out the Tokugawa period was very peaceful, and that the only threats castle security were the fires and earthquakes.

Arms storage/ lookout



We learned about three different kinds of stone walls, and which kinds hold up best in an earthquake.


We learned that the Emperor had an entire section of the city for his harem (their word, not mine), in which no other man was permitted to set foot. We also spotted some strange looking carp in a pond, and were informed that the current Emperor has studied fish and suggested this unique crossbreed.

Now for some assorted pictures from our tour:

Trees look like they're from Dr. Seuss 

 Abe adapts well to local customs.

During a coffee break: Refresh your tired body and soul.

Old and new

Martin, three is company. 

After a draining tour (mostly because of the heat), we returned to our apartment for an afternoon nap before meeting up with Martin's father's friend, Dick, who lives just outside of Tokyo with his family. Dick generously invited the three of us to the Press Club, which has a restaurant on an upper floor of a tower in downtown Tokyo, with an impressive view of the city below. We met his wife, Akimi, and his son, Gen, over a sake-tasting meal with traditional foods. We had a great time chatting and finding out how he ended up in Japan after a chance study abroad experience.

After our meal we headed to a bar under the subway tracks called Andy's, an expat bar where we snacked on tempura and drank Sapporo. Around 11:30 Dick called it a night but encouraged us to continue drinking with Gen. Reluctantly, we declined the invitation because we'd already had a long day. Gen showed us the vending machine that dispenses beer on our way out, informing us that drinking in the street is perfectly legal in Japan. We thanked Dick for the meal and the company and headed back to our apartment.
Martin with Dick, Akimi, and Gen

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