The palace grounds were in a very nice part of Tokyo. When we got off the train, I was surprised by the huge buildings all around. They were the biggest and tallest I'd ever seen before!
Down the street from the buildings, The Imperial Palace Gardens! This is the moat outside.
Beyond that first gate behind me, there was another big gate.
But first, I turned around to see the first gate from the other side.
Just beyond the ancient buildings are giant, modern skyscrapers! Just different elements of the same amazing city. I love Tokyo!
Inside the gardens, there were many little buildings of the same style as the gate. They were different in some ways, but all were brown and white, with the same style roofs.
I thought the roofs were really interesting! They're so detailed.
The plants and trees were all very pretty. Japan is so green!
This is a big pond near the middle of the gardens.
This is a big pond near the middle of the gardens.
I thought these little plants were cute and interesting. Just another little difference between here and home, even the little plants are cuter. :)
In the middle of the place was a big field where people were playing and having picnics and such. Again, the awesome gigantic buildings in the distance!
I don't know what this building was, but it looked really cool!
Robbert took this one.
We left the palace grounds, but we kept walking because there were other things to see!
The two Japanese girls on either side of us came up and asked us for a picture, but on our cameras :) it was cute.
As we were walking I thought that the things I will miss most about Japan will be the little and ordinary things, like streets, cars, signs, and buildings. So I started taking pictures of them.
This is a road that I thought was interesting because the writing on it is in Japanese, and the cars are driving on the left side. And it has nice plants and trees around it.
This is a road that I thought was interesting because the writing on it is in Japanese, and the cars are driving on the left side. And it has nice plants and trees around it.
We went to a shrine that was apparently very controversial because it had war criminals buried there. I thought that was cool.
There were a lot of statues around, these are just a few of them.
Before entering, people would wash their hands in this fountain, so Roberto and I did too. :)
I liked the huge doors on the entrance to the shrine. The gold flower is a chrysanthemum.
The people walk up to the box with the gold flower, bow twice, throw a coin in the box, clap a few times, and bow again. It sounds a little funny when I explain it like that, but that is what I saw!
For some reason there was a christian rock band playing at the shrine! I have no idea why. Here I am watching. :)
After you visit the shrine, you can buy a paper with your fortune on it for 100 yen. If it's a bad fortune, you tie it on these lines and leave it.
These big archways were at every entrance to the ground of the shrine. I noticed the ancient/modern contrast looking out at the street.
After leaving the shrine, we decided to get dinner in Shibuya! I was excited to see it at night.
It was really crowded!
Can you see me in the middle of Shibuya Crossing??
We walked around Shibuya 109 after having dinner.
A VERY pink store.
And a PINK FIAT 500!!!
I was so excited!!!!!!
We got some ice cream, and decided to just hang out in Shibuya for a while. I thought it was amazing, we were just chilling in one of the biggest, coolest cities in the world. No big deal! :D
We went in this store with a glass front and big, neon green stairs!
There were 6 floors, if I remember right. This is the street below from the top floor.
A funny shirt from that store. :)
This is probably my favorite picture from today. I've seen Japanese fashion like this in magazines and blogs, so I was excited to see people actually dressing this way in real life!! Japanese fashion is so fun and so CUTE!
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| This is from my last Shibuya trip. |
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| This picture is from this one. |
Another fantastic day in Tokyo!
