After driving 300 + kilometers, flying Christchurch to Auckland, Air New Zealand took me on an 11.5 hour flight to Shanghai, a 5 hour wait, then to Osaka and one more segment to Tokyo Haneda. I then had to find my way on the Japan rail to Shinagawa where I finally made it to my hotel. This accounted for about 48 hours of travel!
I had a good sleep and headed to Shinjuku to meet Dave, a long time friend of my son Andrew. We had a coffee and arranged our ticket to Nagano to see the famous monkeys that keep warm in mineral hot springs. Well, we got there just as the last bus left for the place :-( so we toured rural Nagano in the cold (+7C), bought some beer and food then took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. Another long day. The most interesting thing was the Buddhist temple with a snow blower at the door! This is, of course, the Japanese Alps, and they get a lot of snow - hence the Winter Olympics in Nagano in the 1990's.
Today I took the trains to Asakusa to see the Senso-ji Temple, the oldest temple site in Tokyo history dating from 628, but the current version from 1692. From there I walked to the Asahi brewery - the picture shows their iconic "golden turd" but note the Sky tower - the tallest in Japan.
Another set of trains took me to Edo Castle, the Imperial Palace and the Nijobashi Bridge all from 18th and 19 century reconstruction. Apparently the royal family still occupy some residences within the Imperial grounds which feature amazing manicured trees and gardens.
I had a good sleep and headed to Shinjuku to meet Dave, a long time friend of my son Andrew. We had a coffee and arranged our ticket to Nagano to see the famous monkeys that keep warm in mineral hot springs. Well, we got there just as the last bus left for the place :-( so we toured rural Nagano in the cold (+7C), bought some beer and food then took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. Another long day. The most interesting thing was the Buddhist temple with a snow blower at the door! This is, of course, the Japanese Alps, and they get a lot of snow - hence the Winter Olympics in Nagano in the 1990's.
Another set of trains took me to Edo Castle, the Imperial Palace and the Nijobashi Bridge all from 18th and 19 century reconstruction. Apparently the royal family still occupy some residences within the Imperial grounds which feature amazing manicured trees and gardens.
Tomorrow I am off to Osaka for the day, taking the Shinkansen again. More to come.
Great to see all this Neil - love your pix as usual!
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