Day 5 - Tokyo

Yet another early start, so what's new. By 9am we were on the bus off to visit Senso-ji Temple. It's interesting to watch so many Japanese going about their daily worshipping rituals but you do feel as though you shouldn't be there at times. 

Me wafting incense over myself to bring me luck

After the temple we wandered along a tourist trap street leading from the temple complex and were staggered at the prices for the tourist trash. Needless to say we didn't buy anything other than to try a couple of things to eat. 

We then had a 'scenic' boat ride on the Sumida river, except it wasn't really scenic, more a way of getting from a to b, i.e. The Temple to the Hama-rikyu Gardens! John enjoyed working out which bridge we were going under as every bridge was a different design, I think that's a man thing. There were 14 altogether. The gardens were lovely, a real haven of peace and tranquility in the bustle of a very busy Tokyo. There was a three hundred year old pine tree, planted to commemorate the renovations made to the garden by the 6th shogun. 

After a brief respite back at the hotel we ventured out on the busy metro and survived to report how efficient it is. At least we weren't travelling at peak time so didn't need to be pushed on by a pusher and shover. 

We spent the afternoon in the Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens which were lovely and had a fabulous greenhouse. 

We then explored the Shinjuku downtown which was extremely noisy and bright with lots of neon everywhere. 

The basement of department stores houses their food halls so we set off to have a look. I think I've already said that fruit and veg is extremely expensive in Japan but we were not prepared for the prices in the following photos. At home we might take a bottle of wine as a thank you to a host, here you might take an apple or some mushrooms!! When you look at the prices you can see why. 

32,400 yen is equal to £270

2,700 yen is £22.50 for a bunch of grapes

16200 yen is £135!!!!