Day 2 in Tokyo

Hi All,

Tessa here, Chris' often-absent blogging partner (he intimated that he wouldn't cook us dinner until I posted our Day 2 entry).

So where were we - ah yes, waking up in Tokyo feeling so refreshed (seriously loved sleeping on that mattress, we contemplated stealing it from the hotel, but it's hard to stuff things like that in a shoulder bag).

Ready to take on the city, we hopped on the subway - alas, it was already too late in the morning for me to try out the Ladies Only car, to my utter disappointment ;) - and headed to the world-class Edo-Tokyo Museum. This museum specifically highlights the birth of Edo (what became Tokyo) in the late 16th century through to the present day. It takes you through different ruling shogunates, the arrival of Western traders and goods, devastating fires and earthquakes, and the changing culture. We ended up going through some of the exhibits backwards, but it still made quite an impression. It was especially fascinating (and at times heartbreaking) looking at how the city fared during WWII. A little awkward to be reading the English description of the days surrounding the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, while standing next to an older Japanese couple. How different our perspectives must have been, although hopefully no true animosity remained on their side.

The museum had tons of models, both miniature and life-size.
These two are from the life-size model of a Kabuki theatre:
Here's Chris squeezing into a wooden carrying box, we never found out the name (or found anyone who wanted to lug Chris around).
We also happened to be lucky enough to catch a short museum presentation of Japanese Noh Theatre, an artistic tradition going back to the 14th century. This form of theatre often tells stories through song and dance, and the performers are always masked. Chris and I studied a little bit of Noh in college, as well as some Kabuki, so this was pretty cool. Here are the two performers:

After lunch we changed venues, making our way to the Asakusa district (pronounced A-sak-sa). This area is famous for its Buddhist temple, Senso-ji . Here's the gate to the temple:

However, we didn't get much time in the temple itself because of the crowds; we did squeeze in to toss some coins and say a prayer (being careful not to hit the guards who were standing with big screen box things over their heads to not get pinged in the face!). The real reason for the crowds, we learned, were the countless souvenir stalls. You could barely get around aisles to check anything out, but we did make a few purchases which some of you family members will see when we come home. We also ate freshly okaki, or fried rice crackers, and had a dinner of yakitori (like meat kebabs) and some kind of pancake/noodle dish that we see at festivals but don't know the name of.

We didn't actually get up the nerve to buy any of these octopus (you could choose the one you wanted and hand it to the cook to grill it)
We then went home to rest our feet a bit before hitting the last hotspot (excuse my pun) the Ice Bar! Yep, it sounds just like what you might picture. This is one of those places you will only ever find in a city like Tokyo. You walk into a tiny entryway, pay a fairly steep cover charge (which Chris assured me was worth it to experience a true Tokyo novelty attraction) and then the attendants hand you ridiculous-looking hooded cloak/ponchos with attached gloves. Then you open the door, and whoosh it's cold! You walk into a room literally made of ice - ice bar counter, ice walls, ice tables, ice benches, etc. We even got little glasses made of ice for all of our drinks!

We were there around 7pm, so it wasn't quite hopping yet - but still fun and bizarre. We kept saying to each other, "Are we really here? This is crazy." Anyway, we had a couple of drinks, took pictures, and then after 45 minutes or so, it actually got a little boring. Maybe if it had been busier, with energetic music and a lively atmosphere we would have stayed longer, but in a small room like that with hardly any people, the novelty wears off. However, we enjoyed ourselves and didn't regret it a bit, and we'll always remember doing something so strange.

The day was long and a bit overwhelming (Tokyo is just so huge) but we ended it in a style usually reserved for rich and very eccentric people ;)

Thanks for sticking with me through my ramblings - stay tuned for Day 3: Maid Cafes, old Nintendo collections, and Kabuki theatre!