Honeymoon in Japan, part 3 – Stopover in Tokyo

Part 3 of the Japan honeymoon series is about Tokyo and will be relatively short because of the lack of photos taken in Tokyo. After Hakone, J and I stayed one night in Tokyo as a stopover before our flight the next day to Hokkaido. I originally planned to stop by several places in Tokyo but we were both tired from the train ride and decided to rest early. I probably took fewer than three good photos and so I wasn’t going to write a post about Tokyo at all, but as I was organizing all of the photos from the trip, I realized that J had taken some gorgeous pictures…during his morning run on the second day!

You see, one thing I really respect and admire about my husband is his stamina and ability to run long distances and his perseverance to get up early and run almost EVERY SINGLE DAY! Clearly travelling didn’t stop him and actually prompted him to go farther, as he only had limited time in the capital of Japan. It was his way of seeing parts of a city that we probably would never have otherwise come across. To that I say, “Well done, sir, and I’m ashamed of myself for not being able to run two minutes without feeling like I’m about to faint.” 😦

About Tokyo, most people would put it at the top of their list when travelling to Japan, but I skipped it both in 2018 and this time around. Somehow I got this impression that Tokyo is just another modern megacity with lots of crowds and lots of lights, and it would probably be too similar to, say, Shanghai or New York (haven’t been to the latter). For that reason, it hadn’t attracted much of my attention, but I am curious about places such as the Shibuya Crossing, Akihabara, Senso-ji, and the Tsukiji market. Also, exploring a place like Tokyo would require many more than two or three days, preferably five or more, so it will have to wait till a future trip. But I will get to you again, Tokyo, and see what you’re all about. For now, let me take you on a virtual run through the eyes of my husband.

Passing by the outer limits of the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo, which is surrounded by a moat. J commented that the walled area was much smaller than what he’d expected for an ancient imperial palace.

Public art – sculptures of three nude men standing on a platform in the middle of a small pond. I won’t pretend I know where this photo was taken…

Orange tree! We actually saw quite a few of these in Hakone-Yumoto and even bought some oranges from the supermarket. Fruit was super expensive in Japan and our purchase was really just to see if the oranges were THAT good. They were alright, nothing too spectacular in my opinion.

School children likely on their way to class, probably first or second graders that remind me of the anime Chibi Maruko-chan, a childhood favourite!

Another view of the moat, from another side of the Imperial Palace. (I had to approximate the location where this photo was taken by zooming into the original photo, identifying the text on one of the buildings to figure out what company it was, consulting Google Maps, and matching it with the tracked route of J’s run 😛 )

Red-orange facade of the Marunouchi building, which is the side of Tokyo Station facing the Imperial Palace that I had missed out on. I know nothing about architecture but online sources suggest that there were elements of Renaissance architecture that went into its construction. Reminds me a bit of the Place du Capitole in Toulouse and the Plaza Mayor in Madrid.

Now that I’ve discovered that my husband is actually a hidden pro runner-photographer (pretty nice photos too), I’ve decided to include some of his photos in the upcoming posts (realized this after I’ve picked out all of the Hakone photos already, so none of his were featured in the two previous entries). His photos offer some view of cities from perspectives even I had no idea about – maybe I should take up running??? Next stop would be Otaru in Hokkaido – stay tuned!