Adventure to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan

My day started out pretty well. I woke up before the alarm went off. Turned out that I never turned it on.... Oh well, good thing I didn't have to go to work today. Did my laundry. When I was done, ran to the club and exchanged my money for Yen and headed over to the train station. Scratched my head for 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get to Tokyo via train. Finally figured it out... Hopped onto the train headed for Kanagawa. I noticed that the train was taking forever to get there and found out that it was stopping at every single stop along the way! I had accidentally taken the "Black Kanji" train. DAMN! It took me about 2 1/2 hours to reach Tokyo. I was pretty pissed off, but I learned my lesson. Take the "Green Kanji or Red Kanji" train, it's way faster (45 min to Tokyo from Yokosuka).


Old Imperial Palace 

The Imperial Palace is opened up to the public twice a year. December 28 (the Emperor's birthday) and January 2nd (date may change due to Emperor's schedule). But today, I got to go visit the palace. I would think that since the palace was open, so would the gardens.... but no. The gardens were closed off to the public. I guess due to the amount of staffing needed to provide security. Getting off of at Tokyo Station, I walked straight on over to Kokyogaien. That is where they funneled millions of people through security and gave everyone a paper Japanese flag to wave around. I got my pat down and my camera bag checked and was off to go see the emperor. There was such a huge crowd, it was difficult to snap some good pictures and take my usual brisk pace. I was shocked to see so many foreigners from all over the world. China, India, England, Australia, Spain, US.... There were so many languages being spoken in one place. Well, after waiting in a crowd of millions for an hour, the Emperor and his royal family finally came out. They were behind a wall of glass. All I can understand was "Arigato". He spoke about three sentences and took a bow. The crowd went hysterical and millions of people waved their Japanese flags high in the air. And in a minute, the Emperor and his royal family went back to their palace. I took a couple of pictures, but mostly of other arms and cameras from people (like me) who raised their camera in the air to snap a picture. Oh well, maybe I might be able to get a little closer next year.


Japanese Flags @ Imperial Palace 

After the Imperial Palace, I walked to Kitanomaru Park and took a few pictures of the castle and the moat surrounding it. It was really nice, especially since it snowed recently. It was the perfect day to take pictures. But damn, my camera ran out of battery power. I accidently left my camera on and the Li-ion battery drained itself to death.

After that, I headed back to the train station. The tall buildings right outside of the Imperial Palace reminded me of Chicago. The crowded streets, subways, and train stations.... Well, I ended up at a giant mall next to the train station. It was called ODZO and it was the most luxurious mall I have ever seen. Just remind me to never take a glass elevator again. I'm scared to death of heights! Anyways, they sold expensive stuff. I didn't know that there were writing pens that cost over $2,000 dollars. Damn, if I was to buy a pen that expensive, it had better do more than write.

Well, I ate fried fish tempura with wasabi, chopped cabbage in sweet sauce, rice and miso soup and went back to Yokosuka. This time I took the "Green Kanji" train. I had to stand and hold on to the "oh shit" handles on the way back, but at least, I got back home in 45 minutes.