First Day: Imperial Gardens, Ginza and Mitsukoshi Food Hall

Do you hear that? That is the sound of no cars honking. It's fascinating but you never hear a car horn! Truly never. It makes the city so peaceful and comparatively quiet. Traffic is also calmer. People follow the traffic rules and drive in an even tempered manner. It's so civilized and I love it! (Video below of funny street sign and listen to how you barely hear the street- and we were on a six lane highway! You can even see how I assumed it wouldn't be quiet enough to hear us talking but it was.)





We woke up and went to have breakfast at the Starbucks down the street. It's a nice walk to the Starbucks, past Mitsukoshi, Japan's best department store. The windows are a beautiful juxtaposition of traditional and western: Gorgeous kimonos in one window, Louis Vuitton in the next.

After breakfast, we stopped off to get some little snacks. They have a funny "Biz" snack, which obviously made S and I very excited. They also have things I've never seen- octopus jerky for example, with the tentacles and little suckers very obvious. I wasn't quite brave enough to try them in the morning. We also got some very spicy rice crackers, and as I jot this in my travel journal, S is eating them already! Some of the shops, we can't even tell what they are selling! Beautifully wrapped boxes and cylinders but no clue what's inside.



In the lobby of the building, there is a fine foods shop. It sells mainly fruit, stunningly packaged and outrageously priced. Each wooden crated work of art sells anywhere from Sixty US Dollars to One Hundred and FORTY US Dollars! Converting from Yen to Dollars is fairly easy- you just remove the last two digits for a rough idea of the cost.

Lastly, the Mandarin Tokyo is the only SIX STAR Hotel in the world. S tells me that the hotel is so nice, with such impeccable service (very true- it's choreographed down to the second), and so well done in every respect that the top ranking of Five Star was not high enough, so they have given the Mandarin a bonus sixth star! Highly deserved, in my opinion!


















After breakfast, we headed to the Imperial Gardens, but first, we walked past the Wellington Building so that I might meet him for lunch later in the week. On the way, we passed the Bank of Japan and crossed a little bridge over the river but under the subway. We saw two young girls in their school uniforms- navy pleated skirts, white knee high socks and white with blue trim middies. They were so charming; I wanted a photo but was too shy.

Tokyo is the cleanest city I've ever seen! No garbage anywhere- This morning, in front of Mitsukoshi, a worker was carefully scraping something off of the sidewalk. It was the only blemish to be seen. No gum, cigarette butts or little bits of paper anywhere. In the gardens, it was the same. Literally nothing. The Japanese obviously have much respect for their shared spaces and each other. It is inspiring and a very special trait in one of the world's largest, busiest cities.

The Imperial Gardens are very impressive. You have to go through a gate and get a ticket, even though admission is free. S pointed out that this keeps the homeless out and he is right. Unlike large parks in the States, we saw no vagrants camped out anywhere.

The gates into the Imperial Garden:



As you go into the the gardens, you pass several buildings where the Samurai used to keep guard. S pointed out all the wooden doors that could open at once so they could rush out to attack! The gardens were beautiful and only the pictures could do it justice. Everything was laid out carefully and there were many, many beautiful flowers. I particularly found the lilies....so beautiful.

I took loads of pictures, but will refrain from posting all one hundred or so here.

















It's true that many Japanese women carry umbrellas to protect their skin from the sun. Many are very beautiful with ruffles or lace or a pretty pattern.


The off limits Bridge and Imperial Palace were grand and imposing. It was quite a (hot) walk from the gardens to the only real view of the palace in Tokyo, but we saw no garbage and throughly enjoyed the well manicured lawn of what appears to be Bonsai (or Bonsai- like) trees. The lawn was off limits to pedestrians and so lush and beautiful. The trees are so evenly spaced; it's hard to imagine.


On the walk to Ginza, we passed the Penisula (where we almost stayed!) and you could see sunbathers on the balcony at the (roughly) sixth or so floor pool. It was very funny. They were much on display over an extremely busy intersection.

And we were off to Ginza!

Ginza was everything I hoped it would be and totally lived up to my expectations. Huge flagship designer stores, loads of fashionable Japanese ladies. After lunch, we toured the Sony store, which was, of course, amazing!

All the best in high end fashion:

























Dior, Tiffany's and Prada! I want to go back one night to see Hermes all lit up. It's hundreds of tiny golden glass bricks. Twelve stories of French luxury. Oh, la la!

With their tiny frames, Japanese women were born, literally, to be fashion plates. My mom would have totally fit in among the trim clothes, Hermes scarves, designer shoes and handbags. Everyone was so well turned out (despite the oppressive heat and humidity)! Younger girls wore loose, flowy tops like what is in style now in the States, as well as leggings, little dresses, and lots of little dresses WITH leggings. Tons of light layers- and they manage to look as cool as cucumbers while I positively wilted in significantly less!

It was also surprising how many women wore nude pantyhose, with sandals even! I suppose it is further proof of Japan's refinement.

We stopped off to have a late lunch at Tenichi Deux in Ginza to have a traditional tempura meal- my first! I had "Sai": a tempura of pumpkin, eggplant, a small onion, asparagus, shiitake mushrooms and tiny green peppers with sauces to dip them in (a sweet soy and strong sesame). Stefan had "Anago Tendon": a tempura of conger (a white fish), shiitake mushrooms, and sweet green peppers over rice, served with japanese pickles (which he loves but was kind enough to share) and miso soup withe the tiniest little clams as a surprise in the bottom! It was delicious and we got out of the rain. It is still rainy season here, but the end, so there are a few afternoon showers.

We topped our day off at Mitsukoshi Food Hall- conveniently connected to the basement of our building- and it is like nothing I have ever seen! It gives Harrod's a run for its money, and in my opinion, outshines it. It's fancy, fancy and shiny with tons of tiny beautiful pastries and candies in sparkling glass cases, a phenomenal bakery, cured meats imported from a fancy store in Munich, and lots of prepared foods to take with you and everything gets packaged beautifully. I can't wait until we make a meal from Mitsukoshi! I expect it will take me hours to navigate the huge hall and be nearly impossible to pick something.

One more thing...it's true that vending machines are everywhere! (And thankfully, too!)