July 16th: Stroll through Nihonbashi

This morning, after my coffee and honey scone at Tully's, across from our Hotel, I decided to explore the neighborhood a little bit before meeting Stefan for lunch. I stopped to take a photo of this beautiful kimono- I had noticed them putting it up in a little shop on Monday and stopped to admire it then. It is breathtaking, I think, so I wanted to share. This little store seems to sell only the very finest kimono and I wonder if some of them are antiques.

I just can't get over the delicate pattern of leaves and branches on this one, with the trees growing up out of the forest floor along the hem. It's one of the most stunning garments I have ever seen. I can't imagine wearing such a work of art!

(As a side note, I did show the concierge the pictures of the ladies modeling kimono in Ueno park and she told me that they were famous models here in Japan, which explains the throng of photographers. She also told me that they were modeling kimono that are traditionally worn in summer only.)

There is a little bridge on the street leading away from the hotel further into the Nihonbashi neighborhood and here is where I found these ornate street lamps that caught my eye.


Very grand.

I had noticed it on my way into the city our first night.







A lot of the highways in Tokyo go right over the river and the supports for these go right down in the the bottom of the rivers, like so:


I ventured off onto a side street, which has a very different feel from the wide avenues I have been on all week (in Ginza and Ometsando).

It was on one of these side streets that I received a promotional packet for some sort of festival (thank goodness for the doorman at the hotel, who was able to tell me what all it was). Usually, I don't take that kind of stuff but it came in one of these nice clear plastic folders that I can reuse for school, and this one is especially nice...it has a big old Hello Kitty! YAY!















Lastly, I met Stefan for lunch, where we again picked up something from Lawsons. The whole convenience store lunch is such a bargain- five dollars for a big sushi tray, two dollars for sandwiches and rice cakes. I'm a wee bit tired of rice, so I had a sandwich and I have to show you all the label on it....under the little bunny sticker, it says "We hope you can choose the best one for yourself." This cracked both of us up. I hope so, too!

I have no idea if this was the best one, but it sure was good! (I think it was ham, mayonnaise, egg, cucumber and a little bit of wasabi.)