Tokyo Wanderings

Yesterday was my one day of the entire trip to explore on my own. A good number of people headed out of the city, mainly south to the town of Kamakura (known for its giant Buddha statues), and a few headed further out-Kyoto, Hiroshima, and the base of Mount Fuji. I know when I lived in New York I wouldn't have felt like I had seen the city if I'd been out a few nights in the Times Square area. So, instead of spending my time getting somewhere, I thought I'd spend it "there." In my attempts to get people thinking about using different forms of social media and using them for different purposes, I tested the slideshow feature of Smilebox. (There are some features I'm not thrilled with, like only allowing one line of captions, but overall it's straightforward. If you don't get something immediately, trial and error will get you there, or you'll learn that it's not possible without the paid subscription.)

The day was lots of walking, but it wasn't as easy to get lost as I had figured. There are subway stops all over, and each stop has a map at ground level. It was neat to see the landscape and the people change in the different districts. I knew I was looking for bookstores and the Kite Museum, but that was about it. Everything else is what I happened across. (You'll get a pretty full picture, but it's missing things like the Mitukoshi department store (similar to Harrods) and the book gallery of antique Asian books.) I had a little trouble finding something for lunch, but I ended up in a ramen shop where another customer who spoke English helped me out when my language guidebook failed. 4.50 ramen from a restaurant tastes suspiciously like .45 cent ramen from the store.

Enjoy the tour of Tokyo!