Summer Tour - Japan - Tokyo 2

 Our next major expedition was to the Hama-rikyu Gardens next to Tokyo Bay - reached by a combination of the JR line and Uber. The heat was again intense as was the humidity so made our walk around the gardens extremely sweaty although one advantage of the conditions was that we had the place pretty much to ourselves. 

It used to be the Summer Palace of an early Shogun - called the Beach Palace on account of the fact it was located on reclaimed land formerly part of the Bay. It was immaculate with rolling lawns and a fabulous “wild garden” (see picture below) - as A said “very instgrammable”.

We then headed down to the nearby Tsukiyi Outer market - formerly the fish market which had now been moved but had left behind a warren of market stalls selling every kind of fish and seafood as well as more conventional goods and chattels.

Although I do not profess to follow YouTube “influencers” I had read a book by Chris Broad - a Brit who had moved to Japan 10-15 years ago to teach English and who had stayed on exploring the country and preparing a series of YouTube videos recounting his adventures. The kids had recommended him to me as required watching and whilst I had become familiar with him through the more traditional medium of a hard back book which he had written (Abroad in Japan), I had started watching his YouTube channel and one of the videos recorded his  visit to the Fish market helpfully highlighting its culinary delights and reasonable prices. 

We were not disappointed, enjoying a wide range of tuna, salmon, scallop sashimi as well as delicious Kobe beef on a skewer as we moved from stall to stall. A also discover a patented pepper drink stall - sounded and looked unpromising but was actually pretty good.

We then headed back to Ueno Park and visited some very atmospheric graveyards to the north - with the wooden funereal boards gently rattling in the breeze (see picture) it was at once rather otherworldly but still familiar.

At the recommendation of the Hotel we also visited a specialised Eel restaurant. Again rather unpromising in looks, the grilled eel (this was all they sold) was extremely tasty and definitely a culinary highlight of a very fish orientated day!

The following day, A and I paid a visit to the Japanese Museum of Modern Art and were treated to an eclectic collection of early 20th artists including Dufy, Chagall and Utrillo as well as paintings from the Second World War focussing on Burma (including the building of the notorious rail road) and the Philippines. This was one of the very few references to the War and Japan’s part in it that we found in the various Museums and Galleries we visited and was pretty unsparing in its detail. 

A then went off to see a friend who was at Tokyo University and I headed off to Ueno Zoo to admire the Giant Panda (and tigers - see pictures below).

Before heading off to our next port of call in Kanazawa towards the West of Japan I spent a day exploring a “retro” museum and Manga Museum - getting there was an adventure in itself as they were situated deep in the Tokyo suburbs requiring a metro and then bus ride (Google translate and my Suica Card were very much my friends on this trip) but provided a fascinating insight into (a) the tiny living spaces that the local population use for both business and domestic life and (b) the huge importance of manga art to Japanese culture. I then caught up with A at the Imperial Palace where we explored the grounds (again notwithstanding the stifling heat) and whilst there learned the good news by the medium of zoom of V’s successful A level results enabling her to go to her first choice uni so a very pleasant day made even better by our bullet train tickets for tomorrow finally arriving by email.