October 31, 2023: Hallowe'en Tokyo Style

 

The Imperial Palace: Nobody lives here. 

‘From New Year’s Eve through the third of January, the streets of Tokyo grew quiet, as if all the people had disappeared.’ ― Shogo Oketani

Tokyo is a city with so many idiosyncratic areas (like NY, Chicago, LA ), so many things to see and do, it's hard to pare it down to any single choice. Surprisingly to us , Hallowe'en here is a major adult partying scene as well. We had no intention of getting in the middle of it, but interestingly, the city of Shibuya CANCELLED Hallowe'en and made consuming alcohol illegal for today. Strict Baptist sects would be so proud. 

Apparently, a few evil spirits got out anyway. 

We booked a "tour" with a local (who was actually from Concepcion, Chile) who isn't a scripted tour guide but showed us how to use the subway system and then just walked around with us as an introductory cultural exchange. 

Johan Spielman (proper Chilean name if I ever heard one) points out a large citrus fruit in the East Garden of the Imperial Palace. 

The subway system is expansive and really good. It is a bit complicated because more than one company is involved in transport and you have to get the right one when you buy a ticket or you can get a SUICA card which can be used on nearly all the trains, lots of merchants and even at vending machines (which are pretty ubiquitous.) Unfortunately, everyone seems to be out of Suica cards, so we opted for a DAY PASS which includes all lines within the city.

These take cash or SUICA card. 

This is why we booked a tour guide to "splain" us what the heck is going on in the subway system Fortunately, inquiring minds got the picture and we used it without too much problem yesterday. 

After our introduction to public transportation, we took a nice LONG walk with Johan in our neighborhood. We were struck by how quiet and not overly crowded most of the streets and parks were on a Tuesday.  And how very clean. People are polite, helpful and oppose to creating noise. We didn't hear a word, whisper or a fart. We ambled through the lovely little Hibiya Park and on to the grounds and gardens of the Imperial Palace. 

For over 250 years, Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa shogun during what was known as the Edo Period – Edo being the old name for Tokyo. The current Imperial Palace, known as Kokyo in Japanese, sits on the former site of Edo Castle. However, in 1868, the shogunate was overthrown, and Japan’s capital was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, with the Imperial Residence moving with it. The palace became the permanent home of the Imperial Family in 1869. It  was destroyed during the Second World War but rebuilt in a similar style afterwards. While you can’t go inside, except on rare special occasions that let you glimpse the interior, the surrounding manicured lawns, topiary trees and meticulously maintained gardens are not only visually enchanting but give a good idea of what being royalty is all about.

The Lovely colors of fall are just beginning here in Tokyo and assuage my guilt of missing their beauty at home.

An heirloom persimmon planted by the Emperor. There is an entire garden of heirloom plants.

One of several water features of the East Garden. 

Lots of trees and bamboo but not many flowers

Bamboo everywhere and REALLY BIG bamboo. Roger Carico would never be able to get this off his property. 

These colorful spiders were literally all over the place but smart enough not to build these intricate nests across the walking paths. We saw them high overhead between trees as well. 

Juxtaposition of the gardens to the modern skyline of Ginza 

This concert hall which is quite small was a gift of the emperor to the empress. 

This is one of three remaining guard shacks leading up to the Palace 

After nearly 7 miles of walking about over these impressive and huge grounds , we called it a day for sightseeing and took the subway (by ourselves!) back to our hotel. 

Iconic Japanese business man sleeping on the subway. There was actually an entire row of them but I didn't want to get caught snapping their photos. 

And it wouldn't be us without ice cream!

Pumpkin and Pistachio

We tried to go in the early evening to Blue Eyes which is a type of "jazz club" that plays records in a basement space (these appear to be popular in Tokyo) but it was closed. So we kept walking to the Shangri-La Hotel on the 28th floor of the Trust Building.  We felt like we were reliving Lost in Translation.  

When it's time to relax, it's "suntory time." If for any reason you have never seen Lost in Translation go do it immediately.

Sake tasting

Flowers for the table

Menu, anyone? Forget the fork...you won't see one. 

Now THAT is a chandelier!

View from the restaurant Nadaman in the Shangri-La Hotel

Paul had waygu beef (grade 4) and I had rockfish. Everything was very tasty. And to top it all off, we took the subway back to the hotel with no errors. I am not sure this luck will hold out but fingers crossed. 

‘For those with restless, curious minds, fascinated by layer upon layer of things, flavours, tastes and customs, which we will never fully be able to understand, Tokyo is deliciously unknowable. I’m sure I could spend the rest of my life there, learn the language, and still die happily ignorant.’ – Anthony Bourdain

Paul's Ponderings:  This was our first full day out in Tokyo and we made the most of it.   It is REALLY clean here in the largest city in the world and also it's mostly REALLY quiet.    Quite the contrast with Manhattan, London, Chicago, etc.    We are in the center of the city and this is among the principal entertainment districts, but it seems fairly orderly.    At times in the parks we walked through it was almost weirdly quiet and deserted.     We finished up the day with another great meal up on the 29th floor of the Shangri-La hotel, which is incredibly ornate with a massive view of urban density.   

Sadly, the "jazz kissa" was closed, perhaps for Halloween.   There are plenty of them around and someone just published a book about them, across Japan in general.   

Here's the general idea if you are interested:   Jazz Kissas

Hopefully we can check some of these out before we leave.   

So far, the weather here is perfect as well, so fingers crossed for more of that tomorrow.