Tuesday – March 24, 2026 – Tokyo
Today’s featured photo shows a drinking cup from a restaurant we visited for lunch today – Kua’Aina. I had been looking for a good burger and we thought this might be where we could find one.
Today we took advantage of the excursion in Tokyo that was included in the cruise. We are to visit the Imperial Palace (didn’t we do that yesterday?), a Japanese garden and a Buddhist temple.
Today was a better weather day than Monday had started out to be. The sun was shining and the air was clear. So clear that you could see Mt. Fuji (which is approximately 80 miles away). We caught an abbreviated view of the snow cap as we began our bus tour and approached the Rainbow Bridge. If you look carefully at the photo in the gallery you should be able to see that snow cap. As we drove we also caught glimpses of bullet trains as they began to arrive and leave stations in Tokyo. If we return, I would like to ride a bullet train.
Although we went to the Imperial Palace area yesterday, we really didn’t get to see much. Today was different. To begin with we went to a different entry point. This allowed us to walk to one of the bridge entrances to the palace grounds. There we saw soldiers stationed on both sides of the entry doors. We also saw the roof of one of the palace buildings. Visitors are not allowed into the palace unless invited by the royalty (and we didn’t receive an invite). Near the parking area was a statue of a samuri on a horse. Didn’t see that yesterday.
After the Imperial Palace we drove to the Hama-rikyu Gardens. Our guide told us that the garden area was used by royalty as a falconry for several centuries. In the garden we found a field of bright yellow – brassica in bloom. Bees were everywhere gathering pollen – I included a few photos of the flowers and their flying friends. Also in the garden were cherry trees beginning to bloom and a 300-year-old black pine tree. The tree had a wide spread with limbs supported from below by poles.
Leaving the garden we drove to the most widely visited religious site in the world with over 30 million visitors annually – Asakusa Kannon – a Buddhist temple. The temple area was beautiful with many buildings of different size and shape. There were cherry blossoms in the area adding to the charm of the setting. Incense was being burned in the area – I have always liked the smell of incense since my days as an altar boy in grade school.
We walked the area looking in most of the structures then set out down a street with vendors – looking for kimonos. No luck finding more kimonos. We did, however, find many Tokyo residents in traditional dress – we think they may have been taking photos for graduation or engagements. You’ll find a couple photos of people in those clothes in today’s gallery.
Our excursion ended by driving back over the Rainbow Bridge to the cruise terminal. We walked from there to Kua’aina (near the Statue of Liberty) for lunch. The walk was worth it because we were able to see all the flowers in the sunlight – so many colors, and the food served for lunch was something we had not eaten on the ship – good grilled beef and chicken. The restaurant also has a building on the island of Oahu on the North shore. If we are in that neighborhood, we will drop in for food! We enjoyed our time in Tokyo but only scratched the surface of what we could have seen. For sure we would like to see Mt. Fuji and I want to try those street go karts (maybe I can convince Jan and Kelsey as well). We didn’t go to a Kobe beef restaurant – something Tokyo is noted for, and we didn’t see a sumo wrestling match (although that is a bit further down our “list of things to see in Tokyo”). Now we leave for our last stop in Japan – Nagasaki – then South Korea and on to China!
Here is the gallery for the second day in Tokyo.