Tokio is an incredibly large and exciting city, in which there is extremely much to experience. I would like to summarize my experiences for you.
Visit to the Imperial Palace
The Imperial Palace is located in the Chiyoda district in central Tokyo. After the destruction of the original building in World War 2, it was rebuilt until 1968. On some weekdays, access to part of the gardens is possible. Otherwise, one is not allowed to enter the area, because it is strictly supervised by the imperial palace police.
The park around the area is also very beautiful and therefore worth a visit in any case.
Walk through Hibiya Park
This park is very close to the Imperial Palace, so it is convenient to combine these two sights from the planning. The park is very beautifully designed. In the middle is a pond with large koi and there are several small paths which you can explore. This distributes the visitors well and the park does not feel crowded.
Here you can also find a good place for a short break and a coffee. 😊
Enjoy the view from the Metropolitan Government Building
You want a great view of the city but don't want to pay anything for it? Then the Metropolitan Government Building is the place for you! After a short bag security check, you can get into the elevator and go all the way up to the 45th floor to enjoy the view. Once up there, you have a view of the city from all sides. What I particularly liked were the boards on each side of the building, which showed the skyline, which you see, including QR codes at individual buildings again. These QR codes could be scanned and so you can directly find out which building you see and what it is used for.
In this huge room there is also a souvenir store (with really nice souvenirs) and a piano. The piano is open to the public. Any visitor who wants to can play here in front of an audience. I would recommend visiting this building right at the beginning of a Tokyo trip. It is a great chance to get an overview of the city and possibly discover individual spots that arouse your own interest and you can make further plans for your own city tour.
Visit an exhibition at the U-Forum Museum
In my hostel I met a woman who currently has an exhibition at the U-Forum Museum in Tokyo until the end of October 2023. The U-Forum Museum is a very small inconspicuous museum in a residential area about 50 minutes outside the city center.
The current exhibition consists primarily of photographs. Two women share the exhibition space with their works. The woman I met in the hostel is showing photographs of the effects of the nuclear disasters in Japan, such as Hiroshima. She has also captured the COVID period in New York and especially the protests that accompanied it.
The other woman showed pictures of survivors of the 9/11 disaster. Besides the pictures, she also had videos showing these people expressing their emotions such as sadness or fear - it was a goosebump feeling to be allowed to watch this.
We were given an English guided tour of each part of the exhibition. The photos and videos were impressive in themselves, but to get first-hand information about the background of the pictures was incredibly exciting. So if there is anyone reading this who happens to be in Tokyo until the end of October - please go to the U-Forum Museum.
Explore Meiji Shrine and the Imperial Tea House
One of the fixed points when in Tokyo is a visit to the Meiji Shrine. This Shinto shrine is located in Shibuya and is dedicated to the souls of Meiji-tennō and his wife Shōken-kōtaigo. On the anniversaries of their deaths, there are special ceremonies in their honor. Another important festival is on the Meiji-tennō's birthday - it is a multi-day celebration with programs such as dances, customer exhibitions and singing.
The shrine is located in the middle of a beautiful park that you can explore. The park is very spacious and invites you to linger. There is one area of the park for which you have to pay extra entrance fee, but which I would recommend for a visit - this is the part where the imperial teahouse is located.
The park around the tea house is beautiful, the trees, the flowers and a pond with numerous water lilies - I could have spent a whole afternoon here. So if you have time - this place is time well spent.
Take a Japanese Lesson
My hostel in Tokyo (which I then also add to my ho(s)tel recommendation) had weekly the offer of a "Japanese Cafe". Why it is called so, I do not know, there was green tea to drink. But really, that's not important either. Anyway, the point was that the hostel staff taught the guests some Japanese.
It was fun, difficult and exciting at the same time - in any case a great experience and also a good opportunity to meet people as a solo traveler.
Other activities that I did in Tokyo or from Tokyo to which I want to write more, then come in follow-up articles. 😊
Ho(s)tel recommendation
I can highly recommend the Wild Cherry Blossom hostel in the Koganei district. It is located a bit outside the city center, but is easily accessible by train and I liked to enjoy some peace and quiet after a day among many people. What made the hostel special was the friendliness and warmth of the staff. It was a great atmosphere there and I enjoyed sitting in the lounge and chatting with the staff or other guests. They also have a fully equipped kitchen - so everything you need is there. To back up how much I enjoyed it there - I extended from a planned 3 nights to a total of 7 nights! 😊
I have to say that Tokyo is different than I had imagined. In my imagination, it was similarly crowded as New York - just crowds everywhere, loud and a lot of crowds. Of course, there are also very well visited corners in Tokyo, but nevertheless, everything is always very orderly and quiet. Here, everyone lines up when waiting for something, and no one pushes in front or pushes you into crowds. In addition, it is very quiet - in public transport, for example, it is forbidden to talk on the phone or you are generally asked to turn your cell phone on silent. So I am positively surprised. 😊
I hope I could give you a good first insight into Tokyo or if you don't know Tokyo yet, that you feel like visiting this diverse city.
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