Tokyo in a Day. Cherry Tree season. Celebrity Millennium Cruise, Tokyo, Japan.

Tokyo APOLOGIES FOR MY POOR PRONUNCIATION OF THESE JAPANESE NAMES! Hi everyone, We took a vacation in Japan with a 3 night stay in Tokyo before joining the Celebrity millennium for a 12 night cruise to Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Jeju island in South Korea, Kogoshima and Shimuzu. The whole vacation was organised by Iglu Cruise in the UK as a package, but on reflection we would have liked a longer time in Tokyo. This episode concentrates on our DIY trip around Tokyo and our included excursion to Hakone and Mount Fuji. The Prince hotel in Sunshine City is close to Ikebukuro Station so it is well located for transport links across the city and we were given a 24 hour pass for the following day to cover the main transport network on trains, buses and the metro. We used our 24 hour pass to get around the city. The metro system in Tokyo has all signage duplicated in English. Markings on the platform floors tell you where the carriages will stop, and sometimes there may be two or three colours denoting each route, These markings tell you where to queue for the door on the train. Everyone in Japan forms an orderly queue at these points. One thing we found surprising in the metro was the lack of elevators and escalators, so be ready to climb a lot of steps. Google maps is a must, as it works out your route from a to b in Tokyo using the Bus and Train network. It even tells you which platform to go to and the best carriage to get on to for easy exiting at the next station. To navigate around Tokyos transport system, Google maps is a must, and to use Google maps you need mobile data. If you would like to reward us for this video you could like and subscribe and maybe leave a comment, you could also follow this link to Maya Mobile which will give us a small kick back for introducing you at no cost to yourself. For all of Asia use this link: https://maya.net/plans/asia?pid=aeXxz... For Japan only use this link: https://maya.net/esim/japan?pid=aeXxz... First of all we visited Senso-Ji, before moving on to the Imperial Palace and its gardens. Here is the link for the free tours of the palace: https://sankan.kunaicho.go.jp/english... The grounds around the Palace are beautiful and quite extensive. They are also very peaceful considering the vast metropolis beyond the palace walls. Tokyo is the highest populated city in the world, with over 30 million inhabitants in the city alone. That is about half the population of England and Scotland crammed into an area measuring 25 miles by 30 miles. No wonder there is so much diversity in this incredible city. After the Imperial Palace we went to Meiji Jingu and the "Meiji Jingu Gyoen". Meiji Jingu is one of the Shinto shrines in Tokyo. The Meiji-Jingue honden and the buildings around it are of Japanese cypress wood, while the roofs are clad with copper. Originally completed in 1920, the main shrine was burnt down during the air raids at the end of World War II. The present building was completed in 1958. Shinto is Japan's ancient original religion, and it is deeply rooted in the way of Japanese life. Shinto has no founder, no holy book, and not even the concept of religion, but Shinto places value in harmony with nature and sincerity of heart, "Magokoro". In Shinto, something devine is regarded as Kami (divine spirit), and it is believed that there is an unlimited number of Kami. Kami can be found in mythology, in nature, and in human beings. From ancient times, the Japanese have felt awe and gratitude towards such Kami and enshrined them to Shinto shrines. One of the many buildings here is a covered parking spot which has an unusual roll to play. It is used for vehicle purification rituals. When a car or other vehicle is brought here, a shrine priest will perform a ritual to ward off bad luck, and pray for safe driving free of accidents. People normally do this when they buy a new car. Our next point of call was the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. The park has some beautifully manicured gardens with Lakes and ponds containing large Koi carp, amazingly sculpted trees and traditional pagodas. From here we cought a bus to Shubuya Scramble Crossing. This crossing is world renowned as the busiest crossing in Tokyo. During its busiest times, an estimated 1,000 to 2,500 people forge their way across this intersection every two minutes, enough to quickly fill up a football stadium. There is an amazing choice of restaurants at the Shibuya Scramble Park on the 12th and 13th Floors. We went to Moheji and had a Japanese dining experience of Monjayaki for the equivalent of £20 each including Drinks. Ishikari Lore by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-... Artist: http://incompetech.com/