24th August 2004

After eleven at night yesterday I went to the laundrette only to realise that it was already closed. Normally I would have put it off to the next day but since I had no more fresh T-shirts to put on I had to improvise: I put some detergent into the sink in my room, added some hot water and then I started scrubbing. Then I rinsed the T-shirt, wrang it out and hung it up to dry. It even got almost dry by this morning and as I ironed it, it got as dry and crisp as one could wish. Anyway, having something to wear again, I packed everything I would need for the day into the rucksack (among that also a bag full of souvenirs from Austria, because I would meet my friend Mai today) and then I set off onto the streets. To the underground station where I took the Chiyoda line heading for Tokyo-Eki. There I got off and looked for Marunouchi-Chuuou-Guchi where I was supposed to meet Mai.

Tokyo-Eki

After looking for a while I found an exit out to the streets and saw a sign saying ‘Marunouch-Chuuou-Guchi’ nearby. We had agreed to meet at 10 in the morning and I walked up and down the street. For 9:30 in the morning it was already quite hot and muggy which made me transpire quite a little. Then, to kill time, I studied one of the many city maps you can find at every street corner and to my dismay I discovered that the Tokyo-Eki-Marunouchi-Chuuou-Guchi was across the street, about fifty metres away!! …but as I arrived there we found each other soon. Because I hadn’t eaten any breakfast before we went to a nearby café where I ate pancakes with syrup (it was a kind of American-style café where they only played English music) and afterwards we walked through the Ootemon (one of the entrance gates) into the Koukyo Higashi Gyoen (the park surrounding the Imperial Palace). When you enter you have to go to a counter first where you get a kind of chip/ticket/card for free which I think they hand out to be able to control if everybody has left the park when they close it in the evening. A very clever system! First thing you see upon entering are some Bansho (guard houses that were manned with samurai guarding the gate) and of course I took photos again. The sound of the cicadas was deafening and the smell of a muggy noon was lying in the air. Next thing we came to a little hall in which a variety of Japanese vases was displayed. Really beautiful, the various patterns in their detailled elaboration! As we had left that hall again it suddenly popped into my mind that I hadn’t yet given my present to Mai and so I asked her to look away, pulled the present from my backpack and handed it over. I think she liked it. Chatting about well-known Austrian articles we went on and came across the foundations of a stronghold that has been built in the 17^th century. That stronghold had been over 50 metres high and only nineteen years after its finishing it had cought fire from flying sparks during a festival and burned down.

Stronghold foundations

After all that walking we were feeling a bit exhausted and so we sat down to rest for a while in a nearby lounge where Mai took photos with her keitai (mobile phone). In Austria, camera phones are still very rare so all I could do was watch and admire the achievements of Japanese technology. Sugoi! (Great!) You can take photos, send emails with photos attached, request informations about the underground lines and schedule, write emails in Japanese… what else would you want in a mobile phone? For me who has seen things like that for the first time it was a real revelation. And even better: As I then asked: “Ikura gurai datta?” (“How much was it?”), she answered: “Sanzen en” (“3000 yen”)!! Unbelievable, it wasn’t even expensive! ^^

Beauty of the Koukyo-Gaien

After having rested for a while we went to the Kitanomaru Kouen, another park nearby, where we bought a cold 120-yen-drink in front of the Nippon Budoukan. Those drinks machines are near whenever you need them…^^. Benri da!!

Nijuubashi with the Koukyo (Imperial Palace)
in the background – a very popular angle in Japan

Next thing we took the underground from Takebashi station to Nijuubashi station that is named after Nijuubashi, a western-style bridge that has been built in the Meiji era (in which everything with a western and modern flair was popular). And after a short walk in the shade of countless trees the beautiful Nijuubashi came into sight, with the Koukyo, the Imperial Palace, appearing distantly in the background. Of course I couldn’t help but take a lot of photos^^. I also took a photo of the both of us with the Koukyo as a background. Good thing that my camera’s got a self-timer^^.

Mai and me

After we had seen enough of the palace and rested sitting on some stairs (boy, it surely was hot!) we went to Tokyo-Eki and looked for an underground that would take us to Kokkaigijidou-Mae station – we had to walk a long distance to get to the platform. The distances between the respective underground lines are surprisingly long in a station as large as Tokyo-Eki… As we finally reached the platform, Mai told me then that she had a headache and wanted to go home, so we had to say goodbye already. What a pity! But I hope, I can meet her again tomorrow. So, alone again, I went to the Kokkaigijidou, the building that houses the parliament of Japan, on my own and let the shutter click dozens of times…

Kokkaigijidou – the Japanese parliament

I also strolled around in the neighbourhood for a while and then I headed for for Akasaka, another district of Tokyo. There I bought my supper at a konbini and also some drinks. At the Akasaka underground station I phoned to Europe again and then I went straight home to my minshuku. Luckily one of the lines leaving from Akasaka station was Chiyoda line, so I could go to Nezu station directly.

Akasaka in the evening – still hot enough

Today I came home a bit earlier than yesterday. In the minshuku I hurried to answer my emails, then I quickly put my clothes into the washing machine and then into the dryer. I think they should be dry any moment now… Okay, and now I’m writing.
Afterwards I’ll make a nap for about an hour and then check out the nightlife here. And maybe iron some T-shirts, haha ^^
Oyasumi nasai!!