Mt Fuji
So, the first full day in Japan. Spent the morning at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku. There are 2 main towers, each of which has an observation level. The South tower also has a small exhibition of dioramas at the moment. Also had my first view of Mt Fuji. The peak already looks well covered in snow. Hopefully it won't be too cold in the surrounding area when I visit in a few days.
The North tower... That scares me! Japanese culture is... Different! No exhibitions up here, just shops selling what can only be described as kitsch! There is an advert playing on a loop for Furbys. The advert appears to consist of 5 girls in what I think are meant to be Furby costumes (minus the head) dancing around to extremely happy bouncy pop music. There is also a small advert playing for what appear to be plastic music notes which, when you squeeze the round part at the bottom, "sing" musical notes. The advert has 4 people playing a selection of tunes including Silent Night. I've note quite worked out how you choose the notes they sing. There is also one of those seaside machines that presses a coin flat and imprints it with something else. The one here is for Hello Kitty. And they were also selling "Etiquette Shavers" - used to shave ear and nose hair!
Anyway, time to find some food and then think I shall spend a lazy afternoon in one of the local parklands.
Update: 1749
Just got back to hotel and the feet are starting to ache. I always seem to do so much walking when I'm on holiday to far-off places!
So started the afternoon with a wander over to the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. It seems strange to find such large areas of open parkland in the middle of a busy city like Tokyo. Most of the parkland is given over to large lawned areas and also a lot of trees - not much in the way of flowers (although that may also be related to the time of year). At the moment they have a 2-week display of chrysanthemums. Each display is given over to different varieties of the flower, and also to different ways of displaying them.
From there I decided to head back to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. There is a small area of parkland just next to it, but given the sun is currently setting around 16:30 I thought it would be a good opportunity to head back up one of the towers for some evening photos of the city. Strangely, nature was actually on my side here... The sun is currently setting directly behind Mt Fuji. Unfortunately, the haze means you can't really see the mountain that well in the setting sun, but some photos were taken anyway. (More photos will be uploaded to the photos part of the website when I get back and have a proper computer with photo editing abilities!)
Anyway, think it will be a peaceful night and early to bed as I suspect the walking and jet lag will want to catch up with me at some point!