Ah, Tokyo. Doesn't feel like I've been away for just over a week!
Today I decided to head to the Imperial Palace grounds. The Imperial Palace itself is only open on 2 days of the year; neither of them being today. It is also very difficult to get access to the Palace Grounds, again requiring advance permission to be sought. However, the East Garden is accessible to the general public, so a relaxing morning spent wandering around there and taking a few photos. Today has been, I think, the first day where I've seen nothing but clear blue sky; which put something in mind that I will come to shortly!
Walking back to Tokyo station (itself quite an impressive building with a domed ceiling above the ticket hall - nice architecturally, but a nightmare to traverse due to people taking photos from the worst possible places!) I finally discovered that there is an ope-top sight seeing bus in Tokyo! Usually this is one of the first things I'd seek when visiting a city like Tokyo, but my research had found nothing! Well-hidden near Tokyo station there is a city information office (quite why you'd want something like this hidden is beyond me) where I managed to get hold of the timetable for the sightseeing buses (there are 3 routes), so that is now poencilled in for Tuesday. On asking for suggestions for something to see in the afternoon they advised a visit to the Shenso-ji temple. It is said to be one of the more popular ones in Tokyo. Sadly, this means that when you get off the subway and through the first gateway you enter a long road to the temple which is filled with people moving at marginally faster than glacial erosion through shops that sell what I can only describe as food and "tat". Eventually you reach the temple itself and again it is just full of people generally getting in your way. Obviously popularity isn't always a good thing; and I actually preferred the temple I visited 2 weeks ago in Shibuya thanks to it's more rural and peaceful setting and attached gardens.
Finally, the clear blue skies... Set me thinking that I'd not seen a decent sunset all holiday, but that the clear skies might present a good opportunity tonight; so I decided to head back to Shinjuku and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building I visited on my first day here, remembering that the sunset from up there was over Mount Fuji. As I was getting close I could see the sky was showing promise, and thankfully on arriving at the South Tower I didn't have to wait for a lift. I couldn't have timed it any better if I'd tried... The sun was just about to vanish behind Mount Fuji and we had a lovely red sky that seemed to last for a good hour at least. There was a fair bit of cloud over the mountains, but the peak of Mount Fuji was clearly visible above those clouds. I've already uploaded a few to Facebook, and more will go up on this website once I get back to the secret location.
Anyway, tomorrow I have a ticket for the Ghibli museum, so a little bit of Japanese culture that is new to my to be experienced. Can't get in until 2pm though, but I have just spotted a beer museum in my Tokyo guide book, so that may be the morning taken care of!