Tokyo (Monday, October 11)

Our sightseeing day in Tokyo.  The weather was beautiful - not a cloud in the sky, which was a welcome relief from our rain-drenched weekend in Nikko.  But it was hot.  It probably got into the 80s (we were subsequently told it was a record high for Tokyo).

Two gardens, an aquarium and Kabuki - it was a very full day.  In keeping with our desire to check every garden in Japan off our list, we visited two Rikugien Garden, which dates from the Edo period around 1700, and is a classic Japanese landscape garden.  There is a central pond (in which there are hundreds of turtles as well as carp), and beautifully sculped pine trees and forested areas and tea houses.  There is a weeping cherry tree that must be spectacular.

Rikugien Garden, Tokyo

Rikugien Garden, Tokyo

The next venue was Kyu-Furakawa Garden, only 1.5 kms from Rikugien.  This one was particularly interesting as there was a stately Western residence built in 1917 and rose gardens, which were a week away from fall blooming.  In the lower part of the garden was a classical Japanese landscape garden, so you really got a blend of feelings.  It was awfully pretty.

Kyu-Furukawa Garden, Tokyo

Kyu-Furukawa Garden, Tokyo

Two gardens were enough. We decided to think outside the box and headed for the Tokyo Sea Life Park, their version of our Aquarium.  As we were riding the train over, I reminded Andrea that it was a national holiday.  So think about how crowded the New Aquarium would be on a school holiday and then put that on steroids, many times over.   Was it packed!  But, you know what, it was fabulous.  They have exhibits of sea life there from all over the world - fish I never could have imagined, much less seen.  My favorite was definitely the leafy sea dragon from Australia.  But there was so much more.  Despite the crowds, it was worth the trip.

Leafy Sea Dragon

Orange Thingy?

We hustled back to the hotel to get ready for Kabuki, which started at 4:30.  The theater was right near the Ginza district, although the authentic Kabuki theater is being renovated and this is the more modern alternative.  The performance was about 4 and 1/2 hours, divided into three separate plays.  Two were dramas - tragedies of a sort; the other was a comic performance.  It sort of reminded me of opera, but with off-key, war chant-like singing.  The comic performance reminded me a bit of 'L'Elisir D'Amore.  The two dramas weren't so identifiable.  But it was interesting to see the performance and to observe the crowd (many women in the audience dressed in beautiful kimono, although don't think it's like The Rocky Horror Show or anything like that).  Fortunately they sold English language accompaniments in the form of an audio guide, so at least I could follow it.

And then vacation was over.  I had to meet one of my partners at 8 the next morning to begin two days full of meetings in Tokyo.  I am not going to try to sum it up here.  I will wait until I am on my flight back to Boston this Saturday.  So, dear readers, thanks for hanging in this long, but you'll just have to wait for the grand finale (surely to be another of life's great anti-climaxes) for a few more days.