Our day started out with a quick trip to Don Quijote (or Donki for short). What is Donki you are wondering? Well, it’s great is what it is! It’s like a mix between a Marc’s and a Publix/Giant Eagle (and apparently Marc’s are not in Columbus and I know they aren’t in Tampa, so it’s like a much smaller Walmart) now keep that in mind and add in a Spencer’s Gifts with a dollar store. That’s what Donki is. So, needless to say we got some souvenirs for them and what we really went for which was water proof shoes, since rain is still in the forcast. However, we did not find water shoes until the fourth day at a different Donki. Here are some pics from Donki: But when in Japan…… do as the japanese do! There it is, throw up the peace sign. A quick side note too, I’m going to drop the image quality a bit and not edit many of the pictures for now as I don’t have enough time to get it all done and stay current with the data. Upon my return to the States I will re-upload in higher resolution. Onward to more […]
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Picking up where we left off in the last post, we made our way to the Imperial Palace East Gardens. The entire grounds here cover 250 acres and are home to Japan’s Emperor and Empress. The gardens are situated in downtown Tokyo, so again, you have a beautiful serene area and quite the step out of time just settling right in the middle of the city. First, walking into the gardens you cross a bridge surrounded by a large moat. Once inside and past the walls, is an area with a 90 degree turn and then block by yet another wall with giant wooden and iron reinforced doors. The 90 degree turn we were told was a strategic placement that would cause any invaders to be forced to slow down to negotiate the turn, thus providing a bottle neck by which the defensive soldiers could lay waste to the enemy trapped between the double gates and their own slowed pace. After passing the second gate, you walk down long, wide roads that expand over gardens. Situated off of these roads are old structures that housed powerful dignitaries as well as served as tea houses for performing tea ceremonies, an old, […]
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