Royality and Rilakuma

After a quiet morning we left the hotel to walk to the Imperial Palace via Hibiya park. We also wanted to catch on the way the procession of Sanno. The festival or Matsuri is an expression of the Shinto religion and the summer festival is there to try to circumvent plagues and pests of the crops. They are part of the old Edo period when farming was mainstay. There were many colourful parts to the procession with horses and flowers and plants.

Once we had viewed this we walked past the imperial palace. Closely guarded by the imperial household agency you can't get very close and no visitors are allowed inside apart from around Xmas time and new year. We wanted to visit the gardens but these seem guarded too so we gave that a miss.

Tokyo station is a short walk away and so we walked there in search of some lunch and a little shopping opportunity for Emma. Tokyo station was built in 1914 and has survived earthquakes bombings and fire. It is now undergoing a 13 billion yen facelift. We entered the station and visited Kitchen Street. This an area of the station which has numerous restaurants of all kinds and caters for visitors and office workers both at lunch and on the way home for dinner. We found a lovely Katsu restaurant and again had TonKatsu with Pork. Lovely.

Also part of the station is Tokyo Character street. Here is everything Kawaii or cute and Emma was in her element and soon had Daddy's credit card working. Mummy was fairly happy with a mini snoopy town too. Great stuff.

A 10 min walk from the station you get to Ginza which is not far from our hotel. We made a stop at the Sony Building which showcases the latest gadgets and accessories from Sony. A couple of other shops later - Itoya 9 floors of stationery including beautiful Japanese wares and Toy Park - we made our way home.

We tried Japanese fast food this evening from Hanamaru. udon noodles and Katsu. We tried it but food wasnt as great as our expectations. Definitely lost in translation.Read more