Meiji Shrine

We had to be out of our room by 8am today, and off of the ship by 9.30am, so we breakfasted and packed early with the goal of spending a final day in Tokyo. A quick 20 minute walk through the streets of Yokohama to Kannai Station followed by a 40 minute train journey put us in Tokyo Station. We stowed our luggage in a locker for the day - and took many many photos of the route back to it in the hope that we wouldn't actually lose our luggage in this vast station!

From Tokyo, the Marunouchi line took us west to the Meiji Shrine, dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his wife under whom the Meiji restoration took place. The weather was glorious, making it a perfect day to visit (a far cry from when we were last in the Shibuya area), but also making the sunburn rather more sore and hot. The shrine itself was odd. One of the most famous in the city and yet relatively barren compared to many we visited, despite the forested and spacious settings. It also appeared to be more of a tourist centre than any of our other visits, with more westerners here than we had previously seen in Tokyo. We spent some time lookong through the buildings before making our way back to the metro.Read more