Tokyo, Japan

Today, we arrived back at our starting point in Tokyo to end the first leg of our trip. This meant a day in port with no excursions planned so we decided to take the shuttlebus from the ship and head out to a drop off point in Tokyo. As we passed through the cruise terminal there were some interesting displays. One was a gold Samurai suit of armour, called kinabi gusoku, allegedly, worn by the legendary Shogun Tokugawa leyasu in the 1500s. The next one was the black suit of armour, with the famous helmet with deer antlers, worn by the powerful general Honda Tadakatsu. He is famed for participating in over 50 battles in his lifetime without suffering a major injury, which earned him the moniker "The Warrior who surpassed death itself." While interesting, the most fun one was the colourful Halloween figures.
We decided to do the Hop On Hop Off bus experience in Tokyo but had to get there from the drop off point by subway. This began the second part of the two-part series of the Tokyo Subway System versus Don and Lee. Just like our first experience before we got on the ship, it did not go well, being hugely frustrating and confusing. Not surprising when they put something like 3 million people through that terminal per day. Final score Tokyo Subway 2, Don and Lee 0! If I could have found my way out of the system to the street, I would have taken a taxi back to the ship!! However, because of Lee's dogged determination we finally got to the main pick-up point for the bus and spent about an hour doing one of the routes. We passed many interesting scenes. The first one was the Momonji Sushi restaurant with a big gold boar over the entrance. This is a long established restaurant that has been around for generations. It is famous for its Boar Hotpot, which is characterized by its deep red meat and white fatty meat. The most delicious part of the boar is the belly meat and the longer you simmer it, the more flavor will soak into the fat and the deeper the flavor will become. Of interest, we found out that there is a Momonji Sushi restaurant in Mississauga and Etobicoke in Toronto. We also passed the red brick Ministry of Justice Building, rebuilt in 1950 after the war. It now houses the Research and Training Institute of the Ministry of Justice, and a Justice library and museum We also passed the iconic gold coloured dome of the Fuji Television station.
When we arrived back at the starting point, we made a quick decision to jump on another Hop On Hop Off Bus that took us along a different route but this time, back to where we could pick up the shuttle that took us directly back to the ship. The weather was looking a bit iffy with drizzling rain, but we were lucky enough to get the last two seats in the bottom of the bus. All the other passengers behind us had to go up to the upper deck. Well were we ever lucky because it started to rain harder and then came down in torrents. We felt so sorry for the people on the open upper deck , who, despite being given thin plastic ponchos, not only got soaked, but cold because of the wind. After getting off the bus where the ship shuttle bus was waiting, we had only a few minutes wait before it returned to the ship.
Because of the rain, the Bon Voyage celebration, normally held on the pool deck was relocated, to the observation lounge. We then had a wonderful dinner at Prime 7, after which we took in the evening entertainment which was an ABBA themed variety show put on by the Seven Seas Explorer Entertainment Team.
And so to bed.Read more