Funemployment - Japan

During our week in Japan, Jeff and I both lamented the lack of cherry blossoms. We did see the occasional tree in bloom, but we were too early to really see the famed sakura in their full glory. I had heard that the trees had started blossoming in Tokyo, so I decided to spend the rest of my layover at a park. I knew that the Hibiya Line went to Tsukiji, so I hopped onto a metro train for the short ride to Hibiya. This turned out to be a great option as many trees were in bloom. There was also a special Pokemon Go event going on at that time so there were several hundred players around, and all the lures were lit.

In addition to the Pokemon Go players and park visitors enjoying the sakura, something very different was going on in a corner of the park, centered around a fenced off area. As I walked past, I saw many police, some flags, and a crowd of people standing at the entrance of the fenced off area. They were all dressed in blue jackets and they all had notebooks in hand. I surmised that they were reporters. I walked around the corner to the edge of the park and saw news vans. I also saw that the road there was cordoned off. At that point, several dozen policemen ran past me. From what I could see, they were running after a red haired woman who seemed to be trying to get into the cordoned off area. In the U.S., I would have immediately walked away from this scene, but something told me this wasn't going to escalate into a hazardous situation. I struck up a conversation with a caucasian man who looked like he lived there, and he told me that there was a political event going on and that the red haired woman was trying to get in. At that juncture, a convoy of vehicles with flags drove past with loudspeakers blaring.

I walked back to the main entrance to the rally site. By now, I could hear what seemed like haranguing coming from that area. Things took a surreal turn when a Lugia appeared at the Pokegym there, and at least a hundred players got mixed up with the reporters, police, and political activisis.

After a pleasant couple of hours in Hibiya Park, I decided to head back to Haneda. But, I had one more sight to see. Between the park and the station was a Godzilla statue. I visited this statue back in 2014, and I took a selfie that became my profile picture for a while. Arriving there, I realized the statue had changed. This new statue was larger and elevated in such a way that I could not emulate the same selfie despite my best efforts.

After snapping a few shots of the Godzilla statue, I made my way back to Haneda via the Tokyo Metro to catch my flight home.

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