Tokyo - Tokyo Tower, Imperial Palace, and Asakusa

Today was our first full day in Tokyo. We started early with breakfast at our hotel. In addition to Western food items such as scrambled eggs and bacon, the buffet also included rice, fried fish paste, and miso soup. Interesting choices for breakfast in our world but very common here.

Our first stop of the morning was Tokyo Tower. The Tower is 55 years old, 333 meters high, and inspired by the Eiffel Tower in its design.  It is 13 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower.

After coming down from the main observation desk, we grabbed some crepes. Yummy!

Next we went on to the Imperial Palace. The palace is not currently available for tours, so we toured
the East Gardens. These gardens are home to the Edo Castle ruins..

After a restful lunch, we took care of some travel arrangements with the Japan Rail vouchers we received, and then we visited Sensoji Temple.

Senso-ji is Tokyo's oldest temple. Known affectionately to people all over Japan as the temple of the Asakusa Kannon, it draws some 30 million visitors every year, remaining an important center of worship.

We watched some follow their religious rituals, and we each pulled a fortune from the fortune boxes.

We have had a productive, active first day.  We are thankful for the extremely nice people who help with our questions, and we love how orderly things are.  We'll leave off with a picture from the subway platform. Here, people follow rules and are extremely respectful of others. This kind of labeling is common throughout the city.