9/27/24 10p
Surprisingly we slept through the night without waking and awoke bright-eyed at 6 am. Our hotel offered breakfast at 6:30 so we went down and placed our order at the service desk and enjoyed a simple and well balanced breakfast of salad, omelette, bacon and toast with coffee.
As we emerged from our hotel, there was a slight drizzle, perfect for a walk to Meiji Park. Meiji park is a huge park dominated by mature trees and a sense of tranquility. Tourists are warned to be quiet, not throw trash and be respectful approaching the major shrine in the middle.
The ceremony had started for the day in the emple, with a large drum being struck slowly, and then gradually faster. A sign showed prohiibtions on photography of the shrine proper so we respected that.
After leaving the park we walked toward an Indian restaurant called Erick’s Indian restaurant,. The food was unbelievably good and relatively inexpensive. There was a strong local business crowd for lunch.
Later Alice humored me by walking to the camera district in Shinzuku. There we found camera shop after camera shop with thousands of vintage camera bodies and lenses, along with the newest and greatest. I was well disciplined and did not buy anything.
We visited the main Shibuyu post office and learned how to buy stamps and then looked for post cards.
After quite a long nap ( jet lag reigns) we got out to walk around in the reain, and eventually came bak to our same ramen restaurant.
Once people are young adults, the clothing shifts to smart black and white, sometime combined with neutral tan.
Major intersections are dominated by thousands of people waiting to crosse.
After a very long nap, it was now evening again and time to find food. The evening walkers with millions of umbrellas were out
Young people gathered and expressed themselves as everywhere.
The jet lag seemed to have disappeared, but now I can barely keep my eyes open, so will draw this to a close. Tomorrow we will head down to near Osaka where will be ready to start the Kumano Kodo hike.