We woke up past 7:30, got dressed more or less quickly, and headed out. It doesn’t seem as hot as yesterday! But still, it’s already around 25°C at this hour.
We stopped at the 7-Eleven next to the hotel and grabbed some pastries, which we happily devoured. Then, we set off toward the Asakusa neighborhood, where the Senso-ji Temple is located. We wandered around, taking in the sights (and the crowd—I imagine that since it’s Sunday, many people come to pray). The heat is starting to build, but for now, we don’t need to break out the portable fan, which is a good sign.
Next to the temple, there’s a really cool market where we strolled for a while. Lots of food stalls, clothing shops (you could rent or buy kimonos, for example), and also lucky charms for sale.
After spending some time there, we moved on to another neighborhood.
We visited the Imperial Palace in the Chiyoda district. After walking through the palace gardens and reading up a bit, we realized that the little that remains are the ruins of the old Edo Castle. A large part of the palace was completely destroyed during World War II, and what was rebuilt isn’t open to the public except on specific days since it’s the residence of the Emperor of Japan. So, unless you’re really into gardens, there’s not much to see. And with the heat, we barely even remembered to take out the camera. We did check out a replica of a wooden guard post, where you could get a sense of how soldiers lived around the palace.
Time for a change of scenery. We headed to Ueno Park and visited its zoo, hoping to see the Great Panda Bear. Apparently, they have a panda couple, but we arrived too late to see them. Oh well, we walked through the zoo and saw the few animals that were actually out. Honestly, I don’t blame them for keeping the animals sheltered with this intense heat. A bit disappointed, we decided to go back to the hotel to escape the heat for a while. Tomorrow, we’ll change strategy and avoid the sun during the peak hours—it’s been a rough day.
After a couple of hours, around 7 p.m., we went to see the lights of Shinjuku. On the way there in the metro, we struck up a conversation with a woman and her family, and before we knew it, we had made friends. They invited us to have dinner together with their kids, so we went with them to their hotel (which, by the way, was stunning—it’s called The New Otani) so they could drop off their luggage and check in. We had dinner at one of the hotel’s restaurants—some amazing noodles. Japanese food is just incredible.
After a couple of hours of lively conversation, we said our goodbyes and resumed our plan to explore Shinjuku. But by then, it was already a bit late, so we only had time for a short walk and a few photos. We’ll probably come back here again.
And that’s it—back on the metro and off to bed, exhausted as always after another long day of sightseeing. We walked a ton today—let’s see what surprises tomorrow has in store!