We made one more pass at seeing cherry blossoms during our last full day in Tokyo.

We hopped the ship’s shuttle bus to the Ginza district, which is the 5^th Avenue of Tokyo. Once there, we headed off to Ueno Park, since my Sakura Navi app said there were full blooms. BUT, the information staff at the port, told us they were not full, and they weren’t.  As we’ve seen these last few weeks, some trees were. It was still a charming scene since so many of the trees were coming into flower, and it was nice to see the families out celebrating Hanami (which translates to “viewing party”). Hanami picnics under the trees are traditional here during Sakura (Cherry Blossom) season.

We then headed all the way across town to the Shibuya area to see the famous crossing known as the Shibuya Scramble. It was crazy to see throngs of people crossing the intersection every which way.  

After a great Tempura lunch where I ate Lotus Root for the first time, we took a quick subway ride back to Ginza for some shopping. I was going to buy some socks for my grandkids – but they were French and $20!

One Last Look

Our final day in Tokyo was a short one since we had a 5 PM flight at the distant Narita airport. Tokyo has two international airports, the other one, Haneda is much closer to town and is where we arrived. On the way to the airport, we took our first-ever ship transfer. This one included a bit of driving around with two interesting stops.

The first was for the iconic view and photo-op of the Imperial Palace and bridge. This view was not something that could be seen from our previous visit to the Palace Gardens, it is a huge complex.

And finally, a stop at Tokyo Tower, inspired by the Eiffel Tower, where we went up about 500 feet to the middle viewing deck, and admired the views of this beautiful city. Imagine what New York could be if there was no garbage, trash cans, litter, crime, graffiti, homeless, honking horns, or jaywalking.

BTW, now that I have experienced heated toilet seats, I’m not sure I can live without one!

Epilogue

This is such a nice and organized society. People are polite. If you have trash, you carry it away with you. You wait at crosswalks for the light to change, even if no cars are coming. Try to remember to keep left (like traffic) on stairs and escalators. No eating while walking or blowing your nose in public. Everyone appreciates our awful attempts at Japanese phrases. It was a wonderful experience to spend some time here.

On this. our final day, I knew we would be tired and want minimal chaos with luggage, etc, so this transfer made sense and was a good plan. But as of this post, our plane is delayed, and we will probably miss our connection through LAX for Miami. At least we are in the respectable ANA Lounge, with food, electrical outlets, and good wifi, and have just enjoyed the newest Japanese KitKat* flavor – banana.

*Have I mentioned this before? They are crazy for Kit Kat bars here and different regions often have special flavors as well as seasonal, special edition, and new flavors. In addition to the chocolate we know so well, there is also a dark chocolate version, matcha (not my fav) wasabi, strawberry, sugar, and apparently, others.