Imperial Gardens + Tokyo Tower

Over the last few days i have been really busy, and its so hard to keep on top of my diary. Today i am free in the morning so i am really going to try catch up, although house chores are a priority.

So on Saturday we planned to visit the Imperial Palace Gardens. Prity amazing place. As you get inside you pass through traditional gates, and walk upwards past the old walls. Once at the top there is a large open park with grass, something which Ueno Park lacked. People were again relaxing in the sun, and having bento on the grass. I also saw the most amount of westerners since arriving in Japan here.

Modern Area before the gates to the gardens






Outside the gardens




really enjoy the contrast of the old and the new in the background












































In the evening we decided to go up Tokyo Tower, the views were amazing. I with i had taken my other camera as my new one had too narrow field of view. I may return on my own in a week or 2 with my other camera and lens and take full advantage. The sun was just setting as we arrive but it was too far gone once we had passed the queues and arrived at the viewing room.

Words cant describe the views so ill just roll out the frames from that night.










I loved looking down and seeing this shrine amongst all the chaos of the city sky-scrapers










My camera really was not good for dark landscape shots, i guess that's part if getting a new camera is you need to learn its strengths and weakness. I know that when we go to Mt Fuji i need to take the Nikon D70 to make the most of the photography!

After all of that we were really hungry so we went for some Japanese food. A hotpot where we all share. Eam was doing the cooking like a master, his dad has obviously taught him well in the kitchen! We ate so much and it was all so yummy! it was a little more expensive than other meals we have had out but it really was worth it for a one off. Heres just a few snaps i rudely took while eating.







Then just afew snaps in Akiba like always ;)

more sushi + toys

decided to go for more sushi and just to hang out around eamons the other day so we took charlie to the sushi place and feasted again. Later on we went looking around for afew things for me, we went to this really dodge store for 'chavs' and i nearly bought a tracksuit for a laugh but wisely decided against it. On the way to the supermarket we went past a toys R us and i said i was just going in to have a look. 5mins later i was the proud owner of a RC car, a AE86 initial D replica to be precise, for only £20!

When we opened it we thought it would be, put the batteries in and go, but it was more of a kit car. u had to put the motors in and the drive shafts for the wheels and build the stearing at the front, so eamon shot off to the ¥100 shop go get a screwdriver and we had the thing up and running in about 10mins, was so fun! Iv not had much time to play with it but even in my room iv blasted some nice drifts!

Heres afew shots from the evening, nothing exciting.

My new PSP for play Monster Hunter on (which is totaly awsome game!i understand why its such a craze over here!)








Salmon sushi, oww so nice!


tuna sushi


tempura sushi (bad assss)


mini hanubega sushi


fattier salmon sushi, eamon liked this more but i liked the one with less fat in the meat


inital d sil80 kit car


Y33 VIP gangstar as fuck kit car!!


eam working his magic building the RC car


new toy :)


our baby finish and ready for a test drive!




Even though i never got to explore Tokyo today, i really had a lot of fun checking out the Japanese toys, and although at first i thought it was almost a wasted day, i still explored Japanese culture. We also had time to sit and plan the rest of the week, so something which at first seamed like an unproductive day, turned out to be the most productive.

drift with RC car :) from jo kirk on Vimeo.