Traversing Tokyo (also, Dealing with Prima Donna Buildings)

Sunday morning in Tokyo was easy, like...well, Sunday morning. In case you don't catch the reference, Lionel the Great (and the Commodores) will help you.

It was off to church. The crowd that attends this ward is so big, there are two overflow areas to seat extra people! The meeting was great, and the building happened to be right next to the Tokyo LDS Temple.

Afterwards, it was time to hit the pavement for the afternoon.

First stop: Tokyo Tower. 

But first, a stop at a random temple.

Then, a vending machine cameo from Tommy Lee Jones.

Oh yeah. The tower.

And this dynamic duo.

And this park just below the tower...

...which led to another park...

"Um, I'm still here." - Tokyo Tower (TT)

...which led to the next stop: Zojo-ji Temple. This temple is surrounded by a complex of beautiful buildings and great landscaping. There's even some bamboo, just for kicks!...And perhaps other reasons.

"You can't ignore me." - TT

"Did you miss me?" - TT

"I'm thrilled to be here. Look at me!!" - TT

Inside one of the shrines

"There's no photo that I won't bomb!" - TT

I know what you're thinking: "Brad, you just posted 25 pictures of Zojo-ji and that melodramatic ham of a tower only barged into 4 of them!" To which I say, "You know, when you're good you're good. And by that, I mean that most of my pictures were taken in the opposite direction of the tower."

Off we go: Imperial Palace (East Gardens).

In order to take a tour of the palace itself, you have to book a tour in advance. My schedule didn't coincide with the available tours, but the gardens to the (you guessed it) east of the palace were open, so I meandered.

Before going to the gardens, I looked around Kokyo Gaien, a large park adjacent to the palace and gardens. I would say that I was more impressed by this than the actual gardens.

Cool buildings...but not a palace.

Awesome swan, but...again, not a palace.

There we go,

One of the entryways into the palace (closed when I went)

Nijubashi Bridge

Now it was off to the gardens. When I arrived, I found out I had less than 45 minutes before the gardens closed, so I was a bit rushed in getting around. 

My verdict regarding the gardens: Green space. It's nice for a big city, but nothing really blew my mind.

After that: Asakusa / Senso-ji Temple.

When I visited Tokyo in 2012, I saw a beautiful pagoda. One of the pictures I took came out blurry, and for some strange reason, it irked me. This was my second chance at that shot.

PS - Asakusa is a great area if you like the market scene.

Like I said, market scene.

Guest appearance from the Sky Tree.
Unlike other towers that will remain nameless, this one wasn't screaming for attention.

There it is. The angle that I wanted, sans the blur. With this, my work here was done.

It's okay. You'll grow up and be like your pop soon enough.

Pop

Senso-ji was pretty crowded compared to Zojo-ji, but both are worth a visit.

Stay classy, Sky Tree.

Final stop: Akihabara.

I'd heard quite a bit about this place. It's an anime-lover's paradise. I haven't seen many anime programs, but my curiosity got the better of me.

I arrived, looked around, and left.

 I was too exhausted to deal with any of it.

Great day all around!