Maybe my height scares people? I don’t know where the famed crowds of Tokyo were until today, but they sure weren’t where we were. Everywhere we went for a meal, we were seated right away. Every time we went, there was never a line. The only theory I have to explain this is that the word passed that a giant made it to their shore, and the fear of Godzilla got into the inhabitants 🤷♂️.
Last full day in Tokyo before we head north. Another beautiful and sunny day. The plan, surprisingly, was not around food. There was one thing remaining on our to-do list: visiting the Tokyo National Museum. We would have kept it for a rainy day, but we didn’t get any. So we got up, had breakfast, and took the water bus to a pier about a 40-minute walk from the museum.
The water bus is far from the most efficient way to travel, but it allowed us to see the river and encounter a bunch of school kids on a field trip. Up to now, we’ve seen groups of kids in uniform walking in file, silently (some with earbuds in, which makes me think the teacher doesn’t speak much either). However, on our boat ride, we saw a bunch of excited 12-year-olds (so I guessed) taking about five selfies a minute and waving frantically at people on other boats, bridges, the shore, and anywhere else they could see from the deck. The contrast to the orderly world we’ve seen up to now was a little jarring, and fun!
After a quick walk to the museum, we encountered our first crowd. Indeed, for the first time since we got here, we had to wait in line to buy our museum tickets, and once we were through, we had to wait in line again to have lunch. We really thought our crowd-free moments in Tokyo were over, but the museum is so large that, without saying it was empty, it was comfortable to visit and wander at our own pace.
The museum itself was impressive by the depth of its collection of asian artifacts. The main building covering the Japanese history was well laid out and really made the history flow - be careful to follow the room numbers, however, it’s easy to start in the wrong room. Their collection of Asian artifacts does cover a wide range and is eclectic, as you’ll find a mummy donated by Egypt for... well... unknown reasons.
We had the chance to see a special exhibition on artifacts and, really, the history of Esoteric Buddhism. It’s a little bit too religious for my taste. Keep in mind that my bar for these things is really low, but it did get a lot of praise from Karine. I must admit that a room with 15 superbly preserved Buddha statues, each about 2.5 meters tall, was impressive and interesting.
Our day concluded with dinner in the old fish market. We met a friend of Karine’s there and, sushi shop after sushi shop, walked by, seeing which already had people in it. According to him, a good indication that the sushi there is good, and I think that it could also be a sign that they pay the tourist bus operator to bring people in. Turns out his method of selection worked well, and we had good sushi and a great evening. I would still not recommend this method everywhere (especially not in downtown Québec City :-)
