Friday, April 3rd--Dad can't go with us on most of our adventures because he has work and class. He has consistently tried to be free one day a week, though, so he could go with the family and experience some of our adventures with us. He may have previously lived in Japan for two years, but he wasn't ever in Tokyo and wants to see some of the sights here as well.
I have tried to save our bigger adventures for when he could come with us. One of the day trips I have had planned for a while has been to go to Hama Rikyu Gardens where we could catch a boat that would take us up the Sumida River and drop us off very near the Senso-ji Temple.
Unfortunately, it has seemed like this day trip is cursed. Every time we plan to do it, something happens and we can't go. Things like rain, trips to the hospital for broken collarbones, immigration issues, kids throwing tremendous tantrums to the point that we just gave up on trying to get them out of the house, or someone would get sick. It got to the point where Raymond and I would plan on doing it in whispers, or else not even want to voice it at all, because we were afraid at what would happen next to make it so that we couldn't go.
Finals for Raymond are approaching, and this was his last free day that he would have before he would have to start preparing for them. It was now or never. We braced ourselves.
We made it out the door without too much travesty. Upon entering Hama Rikyu Gardens, we were welcomed with cherry blossoms. We stopped and played in them for a bit, taking pictures.
Our girls.
Our boys.
I took pictures of each of the kids individually posing in the cherry blossoms when we were at the Shinjuku Gardens the other day, but Little Miss was asleep. I tried to get her picture today at these gardens, and her outfit matched the blossoms very well. She isn't always in the all of the pictures that I take of the kids because she is confined to her stroller (which she HATES), so she gets her own solo picture this time to make up for it!
The family!
We then moved on to explore Hama Rikyu Gardens. This garden has a really awesome history. It used to be a fort for Edo Castle (the current Imperial Palace is built on the site of the former Edo Castle) and still has a moat and stone walls built around it from that time period. For a long time, it belonged to the shogun's family and various ponds and landscaping was put in to beautify it. A mansion was also built on site, which became known as Hama Palace.
After the Meiji Restoration, the gardens became a detached palace for the Imperial family, with the name being changed to Hama Rikyu (Hama Detached Palace). The scenery of that time has changed dramatically with the destruction of buildings and landscaping during the Great Kanto Earthquake and the air raids of World War II.
The water for the pond in these gardens is drawn from the Tokyo Bay. This pond is the only remaining seawater pond within Tokyo. With the rise and fall of the tide, the sluice gate opens and shuts to regulate the water level. There are many different types of ocean water fish in the pond, including black mullet, sea bass, gobies and eels.
There are a couple of teahouses scattered around. The biggest one in this picture was first built in 1704. The Shoguns and other elites such as Imperial Court nobles, who never tired of the relaxed atmosphere and the wonderful view of this place, used it continuously. The teahouse was renovated in 1983.
As we walked through these beautiful gardens, the atmosphere was tranquil and peaceful. It really is a nice place to stroll through. However, two of the kids weren't feeling it and kept taunting each other.
Another teahouse.
There are two duck blinds at these gardens. The first was built in 1778 and the second in 1791. Duck blinds were used to observe the ducks and feed them grain. When they came too close, they were caught using nets, which was a form of duck hunting.
We came upon the dock and waited for our boat to arrive. We didn't have to wait long....
The boat went through this gate and out into Tokyo Bay. Before going upriver toward Senso-ji, it had to make another stop near Rainbow Bridge, which you can see in the picture.
Tayla and Nathan.
When we arrived at the stop near Rainbow Bridge, we saw two geishas waiting near the dock.
Look at that hair! No wonder it is common for geishas to have bald spots in their real hair--this looks heavy! It's really beautiful, though.
Luckily for us, they came aboard!
See the W-shape on the back of their neck? That is meant to be alluring and beautiful.
Some of the kids wanted to get a picture with them, and they were gracious enough to oblige them!
We then continued on our way up the Sumida River toward Senso-ji Temple. This river is the one that the two brothers were fishing on when they found the Kannon statue that was the reason for Senso-ji being established. The views were beautiful and it was a fun change to take a boat up to Senso-ji instead of the metro. We still had a few dissentions in the ranks, though. Not everyone was happy to be out on an adventure today.
The view of Rainbow Bridge from our little boat.....
....and we also saw Tokyo Tower!
The view from the river was mostly tall buildings, but there were occasional sections of sakura trees.
As we neared our stop, we could see the Tokyo Skytree.
The boat dropped us off at Asakusa, a part of Tokyo that still has much of the old charm of days gone by. This district of Tokyo used to be the leading entertainment district, but suffered a lot of damage during WWII. Senso-ji Temple and the surrounding area was destroyed, and though it was rebuilt, the entertainment district that could be found here never really returned. This is the only place in Tokyo where we have seen rickshaws.
The narrow walking street leading up to the Buddhist temple has several shops along the way. This is the same place that we came to when we saw the Golden Dragon Festival in March.
Finally, we came to the main gate. This gate was originally built over a 1,000 years ago, though this current gate is post-WWII.
A lot of incense burning today.
The view of the courtyard when looking down from the temple steps.
This is what the inside of the Haiden looks like.
The ceiling in the temple had some beautiful artwork. The center piece was of a dragon, referring again to the dragon that descended on the temple.
Kimono alert!
We wandered around the explore the garden area a little bit. There were some statues....
....a small stream with koi fish, bridges, and cherry blossoms.
There is also a pagoda at this temple.
We just played it safe and got a few orders of okonomiyaki to share. We also had some apples and crackers that we brought with us.
After we finished eating, we wandered around looking at the shops. Tayla and Logan asked these lovely ladies if they could get a picture with them.
Found Hello Kitty daruma dolls!
It wasn't the best day in Tokyo as a family, but we made it through. This day adventure seemed to be cursed from the very beginning for some reason, and getting through it was not easy. The kids were also really tired from going out every day this week to sakura. It's over and we made it through our day, and in spite of everything we did make some good memories.
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