My name's James, I'm a
22 year old Computer Science graduate from Somerset
and I've just packed in my job as a software programmer in Stockport and traded it in for a one way ticket to Tokyo! I speak essentially no Japanese whatsoever and don't really have a huge idea of what to expect when I arrive... that said though, I have a work visa, enough yen in my wallet to last me a few weeks and a blind overriding self confidence that somehow, in some way, everything will work out awesome.

This blog will be a record of my experiences - good, bad, weird (from what i've read so far there'll be plenty of that) and wonderful. I'll be updating as often as I can with plenty of videos & photos and welcome any comments you'd like to leave.

Visiting The Emperor
So today I took some time off from my slightly stressful day to day and paid a visit to The Emperor...


... oops wrong Emperor! (bumped into Darth and a small squad of Stormtroopers in Harajuku - more on that in another post)

*ahem* 

So yeah, today I took a stroll round the Imperial Palace. Incredible place; immaculate gardens, traditional architecture and just the general vibe of the place make you feel a bit like you've gone back in time 300 years, or that you're walking through a fantasy novel. The complete peace and tranquility in the inner gardens is particularly surreal, given you know that in reality you're smack bang in the middle of one the busiest, most utterly hectic cities in the world. If Tokyo is a typhoon, the Imperial Palace is certainly it's eye. On a side note, the palace grounds are apparently valued higher than *all* the real estate in the entire state of California combined. Anyway, here's a few of the pics...


A house in the palace grounds, each of the raised points of the tiled roof is carved into a coy carp dragon.


The (massive) moat around the inner sections of the palace are filled with (even more massive) coy carp, literally you could feed a family for a good week or more on one of these things.


one of the HUUUGE entrance gates


One of the inner gates leading to the Palace proper. The inner most sections are obviously not open to the public - aside from particularly exceptional circumstances, like a new Emperor etc. Unfortunately that wasn't good enough for this guy


who we watched first get stuck, then whistled at by police in a dinghy, then arrested. Bad times. His accomplice seemed to have had more success, not too sure what happened to him in the end.


The palace grounds are set a 10 minute walk - if that - from Tokyo Station, so in a matter of a few steps you move from hyper modern metropolis to an oasis of tradition and greenery. A few minutes walk into it and you can no longer hear the noise of the city and you almost forget where you are...


Me in a tree... not really much more I can say about this one lol. Was a nice tree.

I've got loads of other stuff to post about but not a huge amount of time at the minute, I'll try an get on it shortly.

Peace!

18:16 | Category: | 1 comments

Comments (1)

On 30 September 2010 at 09:41 , Anonymous said...

Places like this are just bloody essential in the chaos. We ended up in Amsterdam and found an amazing Park especially in Autumn. Like the fun facts haha! Take up meditation!

 

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