The Tale of Four Cities (Part 4), Tokyo

Funnily enough, the most memorable part of Tokyo for me wasn't the city itself; it was the journey to the city, via the world-renowned Shinkansen line. We bought tickets for the non-reserved seats, so that we could take any Shinkansen train bound for Tokyo from Kyoto. 

When the train came, I was incredibly excited to finally see the distinctive bullet nose appear from the distance. It was a surreal experience, finally meeting something you've only known from books and videos. I always imagined how cool it would be to be on the titular "bullet train", but reality blew all my expectations out of the water by a mile.

Passenger board the Shinkansen|Dokumentasi pribadi

The train just kept accelerating and accelerating, reaching such speeds that we blazed through towns and the countryside in minutes. A particularly surreal episode in the journey was when the landscape turned into a winter wonderland; snow covering everything I could see and beyond, with thick, black clouds turning day into dusk. 

It was a scene straight out of my wildest dreams, and it was real. It evoked an array of emotions within me that words simply fail to grasp, and holding on to those feelings, I tried my hardest to imprint that moment into my mind.

Suffice to say, I succeeded.

Taking pictures from Shinkansen CabinDokumentasi pribadi

Enamoured with the Shinkansen's speed and the ever-changing scenery, I only became aware that Tokyo was coming up when a snowy peak appeared amongst the other dull mountaintops.  It was the iconic peak that has appeared in so many books, movies, and games. It was the one, the only, Mt. Fuji. The peak remained a constant view all throughout the approach to Tokyo, right up until the mountain was right behind us.

After two and half hours of blistering speed and changing panoramas, we've finally reached the end destination of our Japan trip. We've arrived at Japan's capital itself; the city Tokyo. Once we were in the station, we sought out the tourist's information centre to ask if there were any prayer rooms available in the station. Thankfully, a prayer room was available in the station, though it's only opened when requested. We also asked for directions to the Imperial Palace, which turned out to be not that far, being located near to the Otemachi Station, which itself is only a ten-minute walk away from Tokyo Station.

Smooth traffic flow outside Otemachi Station|Dokumentasi pribadi

When we got to the Imperial Palace, we quickly discovered that the place was actually the Imperial Palace's East Garden, not the Imperial Palace itself. Since we only had so much time left before our flight home tomorrow, we decided to just enjoy the garden itself. Though I'm using the word "garden" here, it was by no means a small piece of land filled with a few flowers and such. Oh no, it has dozens of buildings, lakes, groves, and a comprehensive walkway that puts it squarely more into the "small park" category rather than a mere "garden", though I suppose the tastes of royalty are a tad different to my own plebeian tastes.

East Garden EntranceDokumentasi pribadi

True to the winter wonderland I witnessed earlier on the train, there were some snow on the garden, though these were refrozen snow, more akin to amorphous clumps of rock-hard ice rather than soft clumps of innocence and purity. 

We took some pictures and visited a local museum, where several royal gifts were displayed to the general public. We couldn't take any pictures there, so we simply enjoyed reading the interesting tidbits of history interspersed inside the object's description.

Halal cafe near Tokyo Hutte

Once our thirst for royal shrubbery was satiated, we headed towards our accommodations in the Oshiage area. We took the Hanzomon Line subway to Oshiage Station, which was located right underneath another of Tokyo's landmarks; the Tokyo Sky Tree. After some more walking, we reached the place, which was called Tokyo Hutte.