134/365 May 14, 2023. #kikimack365 We started the day by walking up to Tokyo station to exchange our Japan Rail voucher for our 14 day passes. This saved about 3 hours of queuing at the airport to make the exchange. We went to another part of the station to reserve seats on the Shinsanken (Bullet Trains) for the various journeys we would be making. We had a walk around the Imperial Palace East Gardens in the blazing sun and took advantage of one of the rest areas to get a cold drink from one of the many vending machines. We took a metro train to the Senso-Ji Temple area, which was buzzing with people out for the day. There are many food and souvenir shops in small alleyways and places for Buddhists to buy religious tokens before visiting the temple. Quite a few young ladies hire kimonos for the day as this is now not something that is worn on a regular basis. We found a little sushi place with a conveyor belt and had a few plates before visiting the temple complex. Everyone wafts the smoke from the massive incense burner in front of the temple towards themselves. After a brief rest and cup of tea at the hotel we took the metro to Ebisu to meet our guide for an excellent food tour of three isakayas, which are pubs that serve food. We went from sashimi, dumplings and cold sake to yakitori and beer and finally okonomiyaki (cabbage omelette). We had a bonus stop for three flavours of ice-cream in one pot (black sesame, apricot sorbet and deep fried brown sugar snack) which was delicious and beautifully presented.

Posted by Kiki Mack - Photobooks host at 2023-05-29 21:45:49 UTC