Monday, January 13, 2025 – Photo of the Day – Tokyo, Japan

Where in the World Are We?

Beginning our 2025 World Cruise in Tokyo.

TOKYO, JAPAN
Dense and delightful

Dense and delightful, there’s nowhere else like Japan’s kinetic capital – where ancient
traditions blend seamlessly with a relentless pursuit of the future’s sharpest edge. See the city
above as elevators rocket you up to towering viewing platforms, from which you can survey a
vast urban ocean interspersed with sky-scraping needles. Look out as far as the distant loom of
Mount Fuji’s cone on clear days. Futuristic – second-accurate – transport seamlessly links Tokyo’s
14 districts, while the glow of flashing advertisement boards, clanks of arcade machines, and waves
of humanity flowing along its streets add mesmerizing, dizzying, and glorious sensory overload.

One of Tokyo’s most iconic sights, don’t miss the flood of people scrambling to cross Shibuya’s
famous intersection. Join the choreographed dance as crowds of briefcase-carrying commuters are
given the green light to cross simultaneously – bathed in the light of massive neon advertisements.

The culture is vibrant and deep, with 7th-century, lantern-decorated temples, stunning palaces, and tranquil scarlet shrines waiting below cloaks of incense and nestling between soaring skyscrapers.

Restaurants serve up precisely prepared sushi and wafer-thin seafood slivers, offering a unique
taste of the country’s refined cuisine. Settle into traditional teahouses to witness intricate
ceremonies, or join the locals as they fill out karaoke bars to sing the night away. In the spring,
cherry blossom paints a delicate pink sheen over the city’s innumerable parks and gardens.

SIGHTS

• Idemitsu Museum of Arts
• Imperial Palace East Garden
• Jindai-ji Temple
• Meiji Jingu Shrine
• Mori Art Museum
• Nakano Broadway
• 
  SHOPPING
  Overlooking the harbor, Decks Tokyo Beach’s six-story complex of shops, restaurants, and boardwalks
  is two connected malls: Island Mall and Seaside Mall. For kids (or nostalgic adults), check
  out the Lego Discovery Center, Joypolis mega-arcade, Trick Art Museum, and Madame Tussauds Tokyo.
  At the Seaside Mall, a table by the window in any of the restaurants looks out to a delightful view
  of the harbor, especially at sunset, when the yakatabune (traditional-roofed pleasure boats) drift
  down the Sumida-gawa from Yanagibashi and Ryogoku.

We arrived in Tokyo three days before our cruise departure to visit all our favorite places from when we lived here from 2004 to 2006. We stayed at the famous Okura Hotel, which has hosted US Presidents, Kings and Queens, and other Heads of State. It is a magnificent hotel.