Japan Tour 2025: Day 14. Cross country Tokyo

Tokyo Station

 

By the numbers

16.66 kms

21,433

 

Level of Chaos: Akihabara on a Sunday

 

I knew the day was going to be another hot day and I  went downstairs for breakfast before I went anywhere. The food wasn’t too bad and I had thick piece of bread, which I was happy with. It was better than donuts. I had the plan to visit the Sword Museum and had no real idea on what I would be doing from there. I was just going to make plans as I go and see what happens, although the heat would probably do the talking instead.

 

Asakusa station

I jumped on the subway and went to where the sword museum was located. Its in the same area where the Sumo have their stables or barracks, but I never went anywhere near them. I did read that you need permission or something to be in that particular area. I don’t know how true that is. On the way I passed through a park that was once owned by a wealthy family and then given to the people of the city. There were turtles swimming in the water around it as well so it was a little tranquil. Nearby was actually another park that I wanted to have a look at as I seen part of the building. Turns out the park was dedicated to those who died during the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, and also the firebombing of Tokyo during World War 2. There is a museum as well, but I wasn’t heading to that one. I only had to wait for the sword museum to open and was able to get inside. Turns out the top floor is where all the swords are and there is very little English. What actually makes the whole museum more interesting is that I had to use a QR code to access a page that is all about the individual swords so you can read the detailed information as you are looking at them. The information includes the year the sword was made and by whom. I thought it was interesting and then there were information about the hilt guards too as they could have elaborate designs. It was worth visiting as I didn’t know there would be so much information involved.

 

After the museum, I decided that it would be nice to walk to where the Asakusa area which was around a 20 min walk away. I was wondering if the whole walk was going to be in the sun until I found, I could walk along the river in the shade. I crossed the river when the map told me to, and ended up un the subway station as I had seen pictures of it online and the station had been left from any upgrades apart from ticket gates and machines. It was aged with water leaks inside. I probably shouldn’t have visited the temple in the area and went in the other direction instead. Being a Sunday it was extremely busy and crowded. I walked to the temple, turned around and walked back the way I came as I seen all the tourists. This was actually the first time outside of Gion in Kyoto and train stations, where I had seen that many people with the exception of Shinjuku. There was another area that I was going to head to and that was the Sengaku Ji Temple around 20 mins away though I started off on the wrong train as I went looking for track 1 and jumped on that one. It was the wrong line, so luckily I got off before it left as it would have gone to Shibuya, not anywhere near where I was. The next train I lasted one stop as I thought the limited express would miss the station so I got off one station later and got the local slow train to my stop and it stopped at every station.

 

The reason for the visit to the temple wasn’t because I wanted the temple, but it was for where the 47 Ronin were buried. They are known for avenging their fallen master as they were Ronin masterless samurai. They got revenge for their late master and then all committed ritual suicide. They had a range of ages too. I laid down some incense for them and got thanked for doing so. It was here that I had to stop to put a band aid over a blister on top of my toe and that was getting painful, once it was covered it got a little better. The next stop was Tokyo station as I wanted to see the outside of the building. I went looking for the line that would take me out to Kamakura tomorrow, especially when I seem to have a thing for getting on the wrong train. I want to make sure. Then I popped outside at a random spot to the side of the building. I was thinking of going to the imperial palace area, but it was starting to get a bit hot and I was getting overly hot even though I had been drinking. I decided that the Nihombashi bridge was my next destination. The bridge was once the starting point of several roads including the Tokaido road that went to Kyoto. It was pretty old and apparently is known as a 0 mile marker.

 

I had to walk around 20 mins to the next station that would take me out to Akihabara, which I thought would be the last place before heading back as I was getting pretty tired. I found this area too was really busy around the station. I knew they closed some of the streets to traffic on a Sunday, but I had thought that would be the main road. I barely made it to the main road before doing a loop back to the train station. Before that I ended up wandering into several buildings and enjoying the aircon, but finding some of the contents like claw machines interesting. One building on a whim I decided to follow a huge line up several escalators as there was some event going on, but I have no idea what. Some of the statues you could buy were interesting and might not be allowed in Australia. I still couldn’t believe how crowded the store was and it was like that the entire 7 floors. I did find the tanks and even army girls with rocket launchers, so I don’t know about getting those. It was much better wandering inside that it was outside. Though it was that time of day I thought I should head back as I was at the point if I sat down, I might not want to walk any further.