Day 26 – 23.04: My Feet Hate Me

The morning was the usual one with a bunch of pain everywhere, some procrastinating and writing here and there and then heading out. This time I was going to the Imperial Palace – or that’s what I thought, at any rate. Before that, however, I had to go and break some bills to pay for an additional couple of days.

My hiking boots were still quite soaked, so the walk to get some breakfast / break bills was somewhat uncomfortable. I ate some curry at Sukiya (すき屋) and got back to the hostel to pay for another few days of staying. After this I sat back and relaxed for a moment before I headed out to Imperial Palace.

Before I headed for the palace, I decided to go and post some of the post cards that I had. After a short walk I found the closest post office. With my business done, I started heading towards my destination.

With my socks and hiking boots wet, the seven to eight kilometre walk was as uncomfortable as you’d expect for it to be. At least the weather was nice. After walking a while longer, I got myself some rice balls to eat for a snack.

I decided to take a different route through Akihabara (秋葉原) and so found a couple of stores I would’ve not seen otherwise; one of the stores was an airsoft shop – this thing made me feel like I should start airsofting again. There was another interesting one that was mostly dedicated to ‘moe’ army girls.

After having passed Akihabara (秋葉原), I walked past several shops that I had seen the day prior, so I knew I was going in the right direction. After a familiar curved road, I decided to turn left.

As I walked down the road I had chosen, I found an interesting shop with old military equipment such as uniforms, flags, guns and swords. All of it looked authentic enough, but I was a bit sceptic. Even if they were real, they’d probably be way out of my pay grade. Having admired long enough, I kept moving along the road until I got to the Eastern Gardens of the Imperial Palace.

When I entered, I was given a small token so that I could get out. The sights were great, and I spent a good long while just walking around the gardens, taking pictures of pretty much all the things. While I was walking around, I saw a Japanese man reading English text out loud and apparently recording it on his phone; I saw him a couple of times throughout my time at the gardens.

At some point I suddenly came to a realisation that the Imperial Palace probably wasn’t open for the general public – so I checked it out. Apparently it’s open only on the third of January and the twenty third of December, the Emperor’s birthday. Other than that, it’s open only through reserved tours by the Imperial Household Agency. With nothing more to do at the gardens, I got out and started slowly making my way towards the Tokyo station (東京駅).

The station itself was quite the sight to behold, just like the Kyoto station (京都駅). After having walked by the station for a little while, I decided to get myself something to eat and just walk to my hostel instead of taking a train. I got some curry (again) and got moving.

The Magnificent Tokyo Station (東京駅)

The Magnificent Tokyo Station (東京駅)

I was tired, but I still decided to continue hunting for souvenirs at Akihabara (秋葉原). After an hour of searching, I had found more stuff to give to certain people. After having found these, I felt quite content and walked at a painfully slow pace.

After having arrived back at the hostel, I went to shower and did nothing useful for the rest of the day.

This is where the twenty sixth day ended.

 

Withdrew: 0,000

Spent: 4,491

Remaining cash: 13,117

No counting due to being a lazy bum.

Breakdown:

VM – 0,120

Sukiya breakfast – 0,561

Post office – 0,210

7/11 snacks – 0,260

Curry dinner – 0,690

Souvenirs 1 – 1,480

Souvenirs 2 – 1,620

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