Update

Not feeling too good right now.  I have pictures from another garden and Tokyo Disneyland that I hope to get up soon.  Got to see how I end up feeling today for DisneySea.

Botanical Gardens

I can't remember the exact name for these botanical gardens that we visited.

We did pass by several small shrines and gardens on the way.  This wasn't a shrine, just a garden to somebody's house.

The amazing part about these shrines is that they're just on the street.  Two completely modern buildings next to them.

Not sure why this small shrine had all these banners around it.

Inside the botanical gardens now.  It's about what you'd expect out of a botanical garden: lots of trees.

More things that would look really pretty in the spring.  There were still a decent number of people walking around.

Some flowers in bloom.

Behind a fence in one area, there was a cage full of crows.  I'm not sure why.  Even weirder, I think it might've been on property separate from the gardens.

Alex commented that it looks like spikes are coming out of this tree.

The bark on this tree reminded me of camoflauge.  So the best use of camoflauge would be to wear it in front of this tree.

I am almost 100% certain that the Japanese says a LITTLE more than that.

This tree reminded me of broccoli.

Fish.

Cat.

And finally, some of the trees were actually blossoming, so there was some color. Naturally, there was a crowd of people taking pictures of them.

Day Yep I've Lost Track - Imperial Palace Garden and Shibuya

The Imperial Palace Garden was closed on Friday (not sure why, it's just closed on Fridays), but we got there on Saturday.

The bridge in.

And the gate.

One of the trees was actually blossoming.  Wish I could've seen it in spring, but it's nice to have some color.

Oranges, or some fruit like them.

This seemed to be the main "attraction" of the garden.

The view across the garden.  Again, it would probably be nicer in spring.

The mural on a nearby building.  The building itself was blocked off.

I...forget what this building was.  I think it was called something like "Fuji-View".

A fountain. Not sure where the water was actually falling from.

There was a nice view of the city here.

More city.

Diorama inside the shop.

National Archives of Japan.

After the Palace Garden, we took a subway to Shibuya. Here's a mural of dogs outside the station.

A nice shot of Shibuya.  Absolutely crowded with people, and there were 3 TV screens constantly playing on the buildings there.  Reminded me of Times Square.

More of the main part of Shibuya.

The statue of Hachiko.  Pretty much always crowded with people getting pictures with it.

In Shibuya, we went to karaoke with a group of people.  I didn't really get any exciting shots of karaoke itself, but here's the remainder of Russian Roulette.  The plate had a bunch of these puffs with ice cream inside, and one with hot sauce.  I was lucky enough not to get the hot sauce, and they were lucky enough that there was still an ice-cream-puff left.

Shibuya at night.

Purikura.  Photo booths where you're expected to absolutely vandalize the pictures with drawings and such afterwards. At least, that's what I got out of it.  I'll probably put the results from it up later.

And finally, here's a thing of Q-tips that came with the pictures.

Day 2 and 3 continued - Behind the shrine and across the street

Behind the shrine there was a koi pond.  It was very peaceful here. You realize you're in the middle of the city, yet you can't hear the cars or anything.

One of the buildings around the pond. All of them were blocked off.

Waterfall.

This looked very precariously balanced, but it was sturdy.

Fish food vending machine.

Alex fed them.  Most of them swarmed in the area by the vending machine, as you can expect.

Statue with a plant in front of it. I don't really remember there being any sign here, so I'm clueless.

This was in front of a path leading to something that looked like a small shrine. It was blocked off, though, so maybe it's only open at certain times.

Back to the modern world. These are more day 2 pictures from here on.

A side gate into the park.

This reminded me of a lighthouse.

Across the street from the park.

But first, two workers in a boat.  Don't know where they were going, but not a job I envy.

One of the gates leading in.

Asian Kung-Fu Generation playing at the Budokan.  If you've ever seen a live album called "At Budokan", this is that Budokan.

Fancy clock tower.

Another statue of somebody I don't know.

And back out.

I found it amusing that, after the long list of important government facilities, there's also a bakery.

Pretty inspiring.

Mythological-looking artwork on the side of a building.

One of those things you just find by the sidewalk.

Yes, Japan has Denny's.  This one was by a 7-11, but that's not as special, since I'm pretty sure I saw more 7-11s on the bus ride to my hotel than I've seen in all my life in the states.

The alcoholic's manifesto.

Things that don't really make me want to eat at your restaurant.

I might have to make a post later just for the food I've eaten in Japan.  Here's day 2's lunch, vegetable curry.  I've already grown to love curry, mainly thanks to the variety of proteins you can have with it.  This restaurant also gave green tea to everybody, which was nice after a cold walk.

And there'll be more pictures of day 3 later, but to finish things off on that day, I got CRUNKY.