A Day in Tokyo


It is overcast today with some early light drizzle, but promises of it fining up later in the day. Viking Orion remains in port today with departure to Hokkaido planned for 7 pm this evening.

This morning we booked a bus tour of Tokyo which was one of the free shore excursions. It seems many other people had the same idea. Our bus left the pier at 8.45 am, for a roughly 4 hour through the highlights of Tokyo and a little of Yokohama.

Yokohama is one of Japan's major ports and the shoreline is dotted with heavy industry, wharfs and cargo awaiting shipment. 


Travelling back over the Yokohama Bay Bridge towards Tokyo

Tokyo is not far from Yokohama and we soon find ourselves getting a guided tour through the major wards of Tokyo City. It is raining lightly, so photography from the bus is not really an option as we pass through well known areas like The Ginza, Nihonbashi and Otemachi Commercial districts and eventually stop at the Imperial Palace where we can get out of the bus and go for a walk through the grounds surrounding the palace. Much of this area we have seen many times before but the scenery and history is still quite compelling.




First stop was this bronze statue of a famous Samurai Warrior, Kusunoki Masashige who was very loyal to the Imperial Family. The statue was donated by Sumitomo to celebrate the bicentenary of their Besschi Copper Mines. After years of design and fabrication the Statue was finally erected on its plinth in 1900.




Walking further through the grounds it is hard to miss the "forests" of beautifully manicured black pine trees. It is a sort of large scale bonsai experience.



Our destination is the Main Gate and Nijubashi Bridge to the Palace. Whist there is no public access to the palace you can visit the various entrance gates.







The Main Gate


Looking back towards the Ginza you can see the Dai Ichi Insurance Building, including the original lower building in front of the tower where General MacArthur set up his headquarters during the occupation of Japan after WW11.


The walking tour took around 50 minutes and it was then back to the bus to complete our drive around Tokyo before heading back to the ship. Also facing the Palace Gardens we could just make out the Imperial Hotel, one of Tokyo's finest. It was surprising to hear tat there is a plan to demolish and rebuild it as part of an upgrade of this very exclusive part of Tokyo. The cost is estimated at US$2 Billion and completion expected by 2036.

Our drive takes us past some beautiful old red brick buildings, which look a bit out of place, and a few other prominent buildings.


Ministry of Justice


Japan's Government House

On the way back to Yokohama we catch a view of the new Tokyo Fish Market (the old one in the City was closed and relocated). The old market seems to have been repurposed and we saw in a brief drive by that it is now full of food courts.



Toyosu Fish Market

Soon we were back in Yokohama and on board by 12.30pm, just in time for lunch. The tour was a bit uninspiring, but took us briefly through the highlights. There was nothing new for us, as we have been here before, but it did fill in the morning on a day where the weather was not really ideal for doing much else. We are spending 3 days in Tokyo on our way back to Australia after the cruise and have a private tour organised for a more detailed look around including a day at Mt Fuji.

Tonight we sail for Hokkaido, with departure around 7 pm. The safety briefing was held at 5.30pm, and unlike previous cruises, we were not required to go to a muster station and get a demo of fitting a lifejacket. It was broadcast over the PA system and you just sat down and listened wherever you were on the ship at the time.

The highlight of the day was dinner ! We ate at one of the specialty restaurants, The Chefs Table. It is a degustation style menu of 5 courses with matching wines with a new menu every 3 days. Tonights dinner had an Asian theme and the soft shell crab with a chilli sauce and lamb cutlets with a Thai flavour profile were both standout dishes. We will be booking each time the menu rotates.

Everywhere we go on board we hear Australian accents, it seems that we are the major group on board or perhaps the noisiest and most sociable.




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