10/19 - Day 15

October 19, 2026 

Our second full day of tourists. We did a lot of walking. I ran Strava, the fitness app on my phone, the fitness app on my watch until the battery died, so I only have estimates.

Here are the data on Strava, but it include the subway rides so it is an over-estimate: https://www.strava.com/activities/20645036502

But you can see the map of where we were. 

The fitness app on the phone says I walked 9.86 miles for a total of 22.784 steps. This is probably the best estimate.

Our guide, Kayee, showed up before 9:00 again and we took the subway across town to visit the Kokyo Gaien National Garden, home of the Imperial Palace.

On more than one occasion, Kayee had to rethink which subways to take in order to get to our destinations. 

Subway cars don't have much advertising on them and definitely no graffiti, so it was unusual see this on the cars of one train. This is one of the professional baseball teams in Japan, the Saitama Seibu Lions. 

The number of hanging grips give you an idea of how crowded the subway cars can get. One time it got wall-to-wall, but no pushers were needed.

(I probably made some people unhappy by taking this picture.)

The subway had these boxes that looked like nursing stations. In fact, they were work stations in case you had to do some work during your commute.

One thing that is puzzling is that while driving on the left usually means walking on the left, sometimes it's the reverse.

Another thing that was interesting, but I don't have a picture of it, is that perhaps 90% of people in public spaces like the subway were on their phones. The reason that is interesting is that they were able to get reliable cell service or wifi while underground.

Our first stop was the imperial Palace. It is functional, in that people actually live there.

A changing of the guard ceremony. Not as grandiose as the one we saw in Greece a few years ago.

Our next stop was the Meiji Jinju Shrine.

As usual, the place was mobbed. It was fun trying to figure out where people were from based on the conversations we could overhear.

Meticulous cleaning.

This part of the shrine, you could make a prayer. Kayee asked us at a few of our stops if we wanted to pray. This seemed like a good place to do it. You tossed in a coin with the number 5 (5 yen, 50 yen, 500 yen), clapped twice, and made a wish. I figured it might help my chances since here you could buy a wish.

By this time, my legs were pretty beat so I requested that we look for a place to stop. And boom, a coffee shop appeared!

It was really the only time we had a chance to sit outside and watch the world go by. Japan is not really set up for outdoor dining.

Kayee said this is called a fish head.

We walked through another shopping area toward the neighborhood called Shibuya. 

Here I am following the twins again.

The Shibuya Crossing is a popular tourist attraction.  The signs make it look a little like Times Square.

Thousands of people cross the street here. I guess what makes it unusual is that traffic in all directions stops at the same time.

All the guides tried hard to find places where all of us would be happy eating. Kayee found this hole in the wall place that served only plant-based food. We all loved it.

Kayee and Mike had chicken balls. I had Mapo Tofu. And we all shared a big plate of dumplings.

This is the name of the place. It translates into "Are you kidding?"

With all the conversation about ethnic background, Walter pointed out that this would be a perfect place for people like me.

(ABC stands for American-Born Chinese. It is not a complementary term.)

Back on the subway to our last stop, teamLab Planets. It is an art museum that utilizes computer technology to produce light and visceral stimulation.

There were multiple exhibits, some more high-tech than others.

Inside, the first room we entered had light images of nature: animals and plants. 

Images were on the floor and walls and it was dark and so a little disorienting.

An outdoor space had these space eggs. 

One exhibit involved taking off your shoes, walking up a ramp with rushing water and then entering a room with square sacks of water, sort of like water beds. That exhibit was physically difficult and taking pictures and staying upright was a challenge.

Another room was filled with these large soft rubber balls. There were a lot of kids in the exhibit and they had fun pushing them around. But since they were 5-6' in diameter, they had no idea where the balls were going. A couple of times I pushed back - hard.

The exhibit I liked best was a mirrored room with strands of lights that blinked and flashed. It was not a great room if you were easily overstimulated.

At the last exhibit we were invited to lie on a floor and the images on the ceiling was something like you'd get at a planetarium. And then these flowers would appear.

Kayee dropped us off at the bike shop near our hotel and we said goodbye. 

On our way back to the hotel, we searched for food and after a couple of fails, we managed to stumble our way through an order at this place.

I'm pretty sure these kids were Korean.