Tokyo {Part II}

When we arrive in an unfamiliar city, we usually take a Hop-on Hop-off bus ride to get our bearings, but since Tokyo is so vast and the audio guide seriously lacking, we ditched the bus and made our way to Ueno Park. Although the cherry blossoms have long fallen {missed them by two weeks}, we spotted a late blooming tree with its pale pink blossoms barely clinging on as well as a manhole in sakura motif.

We had an early dinner that evening at Sukiyabashi Jiro in the Roppongi Hills area {Jiro’s son Takashi’s restaurant}. Roppongi is a lovely upscale area where all the buildings, shops, and residences looked newly constructed and pristine. Having watched the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, we were expecting a rather stern and serious meal, but Takashi-san was friendly, relaxed, and quite chatty, even complimenting Andy on his chopsticks skills and noting our politeness. The sushi was as fresh as can be and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.