Maxine and Ray's trip 2022

 We spent another day wandering around Tokyo in the rain, and this time visited the Shibuya neighborhood. It's famous for it's busy shopping district and tons of restaurants. It has a famous pedestrian scramble  corner where up to 3,000 people cross the street in every direction during one green light. It is the world's busiest crossing square. Our best view was from the Hop On Hop Off Bus the day before.  All the umbrellas don't make it any easier. Everyone waits patiently for the green walk sign. Organized chaos when everyone crosses in every direction. Amazingly, it seems to work! Here there are robot servers in the coffee shop. It is waving it's arms at the little girl and she is quite mesmerized! Two robots are taking food orders. They move freely around the restaurant.   We had lunch at a restaurant making a Tokyo specialty called monja or monjayaki.  You choose the combination of  ingredients, and it is all cooked in front of you. It is a combin...

 We spent our first day in Tokyo riding the Hop On Hop Off bus to get our bearings, and get an overview of the various areas. Today, we chose to go back and explore two of them.  Ueno Park  was designated in 1873 as the first park in Japan. It's huge grounds are famous for viewing the cherry blossoms, and we were very lucky that they bloomed early this year and we are able to see them. The crowds were out in full force, and many booths selling different varieties of fast food and snacks were set up all around the park. It was quite a fun atmosphere. The pond at Ueno Park with cherry blossoms in full bloom. There were some very unusual ducks in the pond. I love the black one with the white bill. Cherry trees line both sides of the walkway in the park near the pond. The crowds were all trying to get the best shots of the cherry blossoms. There are over 400 varieties of  cherry trees in Japan. The color of the blossoms varies from white to various shades of pink. A clos...

 We finally arrived at our last port after almost six months on the ship. Yokohama Port is located about an hour drive from downtown Tokyo. It is the second largest city in Japan and is situated about 20 miles southwest of Tokyo. It has a beautifully clean and attractive harbor area.  The beautiful view of Yokohama harbor from our cruise ship balcony.  We had a day before our disembarkation, so took a trip to Kamakura, a lovely small seaside town located south of Yokohama. It is a very popular place to visit since it has an abundance of historic Buddhist temples and  Shinto Shrines. It was the political center in medieval Japan and was once the capital of Japan.   We saw several young women in traditional dress. Kamakura even has hand pulled rickshaws for hire.  The Kotuku-in Temple and the Great Buddha were built in 1252. It was originally housed in a building which was demolished in a Tsunami in the 1400's, and has been in the open air ever since. It used...