Tokyo, First Impressions

My first impression of Tokyo after passing through Narita and riding the the bus to the hotel in the dark was was....whoa! This city is HUGE!
Hugeness is difficult to photograph without some kind of wide angle lens, heh. With my little bitty camera from the 53rd floor sky deck at Roppongi Hills I only get a small slice!

I tried graphing population and density against Honolulu, Chicago, LA and London but it still doesn't convey the feeling.

Okay, how come I didn't know that Tokyo was the largest city in the world?!!!

Being 3/4 Asian, mostly Japanese, I felt oddly at home amongst the sea of black hair for the first few days. I could easily blend in as long as I didn't have to talk or try to listen to conversations. I had no jet lag and did not miss the day I lost going over the date line.

I was blessed with great weather. It was in the high 60 and low 70s (16-21C) while I was there and sunny every day but one.

The cherry blossoms were incredibly splendid! Much more so then I imagined! They line the streets and light up the gardens everywhere. I had no idea there were so many varieties. They truly deserve their reputation and I can see why they inspired so much poetry. I put a closeup of a double variety on my header. By the time I left most trees had lost all their flowers and were all green. I enjoyed watching the petals fall like snow when the wind blow and the gardeners sweeping them up daily at the hotel with their beautiful brooms.




I had to have a manju with a cherry blossom on it. I finished 1 1/4 of Cookie A's Marlene, using my Warm Amber targhee wool, hand spun by Akamai Knitter. I love the color! The yarn is quite fine and I'm using size one needles. I hoped to find the Clover Mother store to replace the needle I lost, but no luck.
I did most of my knitting on the plane coming and going, in the airport, or waiting for my Uncle and Aunty in the morning for breakfast. The manju was yummy:)

See more pictures of Tokyo here.

More later.