Tokyo

We had another wander around Miyajima in the morning and then headed to the ferry to start our big day of travel to Tokyo. The bullet trains here are amazing.

On our first day in Tokyo, Friday 4 April, we headed to Nippori to check out the fabric street! It was quite amazing to see so many fabric stores in one place. Annemarie and I had a lovely few hours wandering about. The best shop was Tomato (I think it is called) which has about 6 floors of fabric and notions. I didn't buy lots but so enjoyed looking around. There were a lot of dress making fabrics and not so many patchwork ones but it was great fun.

 There were whole shops of buttons too!

 We then headed to the Imperial palace and gardens which were free to enter on this day! There were so many people here. One of the amazing things about a huge city like Tokyo is that wherever you go there are always so many people!

 The gardens were beautiful and it was so special to see some of the locals in their kimonos.

 We then headed to Ginza to check out the shops! Some of the shops here are different to at home so quite good fun to wander about.

 I saw this display of handwork (Cogin, I think) in one of the large department stores. 

Fancy seeing this lovely old favourite in Japanese!

 On one of the floors there were lots of different restaurants and this man was making noodles.

 It was a special day for me as it was my birthday! We chose this restaurant with yummy Japanese pancakes for dinner. The plate in the centre is a hot plate to cook and keep your food hot! It was a delicious meal!