Since this is our last day (can’t leave the cats for too long and both children who were minding the cats, also have to get back to work), we decided to take it free and easy, so it’s another park in the afternoon. The temperature on the two previous days had been about 14 degrees,…

It’s Monday and we planned to visit the Imperial Palace, so we took the subway to the station nearest to the Imperial Palace. It was raining in the morning, luckily I had bought a cat umbrella from Kamakura the day before! A moat surrounds the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace and these gardens are…

We decided two temples would be enough for the day, so we visited the quaint little shops in this ancient town. Plastic ninja ornaments! This is a tiny little shop that sells all things cat. Who can resist not buying something to take home from here, right? Whenever we purchased any souvenir, no matter how…

From the Hasedera (Great Kannon/Kuan Yin) Temple, we walked to the Kotokuin Temple where the famous Dai Butsu (Big Buddha) statue is. This majestic bronze statue of Amida Buddha stands at about 43 feet tall. Don’t forget to wash your hands before you enter! The statue survived a tidal wave (tsunami) and an earthquake. It…

This is the grand entrance into the Hasedera Great Kannon Temple. Entrance is only 200Y per person (cheaper than the Neko Maru Cat Cafe!). Really, visiting these places is so reasonably priced. Wash your hands before going in! The path is peppered by the three-guardian figurines. Photography of the statues (for worship) inside the shrines…

The Kamakura trip was not exactly on our itinerary since the journey would take 1.5 hours one way, but since we already managed to cover all three Hachikos on Day One, we decided we’d spend one day at Kamakura instead of Tokyo city. If possible, I did want to see the famous Dai Butsu (the…

Ueno Park is one of the best tourist spots for the viewing of Sakura and we were lucky we stayed right there! Look, there’s a black-and-white cat!! Picnic under the sakura trees. They camp all day, overnight, and throughout the weekend! There are museums and shrines within the park itself. Before entering any shrine, temple…

I had earlier googled, read reviews and the Neko Maru Cat Cafe seemed to be one of the best cat cafes in Tokyo. By sheer luck, it was located just 6 minutes away from our hotel. So we walked there after dinner. But we couldn’t find it until we stopped at another hotel and the…

After visiting Hachiko at Shibuya, we took another train which led us to the Meiji Jingu or Meiji Shrine. Located in the heart of the city, but once you enter, it is an entire forest! Meiji Jingu Shrine is built in the traditional nagare-zukuri style with Japanese cypress. It is the largest Shinto shrine in Japan. By…

From the University of Tokyo, we walked back and we passed by the Hongo Sachome Station, which is the recommended stop if you were to take the trains to visit Hachiko and the Professor. But we walked all the way back to Ueno, feeling a sense of triumph that we found the correct gate (!)…

After visiting the real Hachiko at the museum, walking around Ueno Park and the temple, our next stop was Hachiko and the Professor at the University of Tokyo. This statue was unveiled on 8th March 2015, 80 years after the passing of Hachiko and it shows an excited and happy Hachiko greeting Professor Hidesaburo Ueno…