30.4.2019 first insights into the railway system, imperial palace, town hall and Pokemon

Insights into the railway system in Japan on my third day in Japan last throughout the day. A nice feeling when you only have to look at the map three times. Everything is connected here. When you get on at a station, you simply put the unbeatable payment method Suica card on the counter, walk through the gate, and then the system remembers where you were and only deducts the corresponding amount when you leave the train by placing your Suica on top again. It's very simple and you don't need any more ticket inspectors. It makes traveling much more relaxed. In addition, all train lines are painted with colors so that even small children from 2 years old can find their way, as they are allowed to travel alone by train. It worked for me on the third day. Then I walked directly to the imperial palace after a delicious breakfast. A short stop at Ueno station and a super nice train conductor booked my Shinkansen tickets for my train connection from Nikko to Kyoto. He couldn't speak English, but it worked with my Japanese and he reserved my seats on the bullet train. I'm really looking forward to my first journey on the safest and most punctual train in the world.

Imperial palace. What can I say... You can never go there directly and unfortunately I didn't see the new emperor, but Minister Abe was at the palace and gave a speech. There was a lot of applause and bowing. The exterior is already very impressive. Small trees (I think pines) line the path, a light pebble marks the way, everything looks very nicely arranged and there is water everywhere. Then the mighty castle gate as a border wall for the public, hundreds of policemen, the power of Japan is present here even without being immediately visible. Simply very exciting and it impressed me a lot, so now I'm going to the town hall and register here.

Just a little fun. Now I'm going to the observation platform on the 74th floor. I hope I can manage it despite my fear of heights.

I didn't expect that. Hello, Mr.... I add Weber-Weigelt. And a conversation in German starts right away. So nice. About the weather, the poor visibility because it's raining heavily and the pity that Dortmund lost. A free tour guide talks to me for 15 minutes. Just like that. I have no idea how he recognized that I'm German, but I thought it was great and he spoke perfect German because his wife, whom he met and fell in love with in Nuremberg, only speaks German. Great. The visibility was really poor, but the conversation was so nice that it made my whole day. Now I'm going to have my lunch at 3 p.m. and then go to the Hokusai Museum. If I'm not too full of impressions, I'll go to the Edo-Tokyo Museum afterwards.

I'll visit the Edo-Tokyo Museum tomorrow with a relaxed combination of swimming pool and onsen, but first the Hokusai Museum. An unmatched artist of the Edo period for me. When I look at his humorous paintings, portraits and even manga, I always relax and spend minutes looking at the originals. This museum impressed me a lot and I will only make a short stop at the Pokemon Mega Stop today and take a look. Afterwards, I will pick up something to eat on the way home and then take a hot bath after a very rainy day. Tomorrow there will be similar weather, so it will be a museum and swimming pool day.