Tokyo and onwards

Hannah and Mickey's Tokyo post captured the essence of our first day in Tokyo, and in Japan. Here are a few supplementary details.

It is really hot here.

After tramping the grounds of the Imperial Palace we paused for a few minutes in front of the Meganebashi (Eyeglass Bridge)...

Style prevails over comfort

...and then we hightailed it (well, more crept from patch of shade to another) to the subway and the Edo Museum, where the girls look substantially cooler in front of a recreated Nihonbashi (Japan Bridge).

Cooler, and just as fashion forward

The Nihonbashi burned down or was destroyed by earthquakes a number of times.  One of the incarnations looked like this:

The first one burned down.  And then the seventh through ninth...

The Edo Museum is full of amazing stuff, but nothing quite as amazing as the absolutely brilliant dioramas showing the development of Edo/Tokyo.

The dioramas included some of the kabuki theater, including how they managed back stage special effects.  A perfect setup for our Thursday night at the kabuki theater, where we met Hannah's college roommate Zelda who is spending the summer in Japan.

We saw Bewitching Foxes and Badger and Tied to A Pole.  Hannah's review is the definitive version, of course. 

Outside the Kabuki Theater, Ginza