Asia Mega Tour II - Shinjuku Gyoen Mega Photo Post

We started today getting ourselves oriented in this humongous city called Tokyo. Even the particular part of town we are in, Shinjuku, is vast compared to just about anywhere else we've been. But we managed to start to get our bearings and purchased our Suica cards which allow us to use virtually any form of transportation by just swiping a card. We also learned one of the many arcane secrets of the rail system whereby you need to purchase a separate seat reservation for certain trains but still pay for a basic access separately. Why? Who knows.

It just so happened that very close to the Shinjuku Train Station where we were purchasing our Suica card, was one of the largest gardens in Tokyo, the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Originally built as an estate by vassal of the Tokugawa Shogun, it became a part of the national properties after the Meiji Restoration.

What then followed was five hours of intense photo enthusiast action. Wife and I only lost each other five times due to one or the other of us wandering off in pursuit of "a shot".

Miscellaneous Street Scenes

The size, the hustle and bustle, the lights, the video signs

One could do hundreds of pictures of just those

I only clicked a couple this morning as we were making our way around

The Park and the City

I so love Japanese gardens

Tree shapes

Sakura

Cherry Blossoms

We thought we were going to be too late for them

We thought we had come too early in March

But we were wrong

Everywhere you looked

Sakura

Reflections

Everywhere pools reflecting what was around us

 The park is a place for pre-schoolers

Amid a sea of azaleas

A massive game of hide and go seek

I tried out all the paparazzi techniques I'd been taught way back in Kyoto

This was the most successful

She was trying to take selfies of herself

She was alone

I offered to take pictures of her with her camera and got to take pictures in return

She had the most beautiful eyes and smile

My photo mentor always

And her acolyte 

A Chinese Style building funded by the Japanese in Taiwan during the 1920's

With our visit to Taiwan, we understood how that was and why it was

It is a very popular place for artists

 Very focused artists

Lots of focused artists

On to the Greenhouse

Where I immersed myself in the colors and patterns of leaves

And a bunch of bananas

Lunch at the restaurant in the garden

Soba noodles

And

Of Course

SIGNS OF THE WORLD

Please do not run! With any kind of net...fishing net, butterfly net...any net

AND

No giant hands dropping fish

That is simply the height...the height of rude behavior