It's the Heat & the Humidity, Day 3 in Japan

It is officially the rainy season in Japan. Of course today it didn't rain -- it was just sunny, very humid, and hot. Many Japanese ladies were still carrying umbrellas to keep off the sun; some Japanese men carry fans; lots of people carried small towels to wipe their faces.

We headed off fairly early to visit the Imperial Palace area. We didn't actually get to see the palace, it's only open to the public on Dec. 23 and Jan. 2. There are several moats (complete with swans). We did get to wander the Eastern Garden where we saw old guardhouses, the moats, flowers, and other things you'll see in the photos. We tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. We also visited the National Craft Gallery, they have many things but only a few on display. Lunch was in the food court area in a shopping mall within an office building. We visited a smoothie shop (there's a photo); I had a lychee lemonade smoothie, neither of us had any of the smoothies with kale.

Back at the hotel we chilled in the a/c, watched some World Cup, and rested for an evening adventure. We took the train to Shimbasan station to take the monorail to Odaiba. This is an area built on landfill in the Tokyo Harbor. There's housing (apartment buildings), shops, restaurants, entertainment (ferris wheel, movies, etc.), and even a small beach. Also the Tokyo Statue of Liberty (yes, we have photos). Dinner was at a sushi restaurant. Did I mention they don't have daylight savings time here? So it does get dark fairly early.

This morning we're off to Nagano. We have to go to Tokyo Station to get the Shinkansen.

And here are the photos.

(I was too tired to write last night -- getting this finished before we leave for the train station.)