The first target of the day was the observation deck at the top of the Tokyo metropolitan Government office
in Shinjuku. We walked to the Shinanomachi train station from the hotel along the wall of the Akasaka Palace
(used as a state guest house). The trees in the picture are ginko biloba.  Most of those in Tokyo are trimmed
quite carefully in a  roughly conical shape, unlike those around Palo Alto which have pretty random shapes.

I like ginkos and I would love to see this street in the fall, when the leaves turn yellow.  The trip was uneventful
and included a "self portrait" and an encounter with a colorful poster of tough looking hombres.

These are the two towers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as seen from the street (base camp).

And these are views from the top: 44 floors up. (We took the elevator from base camp...)

We then walked around the Shinjuku area, taking in the sights and visiting a few choice stores
like Tokyu Hands and Uniqlo, plus a few department stores. I only took one picture of the activities,
however, and it was after lunch (tempura), so I suspect that the long hours and many miles of the day
before were taking a toll and my brain shut off the picture taking section to keep the legs working.

We decided to walk home from Shinjuku (maybe 4Km) traversing Shinjuku Gyoen National garden,
another choice spot for viewing the blossoming cherries according to the guides I had read. And it was
nice indeed, plus it was also a good spot to see the locals having picnics and doing Tai Chi, and taking
pictures of each other under the blossoms. This was a much more upscale place than Ueno Park (just
after arrival) or Sumida Park (first day) -- no homeless, no garbage -- perhaps because of the location
or the 200Y entry fee.

A word about the crows shown in three of the pictures above. They are *the* urban bird in Tokyo, far more
common than pigeons,  and their cawing can be heard anywhere except the busiest areas during all daylight hours.
They are a large-size variety -- the largest appear almost raven-sized. They seem pretty tame... or cheeky, would be
a better word. The one on the ground was definitely looking for a handout and it must have had his picture taken
before because it was not much alarmed by my doings with the camera.

After crossing Shinjuku Gyoen we walked back to the hotel, once again under the ginkos.

The building in the middle picture above is the Asia Center of Japan Hotel where we stayed. The picture on
the right is our "new" room: we spent two nights on a small room (no larger ones available) and this was our
first night on the larger one. And after the first room, this one felt large indeed...

After a rest we walked to Shibuya (3Km.) where we visited the statue of Hachiko. The second picture is another
"self portrait": it may be a lousy picture, but I am very proud of it because I took it without looking and managed
to frame myself AND Hachiko.... One has to learn to enjoy small victories, no?

These are night scenes of Shibuya. Hard to capture how busy it realy is.

We then took the train from Shibuya to Meguro to go to a "tonkatsu" restaurant where I had been a few times
before. As the pictures show, the kitchen is surrounded by a long counter and the choices are "roast" or
"fillet" -- end of story. The place hums along at an amazing pace. They must have served 100 dinners in
the hour and change that we were there.

The last picture is the door of the restaurant.