::Tokyo:: the people

The drum roll please, it's the last in my 'Tokyo' travel series which has lasted for a month- eek!! I do have some really exciting house stuff on the horizon so stay tuned for that in the coming weeks.

So you've seen a glimpse of Tokyo here, a review of the food here, our take on the different sites here, our visit to the zoo here, an overview of the shopping here, and images of the city here.

If I haven't said it enough I'll say it a final time here and now, we had an amazing time in Tokyo and really loved the city. You know I'm a home~body so it's not typical for me to be sad to return home from vacation but in this case we were suffering last day of vacation blues in a big way! Yeah the food was great, shopping was fun, the sites were neat and our hotel rocked, but what made this trip extraordinary for us was the people.

Meet Yoshi and Maki.

We spent our last day with them walking over the bridge to Odaiba Island, drinking a beer on the beach at sunset, then to a delicious dinner.

Yoshi is the father of our London BFF, Yuki. He met us for coffee on day one and gave us an overview of the city and great tips on what not to miss etc.  Our day with them on Sunday was surreal. They are the kindest, down to earth people and everything was so effortless. We felt so fortunate to get to see parts of Tokyo that we wouldn't have without them, asking tons of questions along the way. Thank you Yoshi and Maki~ please come visit us in Houston!!

I was intrigued with all of the school children. Be it at the zoo, eating noodles at the fish market or just walking down the street they were all in matching uniforms and seemed so cohesive as a group.

People soaking up the history at the Sensoji temple...

...and following the rituals of ancient traditions such as bathing in the incense for good luck and health.

Peeps on the beach, sinking their tired feet/toes into the sand.

People hoping to catch a glimpse of the latest styles in the trendy~chic parts of town.

People taking a break from an educational outing at the zoo. A picnic lunch in the shade.

People pretending to be samurai warriors. ☺

People braving the rain showers to get their Saturday shopping done in Shibuya.

People taking public transportation from place to place in this sprawling city. 

Good, giving, loving, laughter-filled people.

The people we came across seemed so peaceful and calm. They didn't stare at other people, they weren't talking on their cell phones or eating or drinking in public. Most fell asleep on the subway and were perfectly silent and kept to themselves. Strangers approached us on a few occasions asking if they could help us while we stared at the subway map or a street map. Even with the language barrier people were helpful and so nice.

I was expecting more mass crowds of people with pushing and loud speaking behavior that I've seen in other Asian countries but this wasn't the case at all in Tokyo. While we covered a lot of territory and were pretty much on the go the whole time it was never stressful or rushed. 

What a great city~ we felt so blessed to have gotten to visit AND to have loved it like we did.  

Thanks for hanging in there with me and all of these Tokyo posts. I didn't have the heart to cram it all into one post.

xoxo~
Tricia