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Last night I finally made a visit out to Roppongi, a place that is apparently popular with foreigners and ex-pats (according to my Tokyo guide). I can understand why; the main development in the area is Roppongi Hills, a huge shopping district, which has been highly westernised. Walking around the shops, I may as well have been back home. Not quite the reason why I travelled to Japan in the first place…

The area is very modern, and has some very nice, new, architecture (including a massive, daddy long-legs style spider), but it didn’t turn out quite as exciting as I was expecting.

This morning I made a trip out to Tokyo Station and made my way towards the grounds and gardens of the imperial palace.

Below is a picture of myself in front of the double-bridge leading to the gates of the palace grounds (the gate is above). Unfortunately the palace itself is set well within the grounds, with the gate being about as close as you can get without a prior arrangement.

Also below is a picture of the samurai Kusunoki Masashige, the apparent embodiment of the samurai hero who, out of loyalty to his emperor, still lead his men to certain defeat on the emperors orders.