Chinatown, Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Bay

Photos:

• Top left: Garden near Chinatown where the wildlife consists of...cats. I guess they hang out there to, um, "watch" the koi in the pond, if you know what I mean.
• Top right: Chinatown
• Middle left: Even Chinatown has to have its own Starbucks.
• Middle right: My first glimpse of Tokyo Tower. Sorry, folks, I'll try to get a better pic next time.
• Bottom left: Tokyo Bay...very smoggy, but also very pretty.
• Bottom right: The emptiest anyone will ever see a train car in Tokyo, which is probably because it was empty except for me. But this was taken on a Sunday morning towards the end of the line, hence the lack of people. A little something that I like to refer to as "fewness of men," which is otherwise known as "oliganthropia." I just KNEW Greek history would come in handy one day.
  

Yes, I know. It's kind of counter-intuitive to travel all the way to Japan and then go to Chinatown. But it is the biggest Chinatown in all of Japan, so I figured that gave it enough of its own weight to merit a visit. Lots of things to look at; I really enjoyed it. Kim and I found a great restaurant to eat at, too.

The shot of Tokyo Tower is one I got just by chance. Yesterday I decided to take the train over to the branch where I will be training on Monday, just so I could time it out and make sure I'm not late for my first day of work. After I got off the train, I decided to explore the neighborhood a little bit and upon rounding a corner, I got my first glimpse of the Tokyo Tower. I hadn't even known I was that close to it. Nice little surprise. Kim and I plan to go back after I get my train pass. We may even pay the 900 yen it costs to take the elevator up (about $7.60 USD), but we'll see...

Really enjoyed my first visit to the Bay, too. It's just a few blocks from Chinatown, so it was really easy to get to. It also made me slightly reminiscent of trips to the Oregon Coast because of the smell of salt-water in the air. The bay is about 45 min from my apartment by subway. Now all I need to do is figure out how much it costs to take a ferry ride. :)