Tokyo sightseeing - day 1

I fit rather a lot into today, but it turned out well.
Yosuke, who is letting me stay in his appartment, took off this friday from work and we came to Tokyo to do some sightseeing.
First we went to Tokyo station, walked to the imperial palace and started the (free) guided tour.

The route our guided tour took can be seen here.

The first gate before entering the palace grounds - Kikyoumon (Bellflower gate) - from inside.

Fujimiyagura (See Mt. Fuji Tower) Rebuilt in 1659. The tower was used to watch out for any oncoming foes.

Imperial Household Agency

The palace. Very large and made up of several rooms for the various empirial functions.

Ishibashi (stone bridge) as seen from Tetsubashi (iron bridge). They are also called Nijuubashi together.

Fushimiyagura - It's supposed that the Fushimiyagura in Kyouto castle was disassembled and reconstructed here.

A picture of me & Yousuke in front of Kikyoumon which we got someone to take for us. Identity protected.

After looking at Sakuradamon and Hanzoumon, we returned to Tokyo station and went to Akihabara - the electric town.

We ate lunch at a restraurant called Katsuroku (vitality) which was Yousuke's reccomendation and ate Hiyashichuuka (a cold served chinese style noodle meal). It was tasty and refreshing.

We looked around several shops and there were a lot of places which dealt in electronics and anime/manga related goods.
I got to see a lotof figurines (small plastic models of charactors), amature published games and comics as well as Gachapon (machines where you put money in and get one of several items at random) and 'UFO catchers' (those arm grabbers you often find near the seaside in England)

We were pushed for time on todays schedule, so we next went to Asakusa to see the still in construction "Sky Tree" broadcast tower.

Apparently when finished it will be 634 meters. Its already the tallest manmade structure in Japan and only a little over half complete.

I took this picture too, but the other rather unique looking buildings draw the attention away from Sky Tree.

From there, we walked into Asakusa.

On the way to Sensouji temple in Asakusa, we saw quite a few rickshaws and had to refuse their services a few times.

The first gate into Sensouji temple - Kinryuumon. The lantern is huge.

The front approach to the temple is lined with shops mainly selling suoveneers and food. They are called Nakamise.

Shouzoumon - the gate between the temple and the Nakamise.

The view of Sensouji from outside. It's currently under some kind of maintainence and there's a dragon image died into the net.

The temple's Saisenbako (change box) - people make wishes or simply show their respect to the SHinto god here after throwing in some money.

We both tried selecting a omikuji (a fortune slip you select at random from a box.).
I got 'lucky' or what is concidered 'normal luck' which isn't overly good but certainly isn't bad. Yousuke unfortunately got a 'bad luck' slip.

Next we went to the river bus on the Sumida river to gt to Hinodebashi.

View of Sky Three from the boat.

Vie of rainbow bridge from boat.

After arriving, we walked to Shinbashi, are dinner and booked 8 hours at a net cafe to spend the night.

Dinner - Currey rice & Soba noodles

It really was hot today, hot and humid.
I probably spend over 5 pounds on waterfrom vending machines.

The planis to leave the net cafe at 4am tomorrow abd go see the Tsukuji fish market.