On the Sunday morning I regularised my position with respect to the Tokyo underground system  by buying a day ticket.  I'd been led to believe that my Japan RailPass covered the Metro but the snapping closed of the ticket gates the previous day alerted me to the likelihood that it didn't.  I was able to push my way through the gates and the machine didn't gobble up my RailPass so there was no real incentive to present myself to the Fare Adjustment Counter which I should have done.  I just ploughed on. 

I forgive myself with the thought that my day ticket cost more than the journeys I used it for and indeed probably covered the previous day's two journeys as well. 

I used my newly acquired ticket to go to Ueno Park in company with innumerable residents of Tokyo.  It's a popular spot for flanerie and there's a zoo, a baseball pitch and various galleries and always something going on.  Like this procession

I don't know what it was in aid of but there were lots of people taking part and more than one of these religious palanquins.  I was puzzled at one point when the palanquin bearers stopped and rocked the thing about quite vigourously before moving on.  This website explains that it's so that the god inside can join in the festivities and have some fun.  There was a deal of singing and drumming and prancing about so the people were enjoying themselves even if we can't be entirely sure about the gods.

Kids played baseball.

Food was not neglected.

There was a queue at the stall boiling up this stuff.  I don't know what it is.  There was a banner at the stall proclaiming, according to Google's translation, "Giant Sky Pot" but that surely doesn't explain the contents.  

There was a lot more in the park that I could entertain or bore you with but I must move on. 

Before doing so let me sing Japan's praises in the matter of public toilets.  At home they are pretty much a relic of more munificient days for local authorities.  Many in Edinburgh have been sold off and are now restaurants or offices.  Not so in Japan.  In the park that I walked through every day in Kanazawa there were in fact two toilet blocks less than 200 yards apart. 

The toilets in Ueno Park seemed to me a particularly fine example of toilet architecture, externally at least. I didn't go in so can't vouch for the fittings.

One toilet I did go into back in Kanazawa had ready access to a little garden which seems a touch unusual but what a nice place to queue should all the urinals be in use.

Off I went to meet Momo for lunch and more tourist treats.

We'd arranged this time to meet at a restaurant.  I got there first and secured a place in the queue.  When Momo arrived and we got in it was one of those places where I had to take off my shoes and sit on the floor at a low table.  As a tip for other travellers it's a good idea to check your socks for holes when going out to eat.

You can see other people sitting at the sort of table I was at and in the background people sitting at what you might call western style tables.  Ishimura told me that restaurants have both styles since the over 70s are not expected to endure ground level eating.  I must look really young for my age.

I don't have a picture of the food but it was delicious, tempura chicken with soba in a broth plus various odds and ends.

We had a booking to go up the Tokyo Skytower at 5.30 but lots of time to stroll around Asakusa which is the part of the city we were in.  We went to the Sensoji temple which like the temple I went to in Nagano had a long shopping street between the outer and inner gates.  The place was mobbed.

En route to the inner sanctum, which we the public were not permitted to enter I performed various sacred rites like throwing money into a big chest, bowing my head, cleansing my hands and face (by mistake drinking some of the water - no bad karma I hope),  allowing smoke to waft over me, clapping my hands and so forth.  I bought a good fortune slip at one point by some random process that involved parting with more small coins.  Amongst other things it says "Then you will find happiness in future with the help of your seniors....". I fear this may be another reference to 84 year old Yuki.

In the grounds of the temple there were various grand statues and fine foliage and a performing monkey.  He ran up and down steps on his hands, jumped over various obstacles and did lots of stuff that you'd imagine was second nature to a monkey except that he did it on command.  Here he is doing the high jump.

Not something you could see in the UK these days.  He/she didn't look unhappy but I thought it odd that he/she never opened his/her mouth, as though it were glued shut.  

Leaving the temple area we headed for the Tokyo Skytree.

Passing on the way interesting street scenes and odd buildings like this one whose golden blob attracted the same sort of comments as were earned by the twirly bit on top of the St James Quarter hotel.

This notice also struck me as odd given that restaurants frequently have smoking areas as do train stations.  Some bars are completely smoke tolerant.  So why not the street?

My camera battery ran out just as we got to the Skytree so despite my protestations that my phone would suffice Momo hunted around until she found a place where she could rent a power pack and we headed for the entrance.

In a city of 40 million you can't expect to find many uncrowded spots and here it seemed as though everyone in Tokyo had come along to be hoisted 450 metres up into the sky.

It's a brilliant attraction and worth putting up with the crowds for.  The views are fantastic both in daylight and when the sun sets.  It was a little too misty to see Mount Fuji but we had good views over the city and out into Tokyo Bay.  Even with a boost to its battery my camera wasn't up to getting much detail as the light faded but my pictures provide me with a record.

Eventually we had to say goodbye.  Momo went off home and I went to my hotel.  It was a great pleasure to meet her in the flesh and she was, is, such a lovely person.  She gave so generously of her time over the weekend. On Sunday in particular, when as well as her company I had an eight hour Japanese lesson. That's right.  She didn't speak a word of English to me all weekend.

When I went to get the Metro home I had to buy a ticket because folks Tokyo has two underground systems and the one that I had to take from the Skytree station to Asakusa to then get the Metro was the other one, the Toei Subway.

The following morning I was briefly in the rush hour when I took a train to Tokyo Station to catch the Shinkansen back to Kanazawa for my final week but I didn't have to be pushed onto the commuter train though Ishimura swore that when he lived in Tokyo that was the order of the day.