The weather actually seems to be getting hotter in line with my grand tradition of visiting cities during national holidays when even the locals are driven to the hills by the oppressive heat, guess what? Its a national holiday and its a heat wave!

Anyway decided to brave the subway aiming to keep up my other travel tradition; find the tallest building I can to get to the top of. With this in mind I set off for the Toyko Tower using the subway. Remember how I said yesterday I thought due to the heat I had a bit part in Tenko today it felt more like the lead role. I did get to my intended destination and enroute was hit on by other foreigners and assisted by elderly Japanese both of which I attribute to clinging to a subway map as if I as if my very life depended on it, the perplexed look I was sporting also helped. They werent cute by the way (the fellow travellers I mean not the elderly Japanese who were adorable, it is the annual holiday of 'Respect for the Elderly' God bless em without them I could have gasped my last around the Mita station). View was great from the Tower (nothing to add on that as no traumas befell me there).

In the afternoon I went to the Ginza shopping district which is very cool and very expensive then got a bus past the Imperial Palace. I went to a Pearl Gallery needless to say many Oysters gave their lives so after a spot of mourning for those poor unfortunate crustations I took a river taxi to the Asakusa Kannon temple which is supposed to be Japans finest Buddhist temple stopping at some of the shops on Nakamise which sell all sorts of trinkets and exotic food. The temple was beautiful and the journey back through Tokyo that night was also beautiful with all the neon lights I can see why the design for the cityscape in Bladerunner was inspired by Tokyo.

Finally decided to take part in a Japanese Tea ceremony which was really nice to experience and am now wishing I had more time here as it is an extraoridinary city and very safe for the lone travel. It is also freakily clean to be a major city but when you see a homeless person (a very rare sight) sweeping the street outside his makeshift shelter its hardly surprising the place is so clean. Next stop Australia.