We started our next day in Tokyo at a relaxed pace and went to the oldest temple Senso-ji with its 5 storey pagoda and many little shops. We did the typical tourist activity of a tour by ricksaw first. The driver was full of information on local theatres, musical instruments and religion.

Cherry blossom season is a huge event in Japan with forecasts being changed daily so people can make plans for picnics, parties and viewings. This year due to the weather there was ashort early season and we missed it by days. We did see some late blooming blossom at Senso-ji but decided to head to Ueno Park one of the main areas for viewing.

There were picnickers in cordoned off areas who had obviously booked their spots in advance but not a lot of cherry blossom left.

I am not convinced by this tradition of picnicking on plastic sheets at the side of a path.

We went to an older low rise area of tokyo at the far side of the path and chose a random neighbour hood restaurant for dinner. They spoke to English and our japanese is limited to hello, goodbye and thank you.

Thanks to the plastic models of food in the window and a lot of pointing and laughing we all got dinner.

This type of ordering has to be part of the essential tourist experience in Japan.