Tokyo Day 6- Ueno park and Akihabara Electric town

The previous post in the series is here..

We checked into the Tokyo Dome hotel, had chai in our rooms and came out to go back to Ueno Park. It was around 4PM. We walked through the same path we missed the previous evening. Turns out there were no blossoms. We had experienced the best of Ueno park the previous evening at golden hour.

The rest of the group gave me a look that could simply be summarized in one word “Thoo!”. Well, they did not want to disappoint the photographer. I made my apologies and we were deciding where to go. Our walking buddy had called us and asked if we went to the electronic city where there are all electronic stores.

We had no idea, did some googling and found that it was actually where we had stayed the previous day!

We took a cab to Akihabara area and found this LED lit crossing where they sold electronics and video games. Interesting crowd of people all with hair died in all kinds of gold and blue and purple like in video game ads. There was a large electronics store. We walked through all the floors and decided that they were as pricey as the US. We needed some power banks. So we got a power bank each and that was that.

A video highlight reel

When we came out of this area it was already starting to get dark. So we decided to go from here to the main attraction of the evening..

Hakone Gardens

We have lived in the bay area for almost 20 years and have known of the existence of Hakone Gardens the entire time. Somehow the motivation to visit this place was not there before. Maybe it was folks telling us it is too small or the ticket price doesn't jusitfy it compared to Filoli etc.. Whatever it be, this is one of those places we simply forgot to visit. (Winchester Mystery house and Hearst castle are two other places we still have not visited).

Given this was a quiet thanksgiving weekend to be spent locally, we decided to visit. We actually had a great time. The weather was perfect and the fall colors made for great photos! 

We did not do a "tea ceremony" but spent 3 hours there and were smiling through and through cracking jokes with family. 

The place is small but amazingly beautiful. Every stone is placed perfectly. 

Here is a slideshow of the pictures in vertical format..

and one in horizontal format..

Strongly recommend this place for timepass if you are in the bay area and have only a few hours. Nice and quiet with some beautiful views of the entire bay area as you walk around the hill on the garden!