Tokyo day ten

Off to the Imperial Palace today to show Nic what it's like - it's in a lovely park but you can't see much of the palace itself cos the emperor doesn't like nosy commoners looking in apparently, so it's surrounded by massive trees, as well as the moat and walls that have been there since the year dot. After that we went to a big department store near the palace called Daimaru, but it turned out that Daimaru is the equivalent of Selfridges ie a bit snooty and v expensive. So we got the train back to Ikebukuro, and went to the Tobu department store which is much more Debenhams. We had a Vietnamese set meal that only cost £6 including a drink. Nic had a rice porridge set and came with a big bowl of soup, rice porridge (savoury rice pudding with chicken, much nicer than it sounds) and a giant spring roll stuffed with veggies and prawns - Chris got the same with chicken vietnamese curry rather than porridge. Things we have learned today:

* The Japanese Royal Family don't have the same money grabbing instinct as our own - the Imperial Palace would have been opened up for expensive tours a long time ago had it been in Britain
* Heston Blumenthal was right all along about savoury porridge
* Japanese TV's are bilingual! ( though only for some shows like the news - the game shows remain gloriously incomprehensible)
* Tony the Tiger speaks Japanese
* Japanese 'jam' donuts aren't made from jam :(