I woke up at 8.30 a.m. I was tired last night and disturbed by the siren of ambulance at 4 o'clock in the early morning.

Mr. and Mrs. Toyoda would bring us for outing today. It was a Sunday and Mr. Toyoda did not work. We met at Tokiwadai Station at 10 a.m. Last night Mrs. Toyoda told us that we would go to Asakusa. But we did go to Asakusa the last two times we came to Tokyo. Therefore, Solomon wished to go to visit the Tokyo Transportation Museum at Chiyoda-ku.

We went to Ikebukuro by train and transferred to Awajicho Station. We arrived at Awajicho Station at 10.45. We found the Museum soon after getting out of the Station. There were many children in the museum. After visiting the exhibitions at the ground floor, mama and I were tired and took a rest at the ground floor. Mr. and Mrs. Toyoda brought Solomon to visit other exhibitions.

Before leaving the Museum at about 1 p.m., Mr. Toyoda bought a bullet train model for Solomon. That was his favorite. He liked to collect models of bus, taxi and train, etc.

We went to the nearby Mansei Restaurant for lunch at 1 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Toyoda as well as mama were taking steak. Solomon was taking Children Beef Meal. I took mushroom rice. There were a few floors at this restaurant and every floor served different types of food.

Electric City at Akihabara

While taking lunch, we could see the Electric City at Akihabara. The roads of Manseibashi and Electric City were crowded. No vehicles were allowed to travel on those roads on Sundays.

We took an hour to enjoy our lunch. After that, we went to the Mansei Bridge to take pictures. Solomon was very happy to see that no motor cars there on Sundays. He stood on the middle of the road for a few pictures, and even sitting on the road.

We saw some youngsters doing performance in the street, but we did not stop and watch. When passing by some electrical appliances shops, Mr. Toyoda said that not to let Solomon know about it. But, Solomon had already seen the name of "Electric City". I told Mr. and Mrs. Toyoda that Solomon had agreed to buy the "Gameboy" only after his PSLE. They were also happy to learn about his decision.

I saw many Gingko trees along the road. It seemed that the Gingko leave was the symbol for Chiyoda-ku. I was happy to see the Gingko leave. It was because of an incident happened in December 2000. I was sent to hospital when I felt giddy at work place. After discharging from the hospital, my family doctor subscribed the tablet of Gingko leave for me. I later bought some Gingko tea bags to make tea. I was eventually recovered. That was the reason I liked Gingko leave. I finally saw the real Gingko leave. I picked up two leaves and kept in my notebook.

The Market Under the Railway

We walked to a market. There were quite crowded. I heard the noise made by the train. After looking up, I found that those shops were built under the railway. The shops had various types of goods. There were dried foods, jeans, glasses, wallet, jewelry, etc.

When we arrived in Tokyo on the first day, I asked Mrs. Toyoda whether there was any flea market. She told us that there were only supermarkets around Tokiwadai. When we were at Akihabara, I saw a few shops selling secondhand goods. I was very happy. When I saw the shops under the railway, I enjoyed window-shopping very much.

After walking for a long distance, we were tired. We went to a Cafe to have some foods and drinks. It was very crowded. Those people were tired and thirsty. Take a break and continue shopping.

Ueno Onshi Park

Ueno Park is a spacious public park located in the Ueno section of Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan. It occupies the site of the former Kan'eiji, a temple closely associated with the Tokugawa shoguns. The temple was destroyed during the Boshin War. It was opened to the public in 1873. The name of the park can be translated as "Ueno Imperial Gift Park."

Ueno Onshi Park is a famous place in Tokyo to see cherry blossom. The best season to view the cherry blossom is in March to April. As we were there in June, we could only see rows of cherry trees.

There were many beautiful lotus flowers in the Shinobazu Pond. I like lotus and bamboo very much. When I see them, I must take some pictures of them.

There were rows of notes tied to strings beside a temple. Not far apart, there were also rows of pieces of small wooden boards. Mrs. Toyoda said that those notes were fortune notes people got from the temple. For those people who drew a good fortune note, they would bring home the good luck. For those who drew a not so good luck note, they would tie it on the string and leave the bad luck behind. That made me recalled our childhood, we would say a pray when we saw anything that we thought would caused us bad luck. It was really a joke!

I went to see the rows of wooden boards and found that they were different kinds of wishes of people. There was a person wished to earn a lot of money and to buy a luxurious house. He drew the symbols of money ($) and drew a simple picture of house. It made me recalled two incidents. First, there was a coward loan shark who threw paints to our door and he wrote "O$P$" on the wall. I did not understand it initially. And my son Solomon told me that it meant "Own $ Pay $". Second, the person who wished to be rich and buy a luxurious house. The meaning of "buying a big house" in Teochew is to buy a coffin to rest in peace, and not a house to stay.

Boating! Solomon Liked It

Solomon was excited when we went to the Boat House. Mr. and Mrs. Toyoda were also fond of boating. They accompanied Solomon to enjoy boating. Mama and I took the opportunity to rest in the Park.

Solomon was fond of boating, bumping-car and roller coaster. Those were the activities I did not like. It made Solomon disappointed when we went to any amusement park. When three of them row the boat further away from the Boat House, I went to the Park to take more pictures.

After an hour's boating, three of them came back and we prepared to go home. At 5.40 p.m., we took the express train at Ueno Station. The train passed by Oku Station and arrived at Akabane Station. We then took the 6 p.m. bus to Tokiwadai.

As Mrs. Toyoda had to alight at Maenocho to go home first, Mr. Toyoda accompanied us to Tokiwadai. Mrs. Toyoda said that we went back to rest and they would bring us out for dinner. We thought that all of us were tired after a one-day tour and suggested we should not trouble them again.

After Mrs. Toyoda alighted, the bus turned at a junction and reached Tokiwadai where our apartment was. We alighted at the bus station. It was just opposite the apartment. Mr. Toyoda walked home from there. It took us only twenty-five minutes to travel from Akabane to Tokiwadai. If we travel by ourselves, we would only follow the route we were familiar and would take a big round.

We had stayed in the apartment for a few days. I used to use the shower for bathing to save water. I thought I had to use the bathtub to enjoy the "hot spring" tonight.

We took our dinner before eight o'clock. Solomon was still full of energy and he asked me to play Sumo with him in the bedroom. We did not know that the sliding doors of the bedroom were made of thick papers. We hit the door and it broke. Oh dear! There was a hole on the door.

We had to stop playing Sumo. As there was nothing else that Solomon could play, he suggested that we went for a walk. It was very quiet on the road. We went to the 24-hour store and walked about.