It was 9 stops on the Toei Oedo line from Tochomae to Shiodome station. Everything I had read suggested that you should not take the subway in rush hour, but I decided to do it anyway. As it happened, Shiodome was in the financial district so at each stop more and more people got on my train, and then they almost all got off with me at Shiodome. I didn’t see any train-packers - people supposedly employed to push people into the train - but it was a little cramped. And I stuck out like a sore thumb, although I felt more noticeable later in the day when the trains were less busy and you could look around a bit more. At over 6’ in my sneakers I expected to be quite a bit taller than the average person on the subway, and my long blonde/white hair was noticeable too. But I hadn’t known that my bright red knee-length raincoat would be so unusual. Everyone else on the trains was wearing either black or dark blue. Everyone, very politely, kept their heads down and occupied as little space as possible as quietly as possible.
When I got off the train I hung back a little because I needed to figure out which exit to take, but it worked out fine and when I hit the streets I recognised my location immediately (thanks once again to the Google man). It was grey and misty but I found my way with my Touch instructions to the nearest garden entrance. However I was early, the garden opened at 9 a.m., so I continued walking to the main entrance a few minutes away.
There were 3 other people waiting when I got there and I had a couple of minutes to look around. There was such a striking contrast.
Left: entrance to the garden; Right: opposite the entrance
Once I had walked through the garden I realized that this was part of what made it special. The backdrop of modern skyscrapers and city hustle and bustle is starkly contrasted with the peacefulness and calm of the Japanese style garden. Of the four gardens I visited, Hama-rikyu has a unique location. It is surrounded on 3 sides by tall buildings but on the fourth it opens out to the Tokyo Bay. This album shows the best I could do to capture the essence of the garden in the rain.
Left: Google walking map; Right: Google Earth view