KAT- The Beginning

(First entry in the KAT "Kickin' Around Tokyo" series)
As we peeked outside in the pre-dawn hours, it became painfully obvious that the low-hanging clouds had no intention of letting even the tiniest bit of sunshine filter through their ranks. This did not bode well for our plans to visit the seaside, photogenic town of Kamakura. We were bound by our hotel reservation to make it to Tokyo, but the two hours of travel beyond that didn’t seem quite so worthwhile as it did a few days ago, being the kind of place that should be seen in the company of blue skies and minus the threat of intense rain showers (considering all the notable places to visit are outside).

For a couple (mostly my husband) that carefully lays out sightseeing plans in order to make the most of the time spent out and about, the unfavorable conditions posed a real dilemma. There were too many other places on our list of “Things to See” in Japan to warrant a second visit, so if we followed through now, we would most likely not make it back.

Then it dawned on us. We were going to Tokyo, the urban playground of Japan. Instead of going through it and southward, why not just hop around to the locations we’ve wanted to check out for a while now anyway? We wouldn’t be nearly as exposed to the raw elements as we hopped from one soaring building to the next…

Or so we thought.