Tokyo Day 4

So the initial plan for today was to check out the sumo museum with my Dad but I sadly flaked out and decided to explore Ginza with Jane and Jonathan. I kinda regret doing this, it was a bit crap of me to leave my Dad hanging, but I was just excited about seeing my friend again I guess.

Arriving in Ginza I was once again just blown away by the scale of everything. Unlike Osaka, which is a bit of a concrete Jungle, many of Tokyo’s district are surrounded by not only huge but also very beautiful buildings. In fact it is clear that a lot of thought has gone into their design as each district seems to have it’s own look and feel.

What was Ginza’s feel you ask? I can sum it up in one handy phrase from back home. “It’s ded posh innit.” Seriously though it is very swank again the high street is lined with all th big brand names from around the world. Looking down at my primark t-shirt and shabby shorts I felt like a bit of a pleb.

After the initial shellshock had worn off it occurred to me that I hadn’t actually arranged an station exit to actually meet Jane at. Blunder since as I’ve learned there are so many places to get off the underground that we literally could have been on opposite sides of the district. As I had no means of phoning here I just decided to wonder a bit and take in the sites until she phoned me.

About 20 minutes later (it’s always 20 minutes isn’t it) and a little bit of confusion on my part we met up outside of the Sony building. It was an 8 storey exhibition hall of all Sony’s latest products and it opened at 11am. Convenient really as we managed to fn each other at 10:55.

Inside it was pretty interesting, the whole place had a sort of marine theme running through it, with gentle ambience music filtering through every floor and many images of marine wildlife. In fact, which surprised me a little given the experience I’d had with Japan and animals there seemed to be  a strong theme of conservation.

Anyway whilst there were many products on display I believe the thing they were really trying to push forward was the new 3D technology. It was very impressive and we had some un messing with the different 3D video recorders. Something else that really impressed was the new shake correction features on display, I would love to know how they worked.

 

The top floor was a large cinema displaying the Okinawa Churaumi aquarium in 3D, cheaper than flying out to Okinawa I guess. To be honest 3D mostly just hurts my eyes and there were so many people crammed in there that the effect was a bit ruined so we moved on to the neighbouring department store.

Moving down to one of the bottom floors we found many an interesting trinket that would make excellent gifts for people back home. My favorite was definitely the clockwork Llama, not sure why you’d need one but it was excellent. Jane also pointed out a rather wonderful tea strainer that was shaped like a yellow submarine, yeah alright I know I hate the Beatles and proclaim it all the time but yellow submarines still have a place in my heart.

Our final stop in Ginza was to JUSCO. JUSCO, which stands for Japanese United Stores Company, is essentially the Japanese Primark, or maybe Topshop, although in terms of price it might be somewhere in between. Either way Jane had a friend back home whom was obsessed with the place so she wanted to have a look. Jane didn’t really find anything she liked but I got myself a much needed new t-shirt.

All done with Ginza we moved on to Tokyo tower. I’ve decided I’m going to try and visit all the major towers in Japan if I can, gotta have a goal right. I think I’ll need to do a bit of research to figure out where they all our but I’ll definitely be planning some weekend excursions I think.

It was only a few stops away and didn’t actually take us very long to get there. On the approach I was really taken aback at how huge it was. I mean I knew it was big but pictures never give you a real impression. In fact it’ so large it incorporates a small amusement park, many restaurants and souvenir shops and even a small, shudder, aquarium.

After a bit of queuing we took a lift up to the 1^st viewing floor, 150 meters up. There was a second floor at around 250 meters but it was an extra 600yen and an hour wait so we felt it best to jibb. The views around Tokyo where still excellent from here. My Dad had said the previous day that the only way to really see Tokyo is from on high and he was definitely correct.

After we’d gotten snap happy and soaked up the horizons we proceeded to exit the tower via the stairs. You don’t really get an impression of how high up you are until you are walking down stairs. Before reaching the base of the tower we stopped on a small plaza that had many coin operated kids rides. I couldn’t resist a go in one of the ‘giant’ robots I was in Japan you have to ride a giant robot once it’s the law.

At the base of the tower again we headed into what seemed to be some sort of pokemon related event. I can only quess that it was promoting the latest game although it is hard to tell as Pokemania is still alive and well over here. There were people of all ages battling it out not only on their Nintendo DS’s but also via the card game, in fact I’m pretty sure I saw a 10 year old battering a rather bemused looking middle aged man. Creepy or quaint, you decide.

Leaving the tower behind we moved on to Roppongi Hills where I had agreed to meet up with the Parental unit. Due to a misunderstanding they seemed to have been waiting for me again, I really am sorry you guys. Not for long however and had headed to the top of the Roppongi hills tower a whopping 52 storeys high. As it was 2000yen I opted not to follow them up though I regret this now.

Jane’s sugar levels where starting to dip and she said something along the lines of, if I don't eat something soon it’s going to get ugly. We went over to a nearby Ice-cream place, I don't remember the name but I d remember the annoying and incessant singing of Disney songs y the staff. After a bit of a cuffufle over her Gluten allergies and the staff losing the allergen chart Jane and Jonathan were fed and appeased.

It acctualy took so long that my parents were almost done and it was time to meet them outside the tower, next to a giant spider. I said my goodbyes and that I would hopefully see Jane before she flew to Oz tommorow and met up with mum and Dad.

My Mum had been reading up about a comedy hall in Ikebukero that she though might be entertaining. Dad was done for the day and opted out of our excursion but we happily set off on our way. Lttle did we know it would be a bit of a nightmare.

Ikebukero it seemed was about 3 degrees hotter than anywhere else in Japan. It’s pretty interesting as a place but very encroaching with densely packed buildings and a lot of seemingly busy people. Finding the comedy club was a pain, nobody seemed to of heard of it by the name given in the tourist information. In fact when we did eventually find it the place was tiny. My mum decided she’d had enough for the day and didn’t fancy sitting in a little comedy club where she wouldn’t understand anything for 2 hours, I agreed.

Heading back to Ningyocho we looked for someplace to eat at for the evening. It being a Sunday and also getting on for time places were fairly limited. I picked out a restaurant that I thought seemed alright but in fact turned out to be a rather up market Izakaya, essentially just very expensive. The food was so so as unfortunately their specialty seemed to be crab and shrimp, not so great for me. It was a bit of an anti-climax to what on the whole had been a good day. Admittedly the bemused look on both my Mum and Dad's faces as they tried to work the electronic ordering panel was worth the weak food.

Dewa, mata kondo ne.

Tokyo Day 3

On day three I was woken up quite early by a rather pleasant surprise. My friend Jane from Liverpool University was finally finished visiting mount Fuji and asked if I wanted to join her and her mate Jonathan in exploring Tokyo. My own pans to summit Fuji had sadly been dashed by bad weather so I was more than happy to.

Jane also informed me that she’d heard that there would be a firework display somewhere tonight. Before heading to Shinagawa I asked about the display at the front desk, never thought I’d need to use the word “花火“ (firework) but well there you go. The clerk told me that it was one of the biggest of the year and pointed out where it would be on the map. It sounded good and was something to look forward to later.

 

After telling my parents where I was off to I started the journey to Shinagawa. It was actually a bit of a pain to get to. Whilst it is well serviced by the JR lines it is nowhere near the underground stations. Never mind I’m learning to love trains now.

Shinigawa was a pretty imposing place. It had recently undergone a regeneration and so was filled with giant skyscrapers, looming down on me from all sides. I headed over to the hotel Jane had told me she was staying at.

What she’d failed to mention was that it was a giant complex, with over 30 floors and multiple towers. In fact it also contained a cinema, an aquarium and even an indoor rollercoaster. I think the Japanese believe in go big or go home.I basically went the wrong way, ended up on the wrong side of the building in the really posh area. After a lot of confusion I managed to get to the hotel lobby where Jane and Jonathan were waiting.

It was really nice to be with some people my own age again and very nice to be chatting with some people from home. It sounded like they had been having a good time so far, although they hadn’t seen much up Fuji, confirming my fears that I wouldn’t be going up.

After a brief chat about where to go we settled on heading for Shibuya, I wanted to go back anyway and the guys were interested in trying to see some of the quirky clothing. We had a few hiccup trying to get train tickets, I’ve had an Icoca card so long now I’d totally forgotten, but were soon on our way.

Shibuya was just as sprawling during the day as it had been last night. In fact there seemed to be some sort of rally on the go though I’ve no idea what it was all about. We checked out the two 109 buildings which are the homes of all the quirky fashion shops. It was a good laugh to be honest some of the brand names and slogans where hilarious ‘engrish’.

Admittedly there is only so long that this can entertain and soon tiring of it we moved on to Akihabara, back to electric city. Wandering with no real purpose just sucks up time with not much gain though. Whilst I was happy to be with a friend I did want to see other things also.

I Showed them round one of the massive arcades, that are pretty much everywhere in Japan, and pointed out a few of my favouites. Jane I think wanted to see if anyone was playing ‘Dance Dance Revolution’ but I couldn’t find any of the machines. She rightly pointed out that Akihabara seemed to have a major male bias.

About an hour later Jonathan and Jane needed to leave to check into their hotel rooms. I opted to stay in Akihabara a little longer, I wanted to find an electronic dictionary. Talking to a few clerks though I was a bit disappointed, they seemed to all be in Japanese and incredibly expensive, not really worth it.

I had planned to see a bit more of Akihabara, there is a lot more to Akihabara than I managed to see but I just ran out of time. I needed to get back to the hotel to meet my parents before we went to see the fireworks. On the way back I stopped of briefly at the Gundam café. That's right a Gundam themed café where all the meals are inspired by the series. I bought a Gundam “taiyaki”, shaped like a mech rather than a fish and very tasty.

 

Rendezvousing with the rentals I jumped in the shower quickly before heading back out towards the location of te firework display. I was really looking forward to this. Apparently they would be setting off 10,000 and it sounded pretty exciting.

As we ot closer it looked as though all of Tokyo were coming as well. The trains were rammed as where the streets. There were people camped out everywhere, it looked like they had been there all day, grabbing the best spots. We headed towards the baseball stadium, there seemed to be something going on in there but as it was over 4000yen for a ticket we decided against it.

The fireworks were pretty impressive however we had to constantly battle not only the security but also the waves of people jostling from side to side. In the end this plus the heat of the night just got a bit too much for my Mum and Dad and so we headed back to Ningyocho. I said goodbye to Jane and Jonathan, agreeing to meet up again tomorrow, whom also headed back to their hotel.

Ningyocho was pretty dead, I guess everyone else was at the fireworks. The upshot is that we had a pick of the resteraunts. We went to the resteraunt nextdoor to the hotel which turened out to be a “すきやき“

 (sukiyaki) resteraunt. Essentially you are iven a mini gas BBQ, some slices of meat and vegetables and you grill your own dinner.

What was really unusual is that this place was serving lamb, something I’ve not come across in my time here. Very lovely, although my Dad joked it was a bit of a rip off since we were cooking everything ourselves. The waitress was alo very entertaining and I even managed a short conversation. The whole holidy has actually proved to be pretty good practice.

Ja mata minna-san.

Tokyo Day 2

So at 5am we arose from our beds to head towards the Tsukiji fish market, I said it was an early start didn’t I. My mum had read about it somewhere on the Internet and was intent to go. I won’t lie I was knackered and almost didn’t bother, but then when would I have another chance, so off we trundled.

Tsukiji was only a few stops away from Ningyocho by the underground and there were a rather surprising number of people already up and about. I guess Tokyo really doesn’t sleep, or if it does it only gets a couple of hours. Either they have an exceptional work ethic or they are chronic insomniacs.

The exit of the train station was right up alongside a rather large and very impressive Buddhist temple. I can’t remember what it was called, you’ve seen one temple you’ve seen them all,  but there were many large banners being set up for some sort of festival. I noted the dates but it would have been after we had left sadly.

Onwards to the fish market anyway. As we got closer the streets started to become much busier, it seemed many people whom we had seen on the tain were headed in the same direction. There were all manner of motorized carts hauling produce down the road.

We entered through the main gate dodging around many trucks, motorized carts and middle aged Japanese mean hauling large freezer boxes from place to place. My mum had been banging on about some kind of fish auction but it seemed as though it was already over. Still the place was a hive of activity and, with a few close calls, we made our way to the main hall.

 

Surprisingly the smells of fish where not as overpowering as I was expecting in fact it the air was pretty clear, barring the ever present buzz of activity. People were scurrying all over the place unpacking all manner of things from the earlier purchased freezer boxes.

The broad variety of fish on off was truly staggering. The usual like salmon tuna and squid where of course in attendance. However there were some other much more obscure marine denizens on offer. There were many sea urchin, I advise never trying these, giant squid, huge crabs and by valves, eel and what I’m pretty sure where slabs of whale meat.

We wandered around taking a few snaps before being collared by a security guard. Apparently we weren’t allowed into the main market and there was a designated tourist area that would open from about 9AM. Whoops. We quickly scampered back outside.

Upon exiting the market I found a sign with some guidance for visitors and we had broken pretty much every rule we could have, sadly we did not have a baby in tow or we could of broken all of them. We also discovered that there was a designated tourist area for viewing the auctions but they occurred around the other side of the market and they were long over.

 

Never mind we had seen something that very few visitors get to, sometimes it’s alright to flagrantly disregard (that ones for you Arnaud) some rules. In fact I’ve later found out that the market used to be much more open but they tightened up security following an American tourist whom insisted on touching everything. Bloomin Americans always spoiling it for everyone.

So with no desire to head back for the 9am tourist fest I went back to bed for a few hours I’d only managed to get about 4 hours that night. My parents wanted to check out a bit more of Tsukiji and we agreed to meet up a little bit later. We had agreed to head to Shibuya, fashion capital of Tokyo and the place that had been top of my list to visit, for predominantly geeky reasons.

We started our journey through the very lovely and trendy Omotesando.  A quick wiki has revealed the name means “frontal approach” and refers to the fact it leads toward the meiji shrine, more on that later. In reality Omotesando is an exquisite boulevard with all of the top worldwide fashion brands lining it’s streets.

The atmosphere was really chilled with all the trendies sauntering along at a leisurely pace from shop to shop. We stopped in a mall called Omotesando hills that was an awesome example of the quirky architecture on display in the area. We had lunch at a place called Kurruku 3, which was the nicest zaru soba I’ve eaten so far.

Moving down the road we came to the end of Omotesando and into Takeshita Street. This is another famous shopping district within the Shibuya area. The street was ram packed with people and had many interesting and bizarre fashion boutiques. I dawdled along taking in all the weird sounds and also bought myself a new hat. One of my favorites was definitely the  ‘fireman-sheik’ shop.

Sadly I was taking far to long, I really need a watch, and my poor sense of time meant I once again left my parents waiting. They were pretty hot and bothered and stopped in an ice cream shop at the entrance to Yoyogi Park whilst I wandered ahead to check out the Meji shrine.

Now my dad had said many times ‘you’ve seen one shrine you’ve seen them all’, and whilst I mostly agree I was pretty impressed with this one. The “明治神宮“ (meiji jingo) is dedicated to the emperor Meiji and his wife and is very befitting of an emperor. It lacks many of the vibrant reds that seem to predominate Shinto shrines but I think it’s understatement provides it’s beauty.

I pad my respects in front of the shrine and also purchased a charm for my parents, it was supposed to bring happiness to couples. I said it would hopefully bring them luck to stop them killing each other, to which they quickly responded that it was my life that was in danger since I was always keeping them waiting. It was a fair cop I’m pretty doo lally when it comes to time.

With the Japanese daytime heat beginning to peak the rentals were at their limit and opted to head back to the hotel. I decided to stay out and press on towards the centre of Shibuya. First stop on the way however was the NHK studios.

Shortly after leaving my parents my phone battery died, again, I always seem to forget to charge it. I was pretty gutted to be honest, it was my main means of taking photo’s, which is probably the cause of my rapidly draining batteries, and my main goal in Shibuya was to get picks of the quirky fashions.

Upon approaching the NHK studios my despair deepened. On the way up I’d noticed a few cosplayers and wasn’t sure if  it was just a normal thing or not. It wasn’t. I can only guess there was an anime convention on because the whole are was full of young adults in costume. Absolutely amazing and no pics to show for it, damnations.

I left pretty quickly since I couldn’t actually enter the NHK building and I couldn’t take pictures. It actually wasn’t far to go till central Shibuya actually. On the way I happened upon a small contemporary art studio. It was interesting although as the explanations were all in Japanese I can only guess at the meanings. Next I stopped off in a large “book-off” (best second hand book and music store name ever) and finally got my mitts on some J-rock CDs.

Central Shibuya is loud, bright and crowded. Totally crazy and I was loving it. Once I got to scramble crossing I began my computer game pilgrimage. I’d played a game a while back set in Shibuya and I wanted to see how many of the sites in the game really existed.

Remarkably quite a lot of them do and I had a little geek out. I was particularly happy to check out the statue of Hachiko. This is a statue dedicated to a dog that is a bit of an Icon in Japan due to his remarkable loyalty. Apparently a professor of agriculture took him in and Hachiko would wait for him everyday outside of Shibuya station. In fact he waited for him even long after his death, for nine years in fact until he finally passed away.

So after checking out a few sites I purchased a battery powered phone charger and called the rents. We agreed to eat separately that night, as I wanted to stay in Shibuya a bit longer. I found a really nice teishoku restaurant but sadly everything on the menu contained milk, go figure, I went next-door to a resteraunt called “niniku” (garlic) something or other. I got another very tasty Bibinbap, very garlicy unsurprisingly.

I wandered around a bit more but places were starting to close and I didn't want to risk missing the train. I really enjoyed Shibuya, I definitely needed to go back during the day for a better look around.

Mata ne

 (again a lot of credit to my dad for his fantastically fishy photo's)