August 9, 2009

• Japan (Day 2-3): a funny thing happened on the way to Shinjuku

  The first three days I spent in Tokyo. Now, I’ve mentioned years ago that Tokyo is a great place to visit, but after a few days it does get to me (too big, too crowded, too… inescapable). But I limited my stay in the city to just enough time to enjoy. Onto the days.

  Date: June 28th Location: Tokyo (Shibuya, Akihabara, Harajuku) Brought to you by kaiten-sushi

  For my first full day in Tokyo, the plan is to meet up with L, one of my friends from college, and hang out around Shibuya and Akihabara for the day. After I pick up my JR Rail Pass that morning (more on that in the next update), I head over to Shibuya pretty early to check out a bit of the city before meeting up.

  

  Of all places in Tokyo, Shibuya is the place I have the most affinity for. Five years ago, whenever I came to the city I stayed at my uncle’s house, which was only a short walk from Shibuya itself–so, I spent a lot of time here. Surprisingly, the area doesn’t change that much: the same major stores and buildings are all there, with only the content shifting around (「行く川の流れは絶えずして、しかももとの水にあらず。」).

  I met up with L at Hachiko (where else?) and after some lunch, we headed over to Akihabara.

  Akihabara is my other favorite area of Tokyo. Then again, every time I go there I spend too much–though that wasn’t the case this time, as all I picked up were some USB drives (really tiny ones the size of a fingernail). But I’m really more about the atmosphere of a place, rather than its shopping potential. Speaking of which, one trend has popped up in the last few years that I find irritating: maid outfits. You can’t turn around in Akiba without seeing someone dressed in a maid outfit handing out flyers/adverts. Now, I understand the reason for having attractive women handing out flyers… but the maid outfits are overkill. No pictures of this for obvious reasons. If you go there, you’ll see what I mean, whether you want to or not.

  On the way back, me and L went to a kaiten-sushi place in Shibuya for dinner. I’d completely forgotten how much better sushi is when it’s fresh. I mean I knew, but I forgot to what extent. They had a seven plate minimum there which, naturally, was very easy to meet (I think I had 10 or so total).

  As if that wasn’t enough, after dinner I decided to take a quick trip down to Harajuku. With the JR Pass, all JR lines are free, so going around on a whim like this is pretty easy. All I was really doing was looking around for a Book-Off that I remember being in the area, and though I never really found it, just going along Takeshita street and looking around was good enough. Thus ends my first full day. And, this vacation was only beginning.

  Date: June 29th Location: Tokyo (Shinjuku, Tsukiji, Tokyo Tower, Roppongi) Brought to you by inept police officers

  A funny thing happened on the way to Shinjuku…

  The next day I went to make all my Shinkansen reservations for the next two weeks at Shinjuku station. While I was checking out a map, a police officer approaches me and asks…

  Officer: Do you speak Japanese? [in Japanese] Me: Yes, I do. Officer: May I see your alien registration card? I raise an eyebrow in a “???” expression. Me: I’m a tourist. I have a passport… Officer: -nods- I open my passport to the page with the tourist visa stamp. Once he sees the US passport, the stamp, and the JR pass in my folder, his demeanor does a complete 180. Officer: Ah, I see! So when did you arrive? Me: The day before yesterday. We go through some more small talk over where I’m going on vacation, where I studied Japanese, and so on, before he finally goes back to his business.

  Ah yes. I’d almost forgotten how xenophobic some people can be. Well, at least he didn’t accuse me of stealing my own bicycle.

  Anyway! The plan for the day was to meet up with my former host sister from 1999, N, who’s now living in Tokyo. We were going to meet up at Tsukiji, but I had some free time in the morning and decided to look around Shinjuku a bit. Shinjuku is more of a commercial area, not so much geared towards tourism… which was fine, since it meant I could look around at the buildings and skyscrapers without it being too crowded. Oh, and you can’t get away from those damn Caramelldansen images:

  

  From there, it’s on to Tsukiji. Tsukiji Fish Market is well-known for having the freshest fish anywhere, and even the auctions have attracted tourists–who, in recent years, have caused some friction between the vendors and sightseers. My host sister N and I were going to get lunch there and, from there, head over to Zojoji and Tokyo Tower. It was good seeing N again, particularly now that (unlike a decade ago) I can actually communicate in Japanese well enough to where we could talk and catch up on how everything has been going. And, well, what can I say about lunch other than it was the best chirashi I’ve ever had.

  N took me by two temples thereafter. One was a temple at Tsukiji that was really gorgeous–whereas most Buddhist temples are modeled after a Chinese style, this one was modeled after an Indian style (photo on left). The second was Zojoji Temple, near Tokyo Tower (photo on right). Although it was under renovation, it was still a sight to see.

  

  Thereafter, it was onto Tokyo Tower. Would you believe that I’d never been there before, despite having visited the city at least 4 or 5 times? Well, in any case, N and I went up to the observation deck to have a look around. It really is a great view of the city–you can see all the way to Odaiba.

  

  The last stop was Roppongi Hills. Again, I’d never been here before, despite having visited the city at least 4 or 5 times. Then again, it’s a relatively new place (built in 2003). The interior of the mall area is pretty gorgeous, and very modern-looking. If shopping is your thing, it’d be the place to go; even if it isn’t, it was interesting enough for me.

  That’s that… My first stop was over. Next, it’s back to Nagoya and Kasugai. KF

  • 6:49 pm
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