Tokyo - the last stop of my journey.....
Well, I knew Tokyo would be a big, crowded, busy city, but I was still in for a shock. You have to remember, Id spent the last three days at a mountain resort town, and the week before that at a zen temple. What surprised me most, however, was just how different it is. Tokyo is a world in itself that is different from the rest of Japan, I believe. The jostling, super-sized city life has left behind the reserved, careful friendly mannerisms I'd seen elsewhere, and replaced them with a rougher expressiveness. At first it feels more like a North American city in some ways, but then it has that urban quirkiness that is still uniquely Japanese, and there are a lot of fascinating things to see.
I spent a large part of my first day in Akihabara. Its called the electronics area, but its much more than that. There are plenty of small shops on the side streets selling specific electronic parts and tools for the hobbyist, plenty of gadgets for smart phones, etc, and computers. Along the major streets there are large department stores selling everything from cameras to kitchen appliances. I got most of my gift shopping done.
There are also shops for manga comics and DVDs, and the area originally catered to the "geek" culture.
And of course, maid cafes.
I had hoped to see more of "cosplay", or young people dressed up in costumes like superheroes for example. However I only saw a few people in the crowd, dressed in a very goth-like style.
Beside Harajuku is the Meiji shrine, dedicated to emperor Meiji who presided over the modernization of Japan in the 1800s. He still seems to be highly revered. I walked through the park to the shrine, and back.
From there I went one more train stop to the Shibuya area, another shopping and restaurant district. Again, the sheer density of people is unbelievable.
Well, after a bit of a late night the night before, and after making my way through crowds all day, I am exhausted. Im surprised I lasted as long as I did, but Tokyo seems to have an energy of its own that carries you along.
Well, I knew Tokyo would be a big, crowded, busy city, but I was still in for a shock. You have to remember, Id spent the last three days at a mountain resort town, and the week before that at a zen temple. What surprised me most, however, was just how different it is. Tokyo is a world in itself that is different from the rest of Japan, I believe. The jostling, super-sized city life has left behind the reserved, careful friendly mannerisms I'd seen elsewhere, and replaced them with a rougher expressiveness. At first it feels more like a North American city in some ways, but then it has that urban quirkiness that is still uniquely Japanese, and there are a lot of fascinating things to see.
I spent a large part of my first day in Akihabara. Its called the electronics area, but its much more than that. There are plenty of small shops on the side streets selling specific electronic parts and tools for the hobbyist, plenty of gadgets for smart phones, etc, and computers. Along the major streets there are large department stores selling everything from cameras to kitchen appliances. I got most of my gift shopping done.
There are also shops for manga comics and DVDs, and the area originally catered to the "geek" culture.
And of course, maid cafes.
I went into a maid cafe, and its really more of a performance than anything. The kind of goofy place you take someone to celebrate a birthday, for example. The girls put on an exaggerated, anime-inspired, giggling cuteness. When you enter, someone shouts a greeting and everybody already there applauds. The customers were of all ages, men and women. Everything was in Japanese, but I saw a few other tourists. The girls call you "master". You are seated and then on "one-two-three" you say something in Japanese with some hand motions, that I really didn't understand. The food consists of things like an omelette with an anime character drawn on it. I ordered the curry rice which was done up to look like a cute bear. There were a couple of groups celebrating a birthday, and everyone sang "Happy Birthday". At one point one of the girls did a little dance to a J-pop song. Every customer gets a picture taken with one of the girls, accompanied by laughter and applause.
OK, been there, done that.
From Akihabara I went back to the hotel for a bit, and in the evening when to the Roppongi area. I first got out of the station at the new Roppongi Hills development, which has residences, theaters, an art museum, a park, and lots of shops and restaurants. The 52nd floor of one of towers has an observation deck where you can get a view of the city. In the background of this picture you can see the relatively new Tokyo Skytree, one of the tallest structures in the world, I think.
From Roppongi Hills I went through the station to the other end, and came to the Roppongi area which is a major street filled with restaurants and bars. It is one of the main night-life areas in Tokyo. You sees lots of tourists and ex-pats, and Japanese all dressed up for the night out. I found a great little pub that has really good craft beers from Japan, and the people were very friendly.
There is a bit of a seedy edge to Roppongi, however. As you walk by, large foreign guys call to you to come into their bar or "gentlemens club". If you try to ignore them, they go "hey, I'm talking to you" and actually grab you by the arm. This is the only place in Japan I didn't feel totally safe.
The next day, I went to Harajuku. This is a major shopping area. And Takeshita street caters to the pre-teen and teen crowd. This was Sunday, and it was literally wall-to-wall people.
Beside Harajuku is the Meiji shrine, dedicated to emperor Meiji who presided over the modernization of Japan in the 1800s. He still seems to be highly revered. I walked through the park to the shrine, and back.
From there I went one more train stop to the Shibuya area, another shopping and restaurant district. Again, the sheer density of people is unbelievable.
Well, after a bit of a late night the night before, and after making my way through crowds all day, I am exhausted. Im surprised I lasted as long as I did, but Tokyo seems to have an energy of its own that carries you along.
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