Last day in Tokyo

 In the morning of my last day in Tokyo I went to the Nezu Museum, which contains artwork and artifacts from the collection of the wealthy industrialist Nezu Kaichirou.

The first floor contained a special exhibition of screen and scroll paintings by the artists Kourin, Tokyo, and Kiitsu Trio. The artworks are considered national treasures. The second floor had displayed of Noh masks, and tea ceremony artifacts. The museum grounds are a beautiful Japanese garden.

Next I decided to check out a couple of major hubs in Tokyo. First I went to Shibuya. I found the area around the station to be very confusing, with the subway and JR stations apart from each other and all the connected shopping towers. I finally went up to a floor with restaurants to have lunch and settle down.

It's interesting that in Canada, the few remaining large department stores are struggling. Here in Tokyo, the large department store is still thriving. Riding down floor after floor on the escalators was kind of nostalgic for me.

Back outside, I found my way around, and found a place to view the famous Shibuya Crossing. The sight was even more interesting with everyone carrying umbrellas.

 Shibuya is a major shopping district with huge department stores. On the other hand the small sidestreets are full of small restaurants. Walking around, I found a craft brewery called Ottotto Brewery, so I stopped for a  beer.

Next I took the train to Shinjuku. I had heard about an area of several narrow, old passageways with tiny bars, called Golden Gai. I think I might have bumped into it on a previous trip without knowing what it was. I found it walked around.

It was a bit early so only a few places were open. I found a place with only about 5 seats. There was just one customer and the server seemed nice, so I went in. It turned out to be a great experience. The customer was from London but was half Japanese and spoke Japanese with the server. He was very friendly and started to talk to me in English, but when I told him I studied Japanese he said in Japanese, 'Well lets speak in Japanese then.' Soon a youn g Japanese guy also came in, and we all chatted in Japanese for a couple of hours.

Afterward I made my way to the hotel.