Tokyo- Day 2

Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens

Another warm day; sunny one minute, sprinkles of rain the next.

There are 7-Elevens everywhere. Practically on every street corner. They have the best snacks…even sushi to go. I have become addicted to these triangles of sticky rice that are filled with salmon roe and covered in seaweed paper. I also love the hot sticky buns that are filled with red bean paste.

After a visit to the 7-Eleven, we head to the nearby Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. It is so peaceful…hard to believe that you are in the middle of the bustling city. Very pretty.

Godzilla

John is next determined to see the big Godzilla head coming out of the building that we couldn’t find last night. Alas, we find it. Very cool.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Our next task is to locate our meeting point for tomorrow’s tour. We end up walking up and down; here and there, not to mention back and forth before finally finding the spot.

It’s a twenty minute walk to the free observation area on the 44th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. The view of Tokyo is spectacular. They have maps pointing out all the highlights. We can even see the base of Mount Fuji in the distance but the upper portion is obscured by clouds. This building is well worth the visit. I want to return at night to see the sound and light shows.

Meiji Jingu Shrine

It is a twenty minute walk to Meiji Jingu Shrine. It is in a beautiful setting, surrounded by forest. It was created in 1926 in honour of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken.

Takeshita Street

We walk through Yogi Park to the Harajuku district. This is where I am seeing all kinds people wearing bright colours and wild fashion. Shopping is everywhere. We head to Takeshita-dori shopping street. Besides stores, there is also a place where for $27.00 for 30 minutes you can rent a spot to cuddle real, live mini pigs. Awfully tempting.

We stop for a tempura late lunch before taking the subway to Shibuya district.

Shibuya Scramble

This area is best known for the Shibuya Scramble Crossing. This is the world’s busiest crossing with thousands of people (some sources say 3,000 at peak times) crossing on five different crosswalks every time the light changes to walk. It is crazy. Click here for a short video.

Of course John and I cross…a few times. Then we go to Starbucks to get an overhead view of the crossing. Starbucks is on 3 levels – 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors. The 2nd floor is a regular Starbucks but 3& 4 have special lounges. We pay the equivalent of $16.50 each for access for an hour on the 3rd floor lounge above the crosswalk. We get a table beside the window.

I thought it seemed a bit expensive for coffee with a view but it actually ended up being all you can eat snacks, frozen food that you heat up in one of their microwaves and as many non-alcoholic drinks as you want.

I am stuffed by the time our hour is up.

We decide to walk around this trendy shopping, eating and bar area. It is packed. Lights are flashing, music is blasting and it is packed with people in all manners of dress. It is like Times Square intensified.

We pass through the crosswalk one more time to find the statue honouring a dog named Hachiko. This dog would meet his owner every day at Shibuya Station and continued to go every day long after his owner died.

It is already dark so we take the subway back to our hotel for a quick rest before heading out for the evening.

Night in Shinjuku

Refreshed, we head back to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building for their sound and light show. After dark the show is held every half hour. The show is well done.

We once again check out which subway exit to take for tomorrow’s tour and then head over to explore Omoide Yokocho (Old School) Restaurant Lane). This is actually an area of very narrow alleys packed with small restaurants housed in small wood buildings. Each of these old buildings can only take about 8-10 people and they have small specialized menus.

The night is very, hot and humid. It feels even warmer than the daytime.

We are in the area of the red light district known as Kabuki-cho. We walk down a street of “love motels” advertising their room rates as “short, rest and extended”. Not sure how long any of these options might be.

We walk over to check out the Godzilla head by night and walk over to another area called Golden Gai which was very similar to Omoide Yokocho but with a bit more emphasis on drinks versus food.

We ended our evening by visiting Hanazono Jinja Shrine before calling it a night.