Western Tokyo

On our first full day in Tokyo, I'd planned for us to tackle the western side of the city. It's where a lot of the icons of Tokyo are located - the famous Shibuya crossing and Harajuku, to name a couple. The sky was gorgeous and blue and the weather not as hot as I'd worried - though we were still sweating within blocks of the hostel. 

Our first stop was Shibuya, where we saw our first glimpse of the famous scramble from the metro station. To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed - the world's busiest crosswalk was nowhere as big as I'd imagined. We got our picture taken next to the statue of Hachi the dog, then crossed the street to Starbucks. We ordered matcha Frappuccinos off the English menu, Monica adding a hunk of chocolate cake to hers. The seats overlooking the intersection were full, so we settled for a partial view down a side street and had fun people-watching. The scramble was definitely cooler from above - I took a quick video when the lights changed. 

Next we headed down to Tokyu Department Store, at the behest of one of Monica's coworkers. The first floor was all designer goods and cosmetics, so we checked the basement, where the food was. It was amazing, especially the fruit. All very expensive (think $100 for a melon), but each cherry and apple and carrot was like the perfect model of what a cherry or apple or carrot should look like. We also saw several types of fruits and veg we couldn't identify. It was really fun to browse.

We headed back to the station and caught the Yamanote line to Harajuku. We decided to visit Meiji Shrine first. We ended up walking in the wrong direction for a ways, alongside the park, but unable to cross thanks to the metro tracks. Eventually, we found our way to the entrance and took the long walk back to the shrine, passing by the row of colorful sake barrels. We stopped by the fountain to rinse our hands (it felt sooo good in the heat) and walked into the grounds. The main shrine couldn't be entered due to reconstruction and the grounds were beautiful but sparse, so there wasn't much else for us to do but watch people pray and go look for the Goshuin-cho window, where I bought my book.

We walked back to Harajuku Station and crossed the street to the shopping area. We quickly got lost in the backstreets and stumbled across the Volks dollfie store. (I would have loved to have gone in, partly out of admiration and partly for the weirdness factor, but it was closed.) We wound our way back to the main strip, where we got drinks from a vending machine - I tried to get water going by the label design and failed, ending up with a Pocari Sweat knock-off - and chilled for a sec in a park full of smokers that had spotty wifi. I caved and got takoyaki from a nearby vendor. Monica doesn't eat fish or seafood, so I finished off six molten balls of delicious fried octopus before admitting defeat. I dropped the rest in the only public trashcan in Tokyo and we headed down to Takeshita Dori.

 

It was actually really fun. Jam-packed, but the people-watching and stores were amazing. We stopped by a DAISO (dollar store) where we both got tenugui to mop up our sweat. (Monica got panda print, I got wind chimes.) I also bought a coin purse and Monica a sewing kit. The checkout was run super efficiently, despite the tour group currently leaving the store. I quickly attempted to find correct change as two tall, blonde Spaniards in full Lolita fashion checked out in front of us. Back on the street, we walked past crepes, cotton candy, and drinks in lightbulb-shaped glasses. We popped into loads of cute shops - accessory stores, clothing stores, a LINE character shop, a shop of men's underwear in Japanese prints. At one store, I bought a black top with a white, cat-shaped collar. Monica got a great shirt with a dinosaur in place of the Lacoste alligator and fabric spikes along the shoulders.We looked at posters for a cat cafe, but didn't go in.

Once we were done in Harajuku, we caught the train to Shinjuku (accidentally going back one stop to Shibuya in the process). Once there, we hiked west to the Metropolitan Government Building, which has a 45th floor observatory. The views were neat - we could see the Skytree, Tokyo Tower, even the mountain range in front of Fuji - which was covered by clouds, as usual. What was also cool was the toy shop in the center of the 45th floor. Monica and I both got a Hello Kitty crushed penny - in lieu of a coin, a small copper disk was used. I also got a "surprise" Sailor Moon mini-figure that holds on to the edge of your glass. (It turned out to be Tuxedo Mask instead of one of the Sailor Scouts, of freaking course.) :/ 

We walked back to the station and then a bit beyond, to 'Memory Lane', a.k.a. 'Piss Alley'. It's an area of Tokyo that's pretty much unchanged since the 50s - loads of eateries and bars crammed into a few blocks. The narrow alleyways were filled with fried meat on sticks, oysters, and loads of smoke. We ended up finding a place indoors - A.C., yay! - that sold gyoza. It seemed to be popular with both tourists and locals and the walls were covered with signed pictures. We got some cucumber pickles, rice, and gyoza and a mixed shochu drink (for me). The gyoza was delish. The name of the restaurant was written only in Kanji, so despite my google translate app, we couldn't figure it out till I looked it up later - Gyoza no Antei Shinjuku. It doesn't have great reviews on Tripadvisor, but we ended up eating a lot of gyoza in Japan, and for us, it may have been our favorite.

I ended up liking Tokyo much more than I'd expected. I knew not to expect things to be super modern - it feels high tech in a 90s sort of way - but it wasn't as formidable as I'd imagined either. It's sprawling, yes, but the streets are wide and there are fewer tall buildings than you might think. Tokyo charmed me the most in its distinctly Japanese quirks, from model fruit to vending machines and food display cases to bars packed with salarymen.