Tokyo 2019, Day 3
For our final full day in Tokyo, we decided to stroll through various neighborhoods, and our first stop was the Imperial Palace Garden. On our first trip to Japan in 2006, we had planned to go here. However, when we arrived, we discovered that they were closed on Thursdays, and it was our last day in Tokyo, so we never actually got to see it. For this trip, we made sure to check that the grounds were open. In fact, after that experience, we learned to always check when attractions are open on our trips.
As expected, there were a few areas with groomed paths and ponds with koi, but also large grassy fields that the public can enjoy:
It was nice to be able to walk around such a peaceful area with no rush to be anywhere, but we soon realized that it was lunch time and we were hungry, so we headed off to get some ramen. And for this, we needed to use a vending machine, but it was less daunting than the curry one:
There were fewer choices than at the curry place, and the main ramen bowls had pictures on them, which helped a little. I can’t remember which ones we ordered, but here’s what they looked like when they came out:
We both enjoyed our delicious bowls of ramen, and the air conditioning in the restaurant. Oh, something else worth noting when going to some of these restaurants or cafes is that sometimes the utensils will be placed on the table. They can be obvious, or they might be hidden in a small box on the table. So if your food shows up and you have nothing to eat with, then no, you’re not expected to eat with your hands. Instead, try looking for a small box, or maybe a small drawer under the table for your utensils.
From here, we headed off to Shibuya, home of the Hachiko statue. We also visited this area on our first trip to Japan, but wanted to see what was new in the area. When you first leave the Shibuya train station at the Hachiko statue entrance, you basically end up at the famous Shibuya Scramble Crossing. Here, you wait with hundreds of other pedestrians for the walk signal to turn, and then waves of humanity cross the street in every which direction. At first, it might seem chaotic, but it’s actually pretty orderly and amazing to see for the first time:
Looking back at our photos, we didn’t take too many pictures while we were here, probably because there’s just so much stuff to take in when you walk around.
We did see real life Mario Kart though:
Unfortunately, they went by fairly quickly so we couldn’t get more photos of them. I think one of them had a Mario cap on. Fortunately, no banana peels were thrown on the street, and definitely no blue shells.
As we made our way around the area, we passed by a store front with a sign in Katakana that I read as “Mega Donkey.” I paused and thought, what in the world could that be? And then we looked it up on the map, and it turns out that it’s actually the Mega Don Quixote store, which is a large, multi-story store that sells everything. The floors are apparently organized into categories, but we didn’t care, we walked every floor of it because it was just fascinating to see all the random items for sale, such as this Magikarp hat:
I mean, of all Pokemon to use for a hat, why choose the most useless one? And then the next area over is full of random party goods. There were sections for luggage, pre-packaged food, Shibuya themed souvenirs, and adult toys. It was just so amazingly strange.
We watched some recent YouTube videos from people living in Tokyo, and apparently after our trip, some cool new places opened up in Shibuya, probably to have coincided with the Tokyo Olympics. One of them is called Miyashita Park, and it looks cool, so next time we go to Tokyo, we’ll probably be back in Shibuya again.
We spent a couple of hours going in and out of various stores here, but I wanted to find a stationery store before we left Tokyo. While Japan is known for being a very technologically advanced country, they still embrace traditional writing methods, such as writing in journals or using hand written notes. Because of this, there are some cool stationery stores in the city, and the oldest one is Itoya in Ginza.
I didn’t know the extent of the range of paper goods until we walked into the store. There were 12 floors in the main store, but the first 8 were accessible at the time we visited, and 7 floors in the smaller store nearby. Obvious items such as cards and various stationery of different styles and design were sold. But they also sold journals and planners, high end wrapping paper, and every pen that you can think of. I actually managed to not leave the store with a gazillion pads of stationery and pens, but I did buy a few small stamps.
Ginza is home to all the high-end shopping, so every fashion house has a store here, as well as every other expensive retailer you could think of. Amazingly, I didn’t drag Nick into any of the fashion stores, mainly because most of them had closed by the time we left Itoya. Instead, we walked around and found the Ginza Sony Park and headed underground.
It appears to have been built on top of the old Sony building that occupied the space, and was turned into a multi-use structure. On one of the floors underneath, there was a music-themed exhibit. In one area, various posts with Japanese musicians were on them, and headphones that you could use to listen to their music:
I quickly scanned to find Utada Hikaru, my favorite Japanese musician, but I can’t remember if she had a station there. Nick didn’t know any of these musicians and ended up on this pole, whose name I can’t read. I think he’s enjoying it…
And in another area was a circle of small lighted tubes. I think each represented an instrument or something, and all were playing the same piece of music, if I remember correctly:
This area was an unexpected, but fun little surprise. I just wish I knew more Japanese music.
It was getting to the time when most of the other stores were about to close, so we headed into the nearest department store just to check it out. On the top floor was an area that sold various food items, such as this:
No, we did not buy this, so if you want to know what this is like, you’ll have to go to Ginza yourself and buy it.
On the way back to the hotel, we walked through the underground food hall of the department store on the way to the train station, and Nick decided to get a couple of bottles of beer to enjoy back in the hotel room:
I’m pretty sure he bought these beers solely based on the label.
And that was it for our time in Tokyo because the next morning, we were off to Kanazawa!