Tokyo - part I

I came to the conclusion that posting things chronologically, as I visited them, wouldn’t be practical. So, even though the first post is an exception as it is about my first dat in Tokyo, the other two will be a bit mixed. I apologise in advance if anywhere gets chaotic and I’d like to inform you in advance that all three posts will be rather big (both in terms of the writing and pictures), which may be a problem for those of you with slower Internet. But I hope that the contents will be worth it.

It’d seem appropriate to start from the beginning, that is from the moment I boarded the night bus bound for Tokyo. And let me tell you, that was quite a surprise – a good one. Being used to the National Express, I expected something more or less the same. Oh no, my lovelies! First I was informed by the driver where is my seat (there’s no option of buying it in advance and I don’t know how they are assigned). As it turned out, window or aisle seat, it made no difference as the curtains were shut and zipped to stay in place – after all it is a night bus and effort was made to make sure that the passengers had a good environment to sleep. But here came the biggest shock: on every seat there was a blanket and a pillow, and everyone got a disposable pair of slippers (which could be kept). After such treatment, even if they could turn the light off a bit earlier than after the last stop before Tokyo itself, it’ll be very difficult to go back to National Express…

Once I finally arrived in the capital, my first real stop (other than the drop off place and the metro stations) was Shibuya (渋谷), known globally as the place to shop and home to one of the most famous Japanese pictures: the scramble crossing. At six-something/seven am on a Sunday even in Tokyo there is less people (though to say “a little” would be an exaggeration), which meant that I got a window seat in Starbucks facing the crossing. Priceless, even if the rising sun did blind me right until staff shut the blinds a little.

While having tea and a sandwich I waited for a friend of mine, who hosted me for the first three nights, and then we went straight on, heading first for nothing else but the famous Harajuku (原宿).

Harajuku is known in Japan, and across the world, as the heart of all that’s sweet, cute, lovely and what not, mainly in terms of fashion and accessories, but not limited to that. Whoever watched the Kyary Pamyu Pamyu video in the previous post, imagine a whole street like that, but with more pink and more people, and you’ll have a pretty good image of the most famous street in Harajuku: Takeshita-dōri (竹下通り). I won’t lie, upon seeing all these sweet, cute, lovely things, most of which also sparkled, the kitsch-loving magpie in me jumped in joy – my wallet less so, since I spent most of my money in Harajuku, but let’s not dwell on that too much.

View from below.

View from Bodyline's balcony (lolita clothing shop).

And the other side of the balcony view.

Cute murderous teddies.

Awesome grafitti hidden in between buildings.

What’s interesting, other than the loud and eye-hurting capital of sweet, cute and lovely, Harajuku also has a piece of more traditional Japan to offer: the Meiji Shrine (明治神宮). I must’ve mentioned it already that unless one is very interested in Japanese shrines and/or Shintō deities, then seeing a couple of shrines and temples in Japan means you’ve seen them all. However, Meiji-jingu differs in terms of scale – I think I’ve only seen shrines this big in Kyōtō. Moreover, since Meiji-jingu is a popular tourist spot, it’s hard to find this peaceful atmosphere that aids deep thoughts, though if you are looking for an escape from the noise of Takeshita-dōri, this shrine will certainly do and it is literally only a few minutes’ walk away.

And again I stumbled upon newlyweds after a Shintō ceremony.

Having eaten a little, my friend and me jumped in the metro, this time heading for Asakusa (浅草). A digression: if anyone is going to Tokyo, bear in mind that this is not a city to sit. Practically not at all. I only know of one park in Tokyo, Yoyogi, and to go there just to sit down seems a bit, well, pointles (for the locals Yoyogi is an escape from the concrete all around and a place of many interesting events, but other than that it’s just a park and as far as I know tourists don’t really go there). Just-benches to sit down in places also don’t exist, even the train/metro stations veeery rarely have a place to sit down. In order to do that and let your legs rest, you must either have some luck in the metro (and even then you won’t be sat down for long), or pay somewhere for a drink or some food and, along with that, the privilege of sitting down – and hope that there will be a sitting place available and, for non-smoking people, that none of the people around you will smoke (in Japan there’s no ban on smoking in public places and only some restaurants/fast-foods have seats/floors for smoking and non-smoking people). And if you do decide to go with the latter option, hold onto your seat for as long as you possibly can, until they literally throw you out – which is easy enough to do – because you never know when will be the next chance for your legs to rest a bit. I have bruises on my legs where I tucked my jeans into my boots from walking day til night, and I did allow myself some breaks in cafes or other MackyD’s.

Still! Asakusa. Other than being known for cheapest hostels until recently (though they’re still quite cheap, I checked), it’s most known for the Buddhist Sensō-ji (浅草寺). And for the street leading up to it which is literally made out of stalls selling slightly kitsch, but stereotypically Japanese souvenirs or food, or some less kitsch, but still Japanese things… You could say that it’s a bazaar leading up to a temple. Again, due to crowds Sensō-ji isn’t overly temple-like, but it is definitely impressive, in my opinion probably more so than Meiji-jingu, though this is a very subjective opinion.

I also hear that Asakusa is known for being the geisha district in Tokyo and that apparently there are still some working around, but for one I think in this crowd they’d be even more difficult to spot. As for two… well, if someone is really interested in geisha, I think they should try to find them in Kyōtō or some other city spared during the war and known for the traditional Japanese culture, not the modern one (ekhm, Kanazawa, ekhm).

Picture to see the scale.

Apparently climbing up and touching this giant sandal is supposed to bring you good luck.

To end the day of sightseeing well, before heading home, we went to see the night time panorama of Tokyo. Sure, you can go and see it during the day, but let’s be honest, you’d have to be a massive fan of concrete to want to do that, though maybe the higher you go the prettier it gets… Anyway, at night it certainly is impressive and even though you can see it from a few different places, we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Tokyo-to Chōsha (東京都庁舎), mainly because of the free entry, while other places charge astronomical prices.

Although there are quite a few places in Tokyo where you can feel small and insignificant, nothing makes you realise the infinity of the capital like its night-time panorama. I had a similar experience two years ago, but then I knew that I was looking at a couple of cities – in this case the lights all the way til the horizon belonged to only one Tokyo. And you know that somewhere there, far away, where you can’t see any more lights are mountains too high to live – or maybe it’s just too far for the lights to be seen. I regret that I don’t have a better camera, however, I did manage to take a few snaps where you can quite clearly see pieces of this vastness. (The 'halos' are in fact the reflection of my camera in the window).

And on that positive note ends the story of the trip’s first day. I have to admit, it was intensive (both my friend and me returned knackered, and I’m still surprised at how I managed to walk and see this much on only a couple of hours of sleep in the coach), but also so typically… Tokyo-like. For a first time in the Japanese capital this first day definitely ticked all the boxes I could’ve possibly had.