We had a long 12 hours of sleep
this day, and we got up later than before at 6:30 in the morning. We had breakfast in the closer restaurant to
our room at the hotel that overlooked a lovely Japanese garden though the food
spread was substantially smaller than the previous breakfast. It was a convenient place, however, since we usually
had to go downstairs and around and then upstairs to reach the other wing of
the hotel where the first café was.
After breakfast, we set out for our
next destination: Shibuya and the Meiji Shrine. We took the Chiyoda line to Meiji-Jingumae
Station and emerged out into a busy city street. Not a block away, we could see trees as far as
the eye could see in a vast and forested park.
Indeed, the Meji Shrine is not just a shrine but covers the entirety of
this park surrounded entirely by trees planted there. The shrine deifies the Meiji Emperor and
Empress who modernized Japan and sits in the center of this beautiful
spot. The Jinguemae Bridge is normally famous for its
cosplayers (people who dress in costume). Sadly, no cosplayers there
that day.
The approach to the shrine is
entirely forest. Walking through it, we
immediately left any semblance of the city behind. All sounds of traffic, all buildings gave way
to the forest, so much so that one would easily forget he is in the middle
of a city! There were barrels of sake
(supposedly empty) donated on either side of us.
Here and there were massive, massive
spiderwebs. And where there were webs, there were spiders. I don’t like
spiders. I don’t like them at all. These were big black things big as my hand, with
bright orange coloring on the joints and abdomen. We saw a lot of these spiders throughout our
trip with massive webs everywhere, but this was our first introduction to
them.
(Meiji Courtyard)
(The Prayer Trees)
There is a prayer tree on one side, and my
family and I took time to write out well wishes for our trip and tie them around
a wire at the base of the tree. There
was a serene, peaceful feeling to the place.
Hardly a soul there, save a family for their daughter’s blessing (Shichi-go-san)
or some older folks in traditional kimono.
This was an entirely different world from the busy streets outside.
(Shichi-Go-San)
We walked around the rest of the
park. Here and there were buildings
at the distance. It’s strange to think one is in the middle of the city and not at the edge of it.
(View of Tokyo from the phark)
(Beautiful formal gate at the entrance to the shrine)
After leaving the shrine, we
walked down through Shibuya ward. This
was a trendy area with lots of high fashion shops. It reminded my mom of Beverly Hills, near
where I grew up, and frankly I recognized the resemblance. We stopped by one store, the Oriental Bazaar
that had neat Japanese souvenirs and beautiful modern woodblock prints by
Kogitsu Tsuchiya. Next was the Oda Museum of Art. This museum houses some of the most famous ukiyoe (wood block) prints in its collection. Most of what we saw was a gory display of disemboweling
of samurai, but there were some prints of famous spirits of Japan that were
kind of neat.
(Shibuya Crossing)
Finally, we went round-a-bout to
Shibuya crossing, perhaps one of the busiest intersections in the world. Here, I must remind my readers of the
following: Not a few blocks away is a
forest…and in this space there was no sign of the city. In Shibuya, it’s all huge skyscrapers, big
department stores, shops, lights and noise.
There are a ton of people, all moving with a frenetic pace. The whole of this spot is tense with an electricity moving in the billboards, the streets, the sidewalks and shops. I hesitate to call it Vegas-esque because
that would make it tacky. It’s like Times
Square in New York in some ways, though I have never been there.
(Shibuya Street)
We had hoped to try to find food
in a department store, but we had a hard time. Our first stop was the famous Shibuya 109, a
trendy department store, but it was too gaudy. My next suggestion was to find soba, but we
got lost. Thankfully, we were helped by
a wonderful lady from Taiwan who guided us to Tokyu Department Store just down
one way. There are so many strange signs, shops and restaurants. Everything is jam-packed one on top of
another without a rhyme and reason to a person of western abilities. There are signs, but all in Japanese.
In any case, we ate on the eighth
floor of the Tokyu Department Store in a little bento-box place. It was a fun experience, being served
wonderful dishes of rice in this little back area of the restaurant. There were so many others restaurants there, but we
decided on this one because of its uniqueness. After lunch my mom decided to explore the
building.
The art of the true bookstore is
not lost in Japan as it is in the United States. Borders, Barnes and Noble? Pssh. Try
a book store about the size of a target.
Rows upon rows of subjects on everything imaginable. Huge displays of writing implements, things
that we just don’t see anymore in the United States. One of the fun things for me was to go into the children’s section and see favorite titles from my childhood in
Japanese. There were also manga which I
perused, despite not being much of a fan of manga. Leaving the department store, we went back
to the crossing and took a picture in front of the statue of Hachiko. This symbol of a dog’s loyalty to its owner
has been at this station for a few decades now, and it was neat to see in
person.
(Hachiko)
Shibuya Station is massive, and
thankfully, we didn’t go down into the bowels of it, but instead decided to try
out our JR rail pass on an official JR rapid line to Roppongi (which we skipped
on our first full day). Roppongi is a
massive section of city. In fact, the Roppongi Hills area was
built to be a self-encompassing city within a city. I first learned about this place in college when my professor talked about the desire in Tokyo to deal with
overcrowding. Roppongi was one of the
first developments to try to tackle the task.
(Roppongi Mori Tower)
We walked up to a gleaming, beautiful and
modern structure called the Mori Tower.
Our goal was to see the top level and take in the sights, and I was
prepared to pay when another wonderful miracle happened. A Japanese man came right up to us with what I
thought were coupons. I mentioned we
were going to the skyview level, and he gave me the coupons in his hand and
said, “I would like to be your guest” or “I would like you to be my guest” I
can’t be sure. Then he left.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but I didn’t put any thought into it. When I went to the counter, it turned out that the fellow had given us his own tickets …and we would be able to go up for free! I was astounded, because the man disappeared, saying something about being his guests, but it was another example of our extraordinary luck. Otherwise we'd be paying thirty-five dollars a piece for the pleasure of a nice view.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but I didn’t put any thought into it. When I went to the counter, it turned out that the fellow had given us his own tickets …and we would be able to go up for free! I was astounded, because the man disappeared, saying something about being his guests, but it was another example of our extraordinary luck. Otherwise we'd be paying thirty-five dollars a piece for the pleasure of a nice view.
(View of Tokyo Tower from Roppongi Hills)
Skyview is 52 floors up and has
remarkable views of the city. One can
look out over the entirety of Tokyo, and we saw places we’d been and would be
going soon. There were pockets of trees. The elevator up to the top is remarkably quiet and fast, but once you’re up there, have fun trying to find a place to sit.
The views were incredible, perhaps surpassed only by what people say of
Tokyo Skytree. We had a lot of fun
pointing out places we’d been, though unfortunately, we didn’t see the reclusive
Mount Fuji. Back down in the Roppongi complex is a hotel and shopping mall. Going through it we remarked how we wanted to
stay here the next time we came.
(Inside the Roppongi Complex, it is like a city within the city.)
This whole day was an exercise in
contrasts in places and people. From the
quiet calm of Meiji with older women in beautiful kimonos, to the sharp
frenetic pace of younger people in strange fashions surrounded by the sensory
overload of Shibuya. We went from disappointment at the Oda
Museum, to elation at Roppongi.
( Supposedly this is facing towards Mount Fuji, but it was hiding today)
