Golden Week Adventure - Part 3

Tokyo is big. No, I mean Tokyo is really, really big. Tokyo is so big, I’m pretty sure that it’s considered its own prefecture. Yeah, it’s so big it’s a city and a prefecture. It’s so big I don’t even fully comprehend it. Now that I’ve been there, I understand it a bit better, but I still don’t understand it.

Tokyo is big. Tokyo is so big, if you want to go there, you need to pick one or two wards or areas to go see a day and just stick with that. Maybe you can have a third place in mind as a back-up plan, but don’t try to be a hero. Tokyo is big and there’s a lot to see, so take your time.

For our second day, we had a plan that was pretty packed. First, we were off to Harajuku. Harajuku is another area of Tokyo that is popular amongst the young folk. It’s where you go if you want to buy clothes to look like a Goth, cos-player or if you’re like me and can’t survive without some sort of outfit that includes cat ears (if you’re not a cat fan bear, dog and rabbit eared outfits are also available). You can also find posh stores like Louis Vuitton, but they’re not very interesting to me.

The stores that I am interested in are all located on Takeshita Dori, a very narrow street lined with funky clothing shops, shops filled with nothing by posters of Japanese celebrities, cafes, and one of the largest Daiso’s (a Japanese dollar stores) in Tokyo.

This is all well and good, if you can get into the street. Actually getting into the street wasn’t the problem, navigating my way through the street was the problem. This is what I get for trying to go to such a popular spot on a Sunday during golden week. The street was packed! Tokyo stereotype packed. I’m surprised that my friends and I were able to find each other whenever we parted ways. It was just crazy. Oh yeah, I plan on going again. But this time maybe a Tuesday morning.

Ah, but why did we go to Harajuku on a Sunday? Sunday is the day when all the kids are out and about in their funky outfits. We saw a few Gothic Lolita girls (sorry, it was too crowded to try and get a picture), a few cos-players, and a few Goths. A few people were willing to let the gawking foreigners take their pictures, but a lot of them were against it, which I find kinda funny. If you’re going to go through all the trouble to look like that, then why not let people take your picture. You must be dressing like that for some kind of attention, right?

Now if everything I talked about sounds boring or immature for you, oh one of such impeccable tastes, you may want to visit Harajuku for Meiji Shrine. Meiji Shrine is a Shinto shrine dedicated to “the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.” Emperor Meiji was emperor in the late 1800’s. He was a pretty great emperor who did a lot of things that shaped Japan into the country it is today. For example, he was responsible for making Japan modern and westernized, and for bringing democracy to the country. No wonder he was deified and got his own shrine.

The shrine itself was completed in 1920, but rebuilt after it was destroyed in WW2. I don’t know if you can tell from the pictures, but the torii gate that acts as the entrance to Meiji Shrine is huge! And according to plaques on the torii gate, these are the original torii gates. Meaning they’ve been standing there for almost 100 years. I guess coming from such a young country, it’s hard to imagine anything that old still existing.

Having explored Harajuku to the point of exhaustion, we decided to make our way to Shibuya. Shibuya is another youthful place in Tokyo filled with trendy fashion, but the fashion here is much more upscale.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I really don’t care about fashion. And I don’t. Give me a plain solid color tee with a pair of jeans any day. Oh, and maybe a kitty hat to go with it. That’s as far as my fashion sense goes. But Shibuya is Japan’s Times Square, it’s just one of those places you have to see. Also, Shibuya was the main location for one of my favorite animes, Super Gals, so I had to go experience it for myself.

We got our first glance of Shibuya from a window inside the station. Seeing all the tall buildings and department stores was pretty amazing. And then the traffic lights changed and our world was changed forever. When the lights at this crosswalk change, they allow people to cross in six different directions at once. I don’t remember how long the lights stay green for, but the amount of people that crossed there was staggering. It was a seemingly never-ending stream of people crossing the street. They seemed to come out of nowhere and I have no idea where they went. It was like they disappeared once they finished crossing. Watching the people below do something as simple as cross the street was amazing, scary (because I knew at some point I would be among that throng of people) and just really, really cool. It gave me one of those “wow, I’m in Japan” moments.

Outside of Shibuya station there is a statue of a dog. The dog’s name is Hachiko. According to tales, Hachi used to wait outside of Shibuya station everyday for his master. One day, his master passed away before he made it to Shibuya station, but Hachiko still waited. He waited and waited until he finally passed away. And thus, there’s now a statue of him. There’s more to the story so if you want to find out more you can check out the movie, Hachi, starring Richard Gere. Seeing Hachiko was high on my list of “Things I have to do in Japan,” so I was thrilled when I got to take a photo with the famous statue. That’s one thing checked off of a very long list.

The rest of time is Shibuya was spent looking around fancy and trendy shops and acting like yokels who’ve never seen tall buildings before. We also had a quick stop in a McDonald’s. I realize that doesn’t seem very exciting, but this was the fanciest McDonald’s I’ve ever been to. Everything was a little bit more expensive (they didn’t have a dollar menu) but considering the service you get, it was worth the extra 50 yen. After we got our order, we headed downstairs (many McDonald’s have multiple floors) to find a table. When we got there a hostess took our tray and found us a table in the cramped space, passed the trendy teenagers and empty tables with reservation signs. At our table we found a laminated menu card, much like the kind you would find at fancier restaurants. After we finished our food, someone came and took our tray threw away our garbage for us. We left quickly after that since the place was packed and we felt bad taking up such precious real-estate. I also felt bad taking pictures in there, so I only snapped a quick one of the inside of the dining area. Maybe next time I’ll have the courage to try and get a picture of an employee in their cute outfit that included a skirt and pastel colored beret.

Last stop on day two of our adventure was Akihabara. Unfortunately we got there really late, so majority of the shops were closed, but we still enjoyed what we found. I wanted to get purikura (picture stickers) with everyone, so we headed to Club Sega, a multi-leveled arcade and amusement centre. Well, first we got lost and got directions from an employee of a different Club Sega dressed in school girl cos-play. The purikura area here was pretty interesting. They had costumes you could wear while taking your pictures, and areas with scissors so you could cut out your page of stickers and divide them amongst your group. After we got our pictures, we headed to the arcade. Kris amused himself at the drumming game, as usual, and Giselle and Scott tried out a Tetris game with a giant arcade stick. I think they even vibrated.

Our quick trip to Akihabara was the perfect end to a very long day. We hopped on the last train back to our hostel and passed out.