Museum on a Monday? Think Again!
Trip Start
Aug 11, 2007
1
9
22
Trip End
Sep 21, 2007
Tokyo,
Japan
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Headed out in the search for yet more delicious food. There is a market quite near to my hostel so I thought this would be as good a place as any to find breakfast, and once again I struck lucky and a huge breakfast was 350yen; barely £1.50. The thing is I use the term "breakfast" loosely...the only thing that's breakfast about it is the time really. I've come to realise that the Japanese don't seem to have the same idea about breakfast food as we do. It's not uncommon to see people eating ramen in the mornings! I went into the place not realising I was supposed to get a ticket from a vending machine...no matter though, the lady behind the counter showed me what to do.
Shinjuku Station
Went to the station, and totally lost my bearings. However, it didn't talk long for someone to spot the helpless Westerner and come over and offer their assistance. I seem to have found that the more guidebooks, maps etc you have in your hand, the quicker you get help! But this guy really wanted to help! He explained the system as best he could. He took me to the ticket machines and showed the various zones, and then he escorted me to the platform! I headed to the Sengakuji Temple which is home to the graves of 47 Samurai. It was an interesting place with an interesting story behind it, there was also a little museum showing various artefacts from the period, telling the story along the way. When I was done there I headed back to the Subway and made for the Yebisu Garden Palace which, amongst other things, is home to the Yebisu Beer Museum. Unfortunately for me, it appears a great deal of museums are closed on Mondays! I wasn't too bothered though...was just something else to do tomorrow. Lesson learned....it's important to check opening times! I ended up heading to Harajuku, famous for it's dressed up teenagers. I didn't see anybody in costume but I did see many bizarre fashions...I even saw a dog in a pram! Not something you tend to see in England. I wandered around a bit more, finishing off my time in the area with a trip to the Meji Jinga Shrine, which is considered the main Shrine in Tokyo so it's definitely worth a look.
Shinjuku
I was feeling a little worn out by this point so I popped into the nearest convenience store and bought a hot coffee, loaded with caffeine and sugar. Did the trick! I've never seen so much canned coffee. Revitalised, and conscious of the fact it was 3.30pm, I decided to embark on what was arguably my toughest challenge yet: Shinjuku Station. "That" station in Tokyo that handles over 2 million people every day. That's quite a statistic. I had been putting it off...not because I didn't want to go...but because I wanted to go when it was busy and experience the organised chaos of rush hour and perhaps catch a glimpse of the people pushers (people who are employed to push people onto trains...like sardines). Another note about Shinjuku station is that it's absolutely massive. There are more than 12 exits and if you get lost, you could walk a long, long way. So far in fact that there are airport style walk ways right along the concourses. The JR (Japan Rail) lines in Tokyo were confusing until I eventually realised (just a few hours ago!) that every station shows the whole JR Tokyo network on the map. However, as a tourist you are likely to only use the Yamanote line (remember that one, it will save you the task of working that out). Of course, the Yamanote line was only a few stops away from the station nearest to my hostel, so this saved money on transport because I could get the cheapest fare to the nearest Yamanote line station (Ginza) and then connect from there using my JR pass
Metropolitan Government Building
. Another handy tip!I arrived a little early so I made for the Metropolitan Government Building to take a look out of the free observatory which is 663 feet and 46 floors up! This offers a stunning view over Tokyo, the skyline littered with high rise buildings. The best view in the house was cleverly guarded by a cafe, so I thought i'd treat myself to a beer. Quite an expensive beer at 700 yen (nearly £3) for little more than half a pint...but the way I saw it was when would I next be having a beer this high up in a building? In Tokyo no less! I have wanted to come to Tokyo for years so that was a real "I did it" moment. More amusing theme tunes up here too, this time it was "zippidy do da." These little breaks also give you time to plan ahead and review your itinerary. I've decided to go to Yokohama on Wednesday...makes sense since I have to go that way to get back to base camp in Akashi.
So the time came to head back to Shinjuku Station so I made for the lift which covers the 46 floor journey in under a minute and therefore obliterates any lift in the North of England. Maybe even all of England. We don't exactly have fast lifts. The station at rush hour is crazy, it's unbelievably busy. Salarymen pour into every entrance and out of every exit. On entering from the entrance closest to the Metropolitan Government Building, it wasn't too bad...but as you get closer to the platforms it gets far busier as a constant stream of people flood the corridors
Impressive
. I still think this wasn't it's busiest though, and I didn't get to see the people pushers!Spent the rest of my evening in Shinjuku, again it's an awesome area with endless neon signs. The amount of adverts in Tokyo is like nothing i've ever seen. There was one amusing tale from this...I decided to take a look down some of the back streets, in order to do a big loop of the area. I was walking down one road when all of a sudden it went dark for a few hundred yards. When it was light again, I was surrounded by a lot of pink neons and hotels with cheesy names and carparks below it. It took me a few minutes to realise that they are the famous "love hotels" - before I knew it I was slap bang in the middle of Kabukichou...I had accidentally stumbled into the biggest Red Light District in Japan (well, that's what I was told anyway)! There were a lot of touts here..."hey man what do you want?" sort of thing - I must admit I hadn't expected that! I just laughed it off though and walked through and out of the other side. A stark contrast to the Thai equivalent, that's for sure.
Anyway by that time I thought I had had enough adventure for one day so headed back to the hostel. It's been a pretty cheap day today, just basic food and transport costs. I really don't get why people say Japan is so expensive? For a backpacker at least, I don't think it is at all! So again I am sat in the hostel and nobody is speaking...never mind!
Another great day; the Japanese have once again done themselves proud!
Bed time - I AM going to the fish market in Tsukiji in the morning - that means getting up at around 5.45 to get the best action. Ouch. Goodnight!
