Back to Shibuya, Tokyo

  Tokyo, Japan
Friday, December 29, 2006

Hotel

Today is a snowy day. Coming from California, I actually appreciate a bit of snow. If anything else it makes the photos that I will be taking much more interesting to look at. Today is another leisurely day and another travel day. The Shinkasen train is scheduled for 2pm so I have a nice morning to pack and grab lunch. After lunch, I wander around to find gifts for friends back home stateside. I find some black sesame mochi thing for a friend. I wonder if she's going to like it...

Shibuya

Shinkasen

Snowy Landscape

Once again I take the Shinkasen back to Tokyo. The Shinkasen is not a bad way to travel. You get to your destination in a reasonable time and you also get to see the landscape.

I arrive back in Shibuya, Tokyo in about 3 hours. Shibuya was where I stayed the 1st time I came to Tokyo 3 years ago. It's pretty much what I remembered it to be. It was nice to see that many of the bars and restaurants that I went to
on my first trip are still around. Walking by these places brought back
memories of good times. However I do notice a few differences:

Shibuya 2

Shibuya 1

1. There seems to be a lot less smokers. In general it just seems like there area a lot less smokers in Japan. I wonder if it's because there are less smokers or rather that it has become taboo to smoke in public...

2. Shibuya is MUCH cleaner. The last time I was here, the red light district was nearby the hotel. There would be tons of peddlers who tried to get people to go to these hostess bars. This time there seems to be a lot less of these peddlers. It also seems that the seediest places have now been replaced by an artsy music scene.

I did however notice that the "Love hotel" Hill is still there. I have to say I'm very curious what's inside of these places. They look like theme hotels with signs that say 3 hours for ~$35 or $65 a night.

Today will be a chill out night. I'm quite tired from the traveling...