After three weeks in Japan, I finally got to take a trip to Tokyo. We left sometime around 9 to have breakfast and meet up with another Canadian intern in Yokosuka Chuou. We actually ate at McDonald's. It was the first American restaurant I've eaten in since I've been here. I had a McGriddle, which was no different than the ones back home, but one guy had a hot dog. Why? Because he could.
The train to Shibuya (prefecture in Tokyo) took about an hour and cost about ¥800 (we changed trains once in Yokohama), so including the bus to Chuou, it took about an hour and a half.
Here're Ken and Steven.
And here're Alan, Alice, and I (stupid English language requiring subject pronouns after linking verbs).
As soon as we arrived, Steven and Alice both split off to go shopping (separately) as Shibuya is a big shopping area. The three of us that were left went to get Ken a cell phone.
This intersection in Shibuya is the busiest in the world. Part of the cycle for the traffic lights includes all of them turning red so pedestrians can cross, not only all sides, but diagonally as well. ("An elevator can only go up and down, but the Wonkavator can go sideways and slantways and longways and backways..." "And frontways?" "And squareways and frontways and any other ways that you can think of.") Also, that Starbucks is one of the busiest in the world as well.
When fake black music just won't do...
Now we get into Harajuku. Harajuku is actually a train station in Shibuya, but the name is often used for the area around it. The nearby Jingu Bridge is a popular gathering spot on Sundays for young people involved in different fashions and subcultures. I was a little disappointed by the turnout (also, the bridge was much smaller than I had expected), but I was in a group and didn't get to stay long. Next time, I'll probably be by myself and will be able to take my time.
These two are sweet lolitas (Japanese: 甘ロリ - amaloli).
I completely forgot about the free hugs people.
The really weird part is that just past the bridge is the entrance to the Meiji Shrine. The shrine is in a large forest. Can you imagine stumbling upon a 175 acre forest in the middle of Tokyo? It's crazy. This gateway is called a torii. They mark the entrances to Shinto shrines (and occasionally Buddhist temples). Symbolically, they're supposed to mark the entrance to the spirit world.
Yeah, this place was huge. We didn't make it to the shrine. I'll have to go back again later.
We met back up with Steven (Alice just shopped all day) and took a short trip to Akihabara. The first stop was to a used game shop to look for more N64 games. I snapped a shot of some Famicon games (Japanese NES. Short for family computer).
We hit up another used game shop later that had a small arcade on the top floor. They also had this chair made out of Famicon games.
Akihabara is famous for two things: electronics shops and maid cafes. Sure enough, that's about all we saw. We also noticed that there were very few females walking around. Seriously. If I had counted, it probably would have been less than 10 and all of them were with their boyfriends. The only other women we saw were dressed as maids advertising for their cafes.
Ken wanted to buy a larger antennae for his wireless router, and after looking through at least 20 shops for it, I'd say you could probably find just about anything else except that (although, if I were a betting man, I'd say it exists somewhere; we just didn't know where). I have never seen so many specialized electronics parts in one place before. We were moving pretty quickly, so I didn't get many pictures. Next time I'll take more just to show the scope of what I'm talking about.
This, I was seriously not expecting. I'm not too sure about it, but I think the "Linux Cafe" is just the porch to an actual coffee shop where some people (read: men) hang around and, you know, talk about Linux. I saw three or four guys sitting around with netbooks.
When we finally gave up on Ken's Quest (TM), we headed back to Shibuya. Steven had previously made plans, and the rest of us went to an all you can eat pizza place. It was about $20, but I think I ate my money's worth, though, the other two ate more than I did.
Next time: an unexpected adventure in Yokohama.
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