Today, after heading to the fish market, I headed back to the hostel to catch an hour nap. Then I spent pretty much the entire afternoon wandering around the Shinjuku area - first the west side, then the south and east sides. I went up to the 2 observation towers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office building - both free (why couldn't the other places be like that? haha). Then after a short walk through Shinjuku Central Park, I finally ate my first sushi meal in an actual restaurant (before, I was eating sushi out of the convenience stores)! Then I made a trip to the "Nishiguchi Electric Town", a little area full of electronic shops...full. Then I continued wandering into another giant mall, the Takashinaya Times Square. I planned to visit the Shinjuku Gyoen National Park, but there was an entrance fee, and there was no way I was going to pay to see a park, so instead I headed up to the east side where all the malls area. So many malls. I finally got tired of wandering, especially with my sore shoulders, so I headed back, and had tempura udon for dinner near the hostel, served in the summer style (cold udon, out of soup)...very tasty. I'm not sure when pictures of today will go up, probably not for a while though!
Some of the buildings on the west side of Shinjuku...it really is an area of tall buildings. the last one is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office building.
At the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office. The view was nice considering it was free haha.
At the nearby Shinjuku Park.
My first sushi meal in a restaurant, and my first visit to a rotating sushi place!
The "Electric City" area at Shinjuku...I think the name is self-explanatory haha.
At Takashinaya Times Square. The scene in the 2nd photo was made entirely of cardboard box material! And the 3rd photo was in the basement of the mall - a good example of all the basement floors of all the malls in Japan, which are food court areas. The one at this mall was entirely sweets...shame I'm on a budget.
The east side of Shinjuku - also a district completely full of malls. The 3rd and 4th photos are from the red-light district area of Shinjuku, known as Kabuchiko. I didn't even wander all the way into the area, and I still saw plenty of seedy places haha. The 3rd photo is of cross-dressing club for women, where the workers are women dressed as men, and women go in just to have drinks with the workers. Very strange...I saw a documentary on these types of places in Tokyo before my trip, hence how I know about it haha. And if you look at the pictures displaying the workers, you can clearly tell they're women made to look like men.
My tempura udon supper. Also some photos of the Asakusa area at night. I didn't eat at the restaurant in the first photo, but I thought the outside looked interesting - they're giant cow models.
So with a day left, but having already seen everything I was planning to visit in Tokyo (while taking my time to see them too), what's my take on the bustling city? Well, to be honest, I'm a bit disenchanted now. I guess I had built up Tokyo in my head to be this awesome city, so my expectations may have been a little high, or I may have been expecting something else. The isolation I felt while wandering around and surprisingly few things to see certainly didn't help. One thing I've learned about myself so far on this trip is that I'm more affected by the weather than I thought I was - the cloudiness has definitely affected my mood. I was enjoying myself (before I got lost haha) during the sunny day when I went to the Imperial Palace, but the grey skies definitely take a bit out of me.
My trip back to the Harajuku area. I guess being there on a weekend makes a huge difference - there were so many people. I only managed to see 3 people in cosplay, so that one photo I took is the only one I have. The number of people lining up to go into the clothing stores is ridiculous though...how many clothes could a person need?
At Yoyogi Park. Again, weekends make a big difference, the place was definitely more alive this time.
The Brazil Festival I stumbled upon beside Yoyogi Park. Lots of people and lots of good food. Shame it costs so much here, so I didn't get to try anything.
My last supper at Tokyo (for now) - it's hot udon with some fried veggie thing on rice. The 2nd photo is of the ticket machine where you purchase your meal first - all the Japanese "fast food" places use it.
So if I had to sum up Tokyo in one phrase? It's a shopper's paradise, if you have money. And I'm not talking about money to go out for a very fancy lunch or dinner once every a month or so, I'm talking very fancy lunch and dinner every day money (if you like the big department stores). But the malls do have their benefits - all the malls always have their basement floor dedicated to selling food - I've gotten my dinner from those places a few times now.
And of course, my comment on the subway system? Well, Shanghai's is definitely cleaner and nicer (since it's newer, that's understandable). Dirt wise, it's comparable to the TTC, and the stations have that kind of standard subway feeling the TTC does. So the best way I could describe it is TTC, on a much much larger scale. It will take at least a day for even the most seasoned subway traveler to figure out how to pay for Tokyo's subway system and read the subway map - very confusing at first...and still quite confusing. And the really annoying thing is they don't seem to ever turn on the AC on the trains, despite having the machines, so it's usually quite stuffy in the cars. My 1.45 hour journey on the subway car from the airport to the hostel when I first landed was unbearable - I've never actually felt like I wanted to pass out on a subway ride before.
But nonetheless, Tokyo is a interesting city - a blend of Westernization and old tradition. The people are very polite, they follow the rules, and the social interactions certainly have a different feeling to them (especially if you watch co-workers talk outside the office). During the day, almost every man is in a suit. All the young "hip" girls are made-up worse than some of today's toy dolls. It's still a very nice city though. I might have to re-evaluate my feelings on Tokyo though!
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