The district of Harajuku was once famous for the mobs of outrageously dressed youngsters. We decided to check it out for ourselves, so we headed to the clothing shop lined Takeshita street (Google map).
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Unfortunately, it seems that the "Harajuku girls" now moved to another district. We could not spot any extravagantly dressed people, besides this saleswoman.
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We did, however, spot many Africans. It was actually the only time we saw black people during our trip to Japan. I don't know what they're trying to sell here, but as soon as they saw me taking pictures, they asked me to delete any pictures of them and told me it would be even better if I left their sight. So leave we did, with quite a bad impression about this neighborhood.
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So we went north-west from Harajuku towards the Meiji shrine (Google map). Crowded streets gave place to a vast forested area.
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The Meiji shrine is the largest Shinto shrine in Tokyo. It was built in 1920 in the honor of the emperor Mutsushito Meiji. During his reign, Japan was transformed from a feudal empire into a contemporary country with a blooming economy.
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The shrine was destroyed during the second world war, but it was reconstructed in 1958.
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Walking towards the shrine, you can see many sake barrels which were donated to the shrine.
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If you don't have the money for a whole barrel, they accept bottles as well!
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Others give bonsais, flowers...
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... then they wash their hands...
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... leave a prayer ...
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... and go back to their duties.
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One of the facts most people know about Japan, is that it's quite densely populated (this, and other facts about Japan are laid out in a humorous manner in this video). In guidebooks, Japan is often compared to California, which is just slightly larger in size, but has 3.5 times less people than Japan. Even more problematic is the fact that only 30% of Japan's territory is suitable for living. The rest is occupied by rugged mountains. So it was with great interest that we observed how the Japanes made the most of every square inch of land. Below, for example, is a way to save space at gas stations.
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We went further through children's playgrounds.
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to Tokyo's Government Building (Google map)
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You can take the elevator to the 45th floor for free and get splendid views of the city.
Below, for example, is the cocoon tower housing two design schools and a medical institute.
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Apparently, it is possible to see mount Fuji when the air is clear. This usually happens in winter.
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The towers are open every day of the week from 9:30 AM to 11:00 PM. One of the towers closes at 5:30 PM, and on certain days one of the towers is completely close. In any case, you can almost always rely on the Tokyo's Government Building (opening hours here).
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Also, the north tower has a very unusual photo booth. It's called a "purikura" and you can add plenty of cute attributes to your pictures (apparently, it also makes your eyes look bigger!) and get a super-kitsch souvenir. Here's an example. We also had our share of fun in there, and I recommend that you do too!
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Supper time! Like yesterday, we went scouting for a place to eat in the Nishi-Shinjuku district just west of the Shinjuku station.
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We chose an udon place (don't ask me what it's called, on the picture below, I can only read the characters うどん = "udon" that's it, but here it is on Google maps).
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It's a semi-self-serve place where you order the udon at the entrance (cold, hot, with a piece of meat on top...) and then you take all the tempura-fried vegetables and seafood you want. The amount of broth you can add to your udon is unlimited.
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Yes, I know I'm not supposed to insert my chopsticks in the food like that. Please forgive me, Buddha and Kannon!
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Around us, businessmen were sucking on their udon in really hard and loud. The Japanese ladies also made noise. And us, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't produce sounds as nice as they did. We ended up with a lip cramp. I guess we should have practiced on soba first.
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The food was delicious, and the price - very reasonable: 1200 yen for the two of us (about 15 dollars). While we ate, the sun went down as we went back up to the observation deck of the Tokyo Government Building. Why not? After all it's free!
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Thanks for reading! From here on, we moved to Yokahama. I'll write about our adventures there in the next post.
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