No Call Number: Tokyo

Shinjuku

It took us awhile to get to Tokyo from Daegu. We took a bus to Busan, a train to Narita airport, and another train into the city. We wandered around looking for our hotel until a nice man pointed us in the right direction. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that Japanese addresses actually make sense, and we found our hotel by counting to the right number. We settled in and headed out for Shinjuku, Tokyo's business district. We were headed for the Tokyo Metropolitan Tower, which provides views of the city. Bobby loves to visit towers, and as an added bonus, this one was free. We had gelato (for me) and beer (for Bobby) in the observation lounge. Afterwards, we wandered out to find dinner. We were disappointed to find a lot of stool or standing restaurants, but eventually we found a sit down place with just about everything on the menu. It was like Japanese tapas. We indulged.

Tokyo from the Metropolitan towers

Another view

Toy vending machines! One has a nintendo DS pet.

Seriously, don't squat on the toilet seat

at night

Shinjuku

Asakusa, Ginza, and Shibuya

We headed for Asakusa in the morning, which was close to our hotel. I was determined to get a decent map from the tourist information center. Asakusa has Tokyo's most famous shrine, but since we were going to Kyoto, we skipped this one, instead opting to wander around the market. As it turns out, I'm a total sucker for Japanese souvenirs. They are all so cute, and many have cats on them! The maneki neko, or lucky cat, was ubiquitous. There were also a lot of rabbits, since this is the year of the rabbit.

From Asakusa, we went to Ginza to see—well, eat from—the Tsukiji fish market. My doctor told me I could eat sushi from reputable places, so we went to a famous restaurant that provides sushi from the fish market. Japanese sushi is, of course, amazing, and has ruined all other sushi for me. The proprietor, probably pleased that we ordered the expensive stuff instead of the lunch special, which was only written in Japanese, gave me a stuffed bear for the baby. We walked past the massive market, stopping to see a turtle in the dirty river. I guess he eats the leftovers from the market. We enjoyed a peaceful walk through the park, which used to be a pleasure garden for Japanese nobles. It was right on Tokyo bay. Afterwards, we walked to the Sony Museum, where we played with the latest electronics. It was a little underwhelming, but I did find a camera that turned photos into anime. We visited a Japanese toy store and marveled at the robot toys. I bought a bizarre looking stuffed toy for the baby.

We spent the evening in Shibuya, which looked like the center of Japanese nightlife. The subway station was packed with people. We shoved our way towards the Hachiko statue, which honors a loyal dog who waited for his owner at the train station every day, even after the man died. Hachiko is now apparently a popular meeting place. We pushed our way out of the crowd and crossed the famous crossing. We managed to find a place in a nearby mall where we could watch the tide of humanity that flooded the crossing every couple of minutes. We had dinner in the mall—always a good place to find a meal—and headed home.

A food joint outside of our hotel

Vending machine restaurants. Select a food item, pay, and bring the ticket inside for food.

Asakusa

Subway station

Me in the park

Bobby barely clears the torii gates

Ginza

An arcade full of claw cranes

Hachiko, surrounded by bored looking young people

Shibuya crossing

Ueno, the Imperial Palace, and Akibahara

We breakfasted at a Denny's. I had a salad and pancakes, which, as it turns out, makes a wonderful breakfast. Afterwards, on the advice of the tourism office, we went to Ueno to see the museums. We visited the Tokyo National Museum, where we saw silk paintings, samurai costumes, and some photographs from 100 years ago. We walked through the park in search of the statue of the samurai with his dog, which we eventually found. The samurai publicly disemboweled himself in protest of the Meiji government, but we were more interested in his dog. We had lunch at a vending machine restaurant. Afterwards, Bobby discovered a grape mountain dew in another vending machine. We headed for the imperial palace, where we found out that the subway machines ate our tickets if we transferred to another company's line. A woman in the ticket booth helped us get them back.

The imperial palace gardens were nondescript, though the huge walls that surrounded them were interesting. Bobby liked the koi ponds. I was upset to discover that my new maneki neko camera case had fallen out of my bag somewhere. We stopped by the 7-11 for a red bean ice cream to ease the loss. There were several people standing around reading the manga on the shelves. I wondered why the shopkeeper didn't tell them to buy something or leave.

That night, we went to Akibahara, which was not far from our hotel. I had been pestering Bobby to read the guidebook and pick a place in Tokyo where he wanted to go, and he selected Akibahara, which is Tokyo's nerd central. Besides being a center for buying discount electronics, it had a lot of anime and game shops. It turned out to be one of my favorite spots in Tokyo, with lots of people in costume. We explored a six story Sega building, where Bobby won me a new camera case from one of the claw cranes. The building had two stories full of claw cranes, and the other four were various types of video games. I wanted to get a picture, but there were no photo signs plastered everywhere. We went to a mazelike restaurant for dinner which was full of private room/booths. We were dismayed to discover that we were supposed to order food from a computer screen in Japanese, but an English speaking waiter helped us.