Last week, I went to Tokyo to meet up with Devin and Tynan. Their epic 2 month trip across Asia is beginning in Japan, and I got to join in on the first leg. We stayed in a little ryokan (traditional style hostel/inn) in Asakusa, one of the more laid-back neighborhoods in Tokyo. Satoshi, the guy who ran the ryokan, was funny and very helpful. It was a good base of operations.
Although Tokyo is a gigantic city (I think the population is something like 13 million), it is made up of a conglomeration of many neighborhoods, each with its own atmosphere. Going from one area to the next felt like going to a completely different city. We got to visit a bunch of neighborhoods, including Akihabara, Harajuku, Shinjuku, and Odaiba.
Akihabara could probably be considered the nerd capital of Japan. It's full of electronics stores, video game arcades, maid cafes, and all manner of things geeky. You can find a lot of anime gear here. We wandered around for a while and got an idea of the scope of the place. It's massive. We also did some purikura (photo booth) while we were there. On nearly every corner there was a girl in a costume advertising some manner of cafe, mostly maid cafes. These are themed cafes where the waitresses wear maid uniforms and treat the customer as if they are the master of a large estate. I haven't been to one, but I think it would be pretty entertaining.
Harajuku is an area that's very popular with young, fashionable people. Omotesando-dori is a street with a lot of upscale clothing shops. We walked up and down that street, but I was much more entertained by Takeshita-dori, which sells cheaper and stranger clothing. There was a fair amount of punk and lolita fashion, both of which are pretty fun. We passed by one store that looked like it must cater to Vegas showgirls; everything was all lace, beads and sequins. I'm not exactly sure where you would wear the kind of stuff they were selling, but it was certainly interesting to look at. In the Harajuku area there's also a very large and famous shrine called Meiji Jingu. We visited that, too. It's set back in a large park, so we had a nice walk through the trees before we got to the shrine. It was a nice break from all the crowds in the city. All in all, I liked Harajuku pretty well and would be interested to go back.
When we went to Shinjuku, we started off by going to the observation deck of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. It was rainy, so the view wasn't as good as it could have been, but it was still quite a sight. We were on the 45th floor, and even from there, I'm pretty sure that everything within sight was part of Tokyo. That part of Shinjuku was less fun to visit; it was all skyscrapers and office buildings. But later when we wandered around near Shinjuku Station, we found some more fun things. We ended up in a store called Closet Child (awesome name, right?) which sold lolita and gothic clothing. We actually saw quite a few lolita stores, when it came down to it.
Odaiba is built on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, and is home to a lot of entertainment facilities. We spent a good chunk of time in the Miraikan, which was a museum about emerging technologies. It seemed like a really good museum, but I don't think I was in the mood for it. The things I found most interesting were the space fish and Taro. The space fish was a little fish that had been bred by a Japanese astronaut on the International Space Station. It was the first fish to be conceived in space. Taro was a robotic seal intended for use in pet therapy. People who couldn't have actual animals could use Taro as a pet. He responded to touch, sound, and movement, and was pretty cute as well. I can't remember exactly what sort of research they've done, but if I remember correctly they've found Taro to be very useful for emotionally disturbed children. Other things we saw on Odaiba included the Gundam Project, a shopping mall, and the Rainbow Bridge. I had thought that the Gundam Project was a life-size Gundam robot, but it was actually just a few parts of one. There was a head and a hand and some other bits lying around. It was rather disappointing. The shopping mall was alright, though it was a bit upscale for us. And for some reason the Rainbow Bridge didn't light up in rainbow colors like we thought it was supposed to.
All in all, Tokyo was really fun. I definitely want to go back sometime. Getting around on the subway was pretty easy, despite the fact that there were like twelve separate lines. I don't think we got lost even once when we were using the subway. Above ground is a bit harder, though. I feel like we got in a lot of good sightseeing, so maybe my next expedition to Tokyo will be for the purpose of shopping and dancing.
No comments:
Post a Comment