Weird, wacky and wonderful Japan

Sometimes there is no categorising; life, emotions, moments, amazement, intrigue… This post is my tribute to the weird, wacky and wonderful place I’ve found Japan to be.

Shinjuku by night

Filled with department stores, eateries and hoards of people, Shinjuku is best visited on an evening. Greeted by the magnificent Cocoon Tower as you leave the station;

We headed down to Tokyo’s Metropolitan Government Building.

The building itself was pretty awesome, yet the views from its observatory on the 45th floor most certainly took your breathe away and made you feel like a tiny dot on a Seurat painting.

Lost in Shibuya

We weren’t really lost, but I wanted to include the ‘Lost in Translation’ reference somewhere 🙂 Shibuya, aside from the famed scrambled junction;

(And, yes, we did drink a coffee at Starbucks to watch the beautifully coordinated scramble across four junctions as all the lights turn red!) is also renowned for youth fashion as epitomised by the Shibuya 109 shopping mall.

Obviously, we spent an hour or so perusing the seven levels and Jacky saw at least two jackets she wanted to buy – yes, I think we will be returning and flashing some cash.
Shibuya also houses the infamous ‘Love Hotel Hill’, Tokyo’s answer to Soho. Aside from the ‘adult’ shops, there is also an abundance of love hotels. These are hotels where you can stay by the hour. Given that space is tight in Tokyo and many youths live with their parents, this place is quite popular.

I’d imagine a trip down here on a evening would feel different, but during the day it had a somewhat kitsch appeal to it.

Shopping in Ueno

Culture box ticked, next on our list was shopping – isn’t that what you are supposed to do in Japan? I consulted my guide book and found somewhere near with shops; this was Ueno. An area, I later found out, renowned for shrines, temples and parks; all well and good yet the only bit I focused on was that it had a huge street littered with lots and lots shops!

After the corporate feel of Marunouchi, this was a sight for sore eyes. Alleyways, upon alleyways of stalls selling food, clothes and lots of random stuff; a visual feast!

We even saw a rainbow 🙂

After several hours soaking up Ueno’s ambience, we said goodbye to it’s neon lights and headed back to Akihabara for dinner.

PS: if you are wondering where all the food shots are, don’t worry, I’m intending to do separate ‘food, glorious food’ post.

A morning in Marunouchi

Day two, we were up and at them! Ok, it wasn’t quite morning, but in Jacky’s jet lagged body it felt that way. First stop, Marunouchi; the heart of Tokyo. We managed the metro line with ease and even managed to add more credit on our cards; we had this transport system sussed, and jumped off at Tokyo Station.

The traditional red bricked building was not what I pictured Japanese architecture to be, but opposite we were greeted by the towering skyscrapers; now that’s more like it!

A dander along a tree lined boulevard and across a wee bridge and the whole atmosphere of the district completely changed; the hussell and bussell stopped and it became all so peaceful as we neared the Imperial Palace Park and the Nujubashi bridge.

For me, this area depicted what I thought Tokyo would be like; an area of tranquility surrounded by craziness – the juxtaposition of the old and new.

Akihabara, aka Electric City

Our hotel was ideally located near Akihabara, an area renowned for its tech, yep geek central. A strong coffee devoured and off we went exploring.

My mission for the afternoon was to purchase an adapter, as the Chinese one did not work over here; so obviously we were in the right place. We located a mall and as soon as we stepped in, were hit by the sheer craziness that is Tokyo!

This was a ‘teens’ mall, filled with fancy dress apparel, shops and shops of it, and levels and levels of games. I say games in the loosest sense of the word; from neon exploding slots machines, to boy racers, to rows and rows of grab the egg, with models of the most bizzarest creatures i had ever seen. I tried to take some photos but was severely chastised in the process, hence the blurred pix.

It was all a bit much given our delicate state of mind. We retreated back to the hotel, taking a few pix along the way and headed out for dinner. An early night was required. Btw: I did manage to buy an adapter amongst all the madness.

The sister has landed

So, Japan! I arrived a night earlier than Jacky and stayed at an airport hotel so we could travel into Tokyo together. Sounds simple enough, yes? Well, it would have been had I not rocked up at terminal two with the info that she she was due to arrive at 8.45am on an airfrance plane. She was actually flying in from Amsterdam, into terminal two, at a completely different time! No worries, being the intrepid explorer I am, I managed to find my way to terminal two and after an hours wait met a rather spaced out lil miss Wilson.

Ok, next step get the NEX (Narita Express) into the city. Tickets bought and our Japan travel card safely in our possession we were on our way. Watch out Tokyo, the Wilson sisters have arrived.

Arriving at Tokyo station, our instructions were simple. Find our metro line, travel one stop and bob’s ya uncle. Now I know Jacky had been travelling for hours and was a bit dazed and confused, but I had no excuse… That being said, for the life of us we could not find our metro line, our Suica (metro cards) bleeped as we tried to leave the platform; cue a comedical five mins chat with a travel guard that could speak no English. We eventually realised that the platform we had gotten off was the platform we needed to get back onto, duh! We rocked up to Shin-Nihombashi, exited and lo and behold our hotel was literally just around the corner. Result 🙂