Japan Day 9

Day 9, August 19, 2010

Getting close to the end of our travels here in Japan! Today was our last day to hang out and explore Tokyo, as tomorrow we are taking a day trip to Mt. Fuji. We took our time at the hotel planning our day, and eventually decided on hanging out in the fashion district, another place renowned for its busyness and general chaotic feel. We started off by checking out Shibuya crossing, which you may have seen in popular depictions of Tokyo as it is considered to be the busiest pedestrian intersections in Tokyo. It seemed like a smaller version of Times Square in Manhatten. Near the crossing was a little subway museum, housed in an old subway car. It had some neat before and now pictures of the area, but the funniest part about the museum (to me) was the people who were sitting on the subway car – it looked like they were really riding a subway! Chillin' out, reading the paper, ignoring the people around them. It was a terrible place to rest, too, being a metal car with no AC. Anyways, we visited some shops in the area and then made our way towards the fashionable area, Harajuku.

On our way over to Harajuku, we happened upon an old city park covered with graffiti; upon closer inspection, however, we realized it was a demonstration zone and much of the graffiti and trash were art pieces protesting the development of “Nike Park”, a project that would evict all of the homeless folks living in the area and charge people to enter. Several artists take residence in the park to help prevent the development. We found a little “freestore” in the area and also talked with a filmmaker who is squatting there.

We found this amazing Hawaiian burger place (there seems to be a fascination here with Hawaii) called Teddy’s burgers. The guy working the register was perhaps the most interesting and nice service worker I’ve ever encountered in a restaurant. We forgot to take pictures of our burgers, but my 9 oz classic burger was a formidable serving and it was deliciously simple. After lunch, we finally came upon Harajuku. Shannon likened the general area to Newbury street in Boston, which is a pretty fair depiction.

We also passed by an Airstream trailer a little later in our travels that was surrounded by tables and serving as a tiny little bar! We had a drink and people watched (which is fun in a crazy fashion area!). There are many (overpriced) vintage shops in the area, and they had some pretty funky stuff, much from the US. Apparently boy scout uniforms are a popular item, and I enjoyed looking at all the different district patches (one of which I have!).

We finished up the outing with a walk through a ridiculously crowded shopping road that was blocked off from cars. It was a little much and we made our way out of there pretty quickly. We found our subway, headed back to the Sakura to pick up our luggage, and then made our way to our final accommodations in Japan: the capsule hotel.

Capsule hotels are pretty cheap, and apparently are often also associated with Onsen (spelling), Japanese bath (sort of like a smaller scale Jimjabong, Korean sauna). There was of course a vending machine once we got in there to get a ticket for our rooms, we were taken to the different male and female areas of the hotel (the capsules only sleep one, and the men’s side is sort of connected to the bath area. The capsules themselves are pretty interesting, it feels like your in a spaceship complete with command console for the clock, TV, radio, and light. You also get a key for a locker (in a different area) and a robe to wear over to the bathhouse area. The bathhouse area is public as are all the showers, which is a little annoying to have to go all the over to that part just to take a shower, but the hot bath is nice and I’m pretty sure it comes from a natural hot spring (there are over 3000 in Japan). Shannon’s bath area is actually not connected to her sleeping area and she has to leave the building to get there. Literally. There was a arrow that said "ladies showers" and some slippers to put on. So i put them on and follow the arrow TO THE STREET! i get out there and sort tiptoe to the nearest open door. (thank god i had opted to wear clothes and NOT the bathrobe) I peek my head in the door, it does indeed look like a Onsen. I sidle up to the counter and give the woman a slightly confused look. She points at my hotel bracelet and gives me a thumbs up. Oh man. it was so strange. AND, the womens showers didn't open until 11am. ugh. anyway, back to the story.

We got settled at the hotel and took a little time to enjoy the baths before heading out on our dinner adventure. We’d heard about a fantastic sushi restaurant a couple stops away, but since the station nearest us didn’t go there directly, we decided to try and walk there by going one stop up and exploring the area along the way. We really lucked out with our plan, as the station at which we arrived happened to be right next to the Tokyo Sky tree. The Tokyo Sky tree is a communications tower/ observation deck/ tourist attraction that will almost double the height of the Tokyo Tower, which I believe is currently the tallest structure in the city. The bulk of the work is done, and I think the habitable part (the building area anyways) is finished, but the antenna at the top is not yet finished. I actually have no idea, but it looks pretty far into the project from what we saw and we were literally right next to the base of it.

Eventually we found our way to the area where we wanted to be, Asakusa. We ordered up a storm, and we were not disappointed. It was probably the best sushi I’ve ever had, and our favorite was the fatty tuna and the seared tuna. The seared tuna tasted like a delicious mini-steak, and the fatty tuna was just so rich I wouldn’t have been able to tell you it was tuna had I not known what it was. Oh, and did I mention Japanese beer is awesome? Well it is. Especially with Japanese sushi. We haven’t delved into any sake offerings, which, I know, is disappointing you all, but they are listed like wines, in Japanese, and we have no idea where to start. Our opportunity to try some out probably lay back in Kyoto when we were hanging out with Miho, but that’s OK. We did try socho, which is a different type of Japanese liquor (and it wasn’t that great). And by not that great he means terrible. Worse than Soju. We got one cup and everyone at the table shared it (there were 6 of us).

Anyways, we were so happy with our sushi choice and thank the Lonely Planet guidebook for being so spot on.