Tokyo – Day 7

My, my, my how time flies when you’re having fun.  I really was not looking forward to this day, because it meant I would have to leave the land of the rising sun so very soon.  To top things off, it was also my birthday so I was officially in mid-20s territory.

The original intent was to get up super early to check out Tsukiji fish market, but that plan went out the window due to aclimatising to the local time zone (damn body clock).  Anywho, I still left the hotel at a reasonable time of 9am for my final day of sight-seeing.  I went for a stroll towards Akihabara to get some earphones as gifts for Leo and my brother.  The place was dead that early in the day, which made for a relaxing shopping experience.  On my way back to Akiba station, I noticed a Kotobukiya store.  Intrigued, I decided to pop inside since Kotobukiya make some of the most gorgeous anime figures out there, most of which are based on existing garage kits or are commissioned pieces by some of the industry’s best sculptors.  Looking around, I was somewhat disappointed because it wasn’t an official Kotobukiya store as such, merely one which shared the same name as the company.  It was a generic anime and manga merchandise store, though they did carry some rather rare goods.  I had a look at their Evangelion section which was brim with such lovelies like a Sachiel tie (very cool) and some of the super rare Zippo lighters, like the Seele one, and the Nerv one in chrome.  I thought it’d be rude not to indulge in the Nerv Zippo, even if it came to 10, 000 Yen (£50 or so).  I handed over the cash and wanting to use it immediately, I asked the sales assistant if there was anywhere near by to get some lighter fluid.  He said, “Just a moment please”, and went round to the back and filled it up for me with some official Zippo fuel!  Absolutely fantastic service and I’m so glad I popped in, even if my wallet wasn’t.

Heading back to Akiba station, I made my way towards Asakusa.  Sawa and Jimothy had both recommended I swing by for a visit since it’s really the only part of Tokyo which resembles the traditional Edo period.

It immediately hits you that this part of Tokyo is a little different from the rest.  There’s nothing particularly big or flashy, and you even exit via a side street before you hit the main road.  The main road I stepped on to had loads of little shops, selling mostly fruits, vegetables, and groceries.  I wasn’t too sure what to make of Asakusa until I ventured down the road a bit more and saw the Kaminarimon (thunder gate) to the Senso-ji, a Bhuddist temple.  Things were livening up, with everybody and their dog flocking towards this temple entrance.

It was still early in the day but everybody was out to visit the Senso-ji from high school kids, to tourists, to locals who do it every week.  There are several long rows of shops selling all manner of goods, some selling traditional Japanese handy crafts, Japanese and exotic swords, and Gundam models of all things!  It was clearly a tourist trap, but a good one at that.

It wasn’t until I got closer to the Senso-ji that a sense of familiarity hit me, and I soon realised that I was at the temple from the giant statue arc in Gantz!  It was an impressive sight, though Gantz definitely got the scale slightly wrong since the statues were roughly 12ft in height, whereas they were portrayed to be absolutely ginormous in the anime.  I took plenty of snaps of the surrounding architecture, as did everybody else.

Had my mum have been with me, I probably would have joined her in the ritual.  People were inhaling the incense smoke, and then would head over to a fountain to cleanse themselves.  Having only one of each, there was a considerable queue and crowd to tackle before getting to the front of the line.

There’s not a lot to say about the place in all honesty, so I’ll let my photos do all the talking.

After finishing my tour of the place, I decided to revisit Shibuya on a nice day.  The sun was really out in full force with blue skies aplenty.  I had another coffee at the scramble crossing Starbucks so that I could take some photos without all the umbrellas springing up.

I decided to get another t-shirt from Design Graphiph and ended up with one saying “Drink water”.  Whilst there, I noticed a particular shirt with a print of an SLR camera on the front with the straps going around the neck as if it was real.  I picked this one up for Khang because it just seemed so appropriate.  I continued to walk around for a while and stumbled across some Google event involving hundreds of balloons, all in Google colours.  I hung around for a bit on the opposite side of the street hoping something would happen but it never did, so I walked over to ask them what was going on.  They roughly explained that the balloons were to lift people into the air, for a fee; not sure where the money would have gone to but that was the rationale behind it all.

Having had enough of Shibuya, I wandered back to the station and made my way towards Harajuku.  I wanted to visit Meiji-jingu again on a quiet day, and also Omottesando in daylight.  Getting off at Meiji station and after a rather lengthy walk underground, I came to realise that Harajuku station is actually closer to Meiji-jingu (the entrance that I entered through at least).  Deciding to leave the shrine until last, I went for a walk through Harajuku.  The place was the same as when Jimbo and I had visited on Sunday and seemed just as busy, with just as many tourists.  Working my way to Omottesando, it looked completely different in the day and to me seemed trendier than Shibuya, with stores like Tommy Hilfiger, Levis, and other brand names.  There was even a bizarre Audi showroom where somebody obviously didn’t have a spirit level.

What did amuse me was that Sir Alan Green had obviously seen the success of the H&M group in Ginza and thought he’d do the same with his Topshop and Topman brands.  Like Jimbo, I can’t see the fascination behind these British high street brands unless they’re offering a product which is cheaper than the competition.  But then I suppose it could be exactly the same as the whole Krispy Kreme situation in Shinjuku, with everybody wanting what is hard to come by.  Should another Krispy Kreme open up somewhere else in Tokyo, I’m fairly certain that the overall popularity of the brand would wane.

Having had enough of Tokyo’s trendsetters, I wandered back over to Meiji-jingu for some spiritual calm and tranquility.  The place was very quiet with very few people around, the majority of which being tourists like myself.  Once again, I went through the motions of washing my left hand, then my right, and I chose to sip a bit of the water this time (tasted a bit earthy).  I thought I’d pay the shrine a visit since it was my birthday, so I thought I’d take a moment to be thankful for everything I had.  The gravity of the day became a bit much at one point causing me to well up slightly; I really didn’t want to go back home and I wouldn’t be able to see my friends again until April 2009 at the earliest.  Passing on it the first time, I decided to write a message on an ema board for 500 Yen.  Because it was my birthday, I thought I’d give it a shot since it had more likelihood of coming true (I’ve seen shit like Home Alone and other similar movies, I know how it works).  Not gonna say what I jotted down, but it was for all the significant people in my life.  I sat down towards the side of the shrine and ended up spacing out for maybe 20 minutes.

I thought I’d head back to Ochanomizu to get a little bit of packing done since I had to be up at 6ish the following morning to begin the journey back to Blighty.  I had maybe 90 minutes before I was due to meet Keiko at Shinjuku’s South gate, so I took my time.  Ended up receiving a call from a mystery Japanese number which turned out to be Kiyomi, who was staying with her friend in Narita.  I was due to pick her up from Heathrow the following day since our flights would be landing within an hour of each other.  Anywho, time flew by and it was time to head out to Shinjuku.

It was a warm evening, one of the warmest since I’d been in Japan that week.  I wound up being early since I’d caught the express train so I took a stroll over to Takashimaya department store and Tokyu Hands.  I wanted to pick up a pad of writing paper and some rollerball pens for the plane journey home where I wanted to jot a few things down towards this here trip report.  Even at night, Tokyu Hands was still full of people so I had a peruse over their pens which were all amazingly priced; the same rollerball pen would have cost me at least £1.50 here in the UK whereas in Tokyo, it was a mere 120 Yen (60p).  I mozied on over to the South gate where a jazz funk band had started busking, and they weren’t bad either.  A drunken middle age guy (think of the guy who started harassing Hérmes in Densha) started screaming at them, presumably telling them to pipe down.  Keiko was a little bit late, so I did some more people watching to pass the time.  Keiko eventually turned up and we chatted for a while whilst waiting for Jimothy, who wasn’t far behind.  He soon turned up and so began our evening and “the last supper”.

Finding an izakaya on a Friday night in Shinjuku is no easy task and the first place we went was absolutely chock-a-block.  A guy outside, poaching for a rival izakaya approached us and we agreed to go for it.  Taking us inside, we had a 20-30 minutes wait before our booth became free and desperate for a smoke, I ventured outside.  It seems finding a place to smoke on Shinjuku’s streets is actually harder than finding said quiet izakaya.  I eventually ended up just having a crafty cigarette down a quiet alleyway where another nicotine starved man joined me.  Once I’d finished, I realised I had absolutely no idea where I was in relation to the izakaya anymore!  I circled the block twice and whilst I recognised a number of stores and restaurants, I couldn’t remember which street to go down to reach the building the izakaya was located in.  Since I’d been gone for so long, Keiko thought I had gotten lost but Jimothy reassured her that I was OK, only to receive a phone call from me begging for help haha…  Upon my return, our booth had freed up so we were lead inside.  The decor was quite nice, resembling an outdoor Japanese style garden.  They were offering all you can drink for 90 minutes at only 1500 Yen (£7.50) so we all made sure to have at least 3 drinks each to cover the charge.  We ordered typical izakaya style food, with sashimi, yakisoba, dumplings, and so on.  As always, the topic of discussion was varied and ranged from me possibly teaching English in Japan, to Jimothy and Keiko naming their potential male offspring, Enzo (like Enzo Ferrari).  Keiko was also dying for a cigarette and whilst I offered her one, her steely resolve stopped her from partaking and after her recent (possibly still current?) illness, I’m glad she resisted.  The price was very reasonable for the three of us, totting up to 12, 000 Yen (£60 or so) and I think we all had our fill of drinks and eats.

Sadly, the time had come to say farewell to Jim-bob and Keiko.  Leading up to my trip, each day brought me closer to being able to see my friends but at the same time, brought me closer to this moment.  I’m not good with goodbyes and after a few hugs and exchanges, we went our separate ways.  Whilst on the platform waiting for my train, a guy had thrown up and had fallen asleep in a pool of his own vomit, leaving a memorable end to the emotional evening.

Photos of the day can be found here, here, and here.

Tomorrow, I would bid farewell to Tokyo and Japan, and thus will be the final part of my trip report as well as some closing thoughts.