Japan Day 3 - Shrines, Fashion, and Yo-Yos

For our third day in Tokyo, we opted for a mix of big city sights, starting with the Tokyo Metropolitan Building's observatory in Shinjuku for a great view of the city. One of the things that's interesting about Tokyo to me is that when you check it out from high up it's still city as far as you can see. The nice thing about the Metropolitan Building is that its observatory is free!

They also had a fun little display of the Olympic and Paralympic flags and an Olympic torch in the lobby as part of the hype and run up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. We learned in the exhibit that the medals for the 2020 Olympics are to be made from recycled metals reclaimed from electronics recycling, which I thought was super cool.

From Shinjuku, we walked over to the Meiji shrine, via a somewhat circuitous route through some urban neighborhoods. It was actually kind of nice to see the quieter side of the city though (as far as a huge city like Tokyo can be quiet), and get just a small taste of how the people that live in the city actually live their lives. Eventually though we made it to Yoyogi park, which houses the Meiji shrine. The shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. The park surrounding the shrine is a beautiful green space in the city, with lovely gravel roads through forested areas, and a large Torii gate at the entrance.

   

Within the shrine there are the usual areas for prayer, but also a few unique aspects, like a pair of trees connected with a rope meant for couples to offer prayers for good relationships. Of course we got picture in front of those trees, and said a little prayer for continued happiness.

On main path to the shrine there is a wall of sake barrels that have been donated to the spirits of the Emperor and Empress, and across from those is another wall of wine donated from France. It's really fun to see the sake barrels, and check out the neat patterns from the different breweries.

The shrine is close to Harajuku, known for being the teen fashion capital of Japan - especially the more outlandish fashions like lolita and goth. The center of the craziness that is Harajuku is Takeshita street. Along this street are a bunch of little shops and cafes, including some animal cafes, which have become popular in recent years. The cat cafe looked especially cuddly, but since we do have our own cats at home we skipped that one. We had a nice lunch at the Wolfgang Puck along this street, a stop I've made multiple times over my trips to Japan, and a nice break from the Japanese cuisine.

  

After lunch we headed for our final stop of the day - Shibuya. We walked there from Harajuku, along some really neat shopping streets, including a pedestrian street lined with tons of outdoor outfitter stores like Patagonia, Columbia, etc. Finally we made it over to the Shibuya station area, and started our hunt for a teeny-tiny yo-yo store Charlie had looked up before we left. This might be a good time to note that Japanese addresses are a little weird, because they list the block number rather than the street name, which can make it a little hard to find something if you don't know where exactly you're going. In addition, the shop we were headed for was on the 3rd floor of what was kind of like an apartment building filled with little shops, and didn't have a distinct sign outside. Eventually we found it, and killed 20 minutes before it opened in a nearby Starbucks enjoying the A/C.

The yo-yo store was pretty fantastic, even if it was small. What was nice was that Charlie got to try out a bunch of yo-yos from different Japanese, Chinese, and other companies that he hadn't ever seen on the shelf of a store here in the US. It can be hard to know what you will like without trying it out, and it was cool that he got to try out so many of the yo-yos here. When he asked the guy running the store which was his favorite, he said "oh this one of course, since it's my signature yo-yo". Turns out the shopkeeper is Shingo Terada ("Terry"), 2001 world champion in the X division (he competed with the style that is now known as 5a, with a counterweight on the other side of the string from the yoyo). By a stroke of luck, Charlie actually really liked the yo-yo that was his signature, and bought one (a Duncan Raptor), as well as a yo-yo from a Japanese company called Turning Point. Terry was a super nice guy, spoke great English from having lived in the states for a while and acting as a Duncan rep, and even signed the box for Charlie's yo-yo. He definitely made a couple fans for life!

    

We headed back to the hotel via Shibuya station, checking out the famous Shibuya crossing (a ridiculous intersection whose crossing goes green in all directions and gets absolutely mobbed by people), and the statue of Hachiko outside the station. The statue memorializes the dog Hachiko, which waited for its owner every day even after his owner passed away unexpectedly. A sad story, but a super cute mascot for the station and area, I must admit.

After a long day of walking, we wanted something quick for dinner, so we checked out the Sukiya near our hotel. Sukiya is a chain of fast-food restaurants in Japan specializing in beef bowls, ginger pork bowls, and tuna bowls. We each got a beef bowl for take out, Charlie with spicy green beans, and me with okra, and enjoyed them in our hotel. Sometimes the simple food is really just as delicious as the fancy restaurants. I could see myself eating lots of Sukiya if I lived in Japan again, it's just so cheap and delicious.