Hi all,
We had a lie in this morning which was wonderful. This hotel's mattresses are by far the best we've had on the trip, and the blinds are by far the best too (they're the only ones that have actually blocked sunlight entering post 4.30am sunrise!). We set off on a mission to find Mum an acai bowl for breakfast. After heading to two cafes that advertised themselves as acai cafes but had "sold out" signs on the door, we struck gold at the third cafe. Huge acai bowls full of fruit and muesli, yummy iced coffee, and nice window views of the street for people watching. Worth the wait!
We had a quick break in the room afterwards and then headed to Shibuya Sky, a 229m high observation deck that opened in 2019 in place of a planetarium that had operated since 1957. We were extremely lucky to get tickets for this. Luckily I had a look into it a few days back and realised tickets booked out a month in advance, but that people could return tickets for an 80% refund if no longer attending. I managed to get two tickets for 12pm entry and one for 11.20am entry. So Dad entered at 11.20am and Mum and I did some souvenir shopping before heading up later. We've found some of the rules being followed here in Japan absolutely ludicrous and nonsensical. There is no budging and sometimes no room for logic. This was our Shibuya Sky example:
Dad got to the top floor without us and was told he was not allowed to bring his water or hat out onto the observation deck, and that he needed to hire a locker to put them away. Lockers cost 100 yen, and only took 100 yen coins. There had been no signage explaining this prior to going up. Dad only had a credit card and 1000 yen notes. He had to stand and wait for 40 minutes until Mum and I could come up. But wait, there's more! Mum and I didn't have any 100 yen coins. We had a 500 yen coin. We had just spent $25 Australian on credit card in a souvenir shop. Mum went and politely asked could they swap the 500 for some 100s please, and the lady just stared her down and said "no". So we went back, I put our receipt on the counter and said "you're either changing the coins or giving us a refund so we can pay cash and get a 100 yen coin please". She then changed the coins.
I understand having rules to keep things in order and the importance of following rules, but we've really found the attitude here to be "follow the rules at all costs", with no flexibility for using logic. Eg we've seen older or disabled people being forced to stand and eat street food despite chairs being available, simply because the cafe they purchased food from has decided they don't want people sitting on the chairs. The example above at Shibuya Sky again just made no sense. Either put up proper signage or include in the ticket email some information about needing a 100 yen coin for a locker. Or provide lockers for free for paying ticket holders if you don't want people taking certain items out onto the observation deck.
Anyway, after all of that, we ended up having a good time. Poor Dad had had to stand and wait for ages but once Mum and I arrived and we got a locker, we walked around and enjoyed the 360 degree views the tower afforded us. It was a bit cloudier than yesterday and we couldn't see Fuji, but we enjoyed seeing the Tokyo Skytree, Olympic Stadium, Tokyo Bay in the distance, and the area we would then do our walking tour to this afternoon (Yoyogi Park). The rooftop section in particular was great, it felt like you were floating on top of the city and the windows were really clear.
Once back down, we caught the train one stop to Harajuku and started our final walking tour of the trip in that area. We were the only three on the tour today, and our guide was the beautiful Kumi, who had lived in Melbourne 35 years ago but was born and bred in Tokyo and lives here again now. She was really kind and great at explaining things, and very passionate too. She told us that during the pandemic she worked the Olympics, and that it was very strange because the country was still so locked down with so many rules, but she got to go into the athlete's village etc and meet people from all over the world.
Our tour started at the entrance to Meiji Jingu Shrine. Meiji Jingu Shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his wife Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji was the 122nd emperor of Japan and the great great grandpa of the current emperor. He was the first emperor to rule over the empire of Japan after the Meiji restoration in the 1800s which I've mentioned before. The forest surrounding the shrine was beautiful and lush, and provided us a lot of shade. We had an enjoyable walk here and eventually reached the famous sake barrels. Each barrel originally held 72L of sake, and the barrels have been left here as offerings to the spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife. Each had a different pattern on it, and Kumi explained different sake breweries put different labels/patterns on theirs. They were very colourful! Opposite the sake barrels were lots of wine barrels from the Burgundy region in France. Emperor Meiji introduced some western concepts to Japan as after the Meiji Restoration the country finally opened up to the world again. He enjoyed red wine and beef, so the wine barrels are also offerings to him.
We saw two torii gates whilst heading to the shrine, the second of which had to be replaced in the 1960s after being struck by lightning. All of the structures in the shrine complex including the toriis were natural colours, browns etc instead of the typical red. This was because Emperor Meiji enjoyed nature. Once this gate was destroyed, Taiwan donated 1500 year old cypress trees to create a new one. Today, a lightning rod stands nearby that is taller than the gate so that if lightning strikes it hits that instead of the new torii. The forest surrounding the shrine is also man made. People all over Japan 100 years ago donated all different types of trees and some botanists planted them. The shrine itself was lovely too with some more beautiful trees. On New Year's Eve it gets very busy apparently, as we've heard at other shrines too.
Our next stop was neighbouring Yoyogi Park. We stopped at a pretty flower garden with a solitary building at the end, which Kumi explained even a lot of Japanese people don't know is part of the old athlete's village from the 1964 Olympics hosted here. Many of the same type of building were constructed in this area in the late 1940s by Americans for them to live in after the war, and they were repurposed to become the 1964 athlete's village. Today this is the only one that remains, near the entrance of the park. Kumi told us that the athlete's village from 2020* (*2021) is in the Tokyo Bay area. Initially the plan was to sell the condominiums off to people as housing after the games, but the 'Illusion Olympics' as the people here refer to the 2020 games were viewed as cursed/unlucky, and they have not been finished or sold. They'll likely fall into disrepair and end up having to be demolished eventually which is sad and wasteful. Kumi said the silver lining of the 2020/2021 games was that kids got to attend in the crowds whilst keeping distance and wearing masks, which they wouldn't have been able to otherwise.
Our tour ended in the Harajuku area. We walked down Takeshita Street which was busy and full of "kawaii" (cute) items, quirky clothes, interesting foods such as rainbow fairy floss, and interesting people. We then finished in a more modern shopping street nearby where we explored a rooftop garden. Mum, Dad and I then went back to Takeshita Street and shared two crepes from the famous 'Marion Crepes'.
We had a lie in this morning which was wonderful. This hotel's mattresses are by far the best we've had on the trip, and the blinds are by far the best too (they're the only ones that have actually blocked sunlight entering post 4.30am sunrise!). We set off on a mission to find Mum an acai bowl for breakfast. After heading to two cafes that advertised themselves as acai cafes but had "sold out" signs on the door, we struck gold at the third cafe. Huge acai bowls full of fruit and muesli, yummy iced coffee, and nice window views of the street for people watching. Worth the wait!
We had a quick break in the room afterwards and then headed to Shibuya Sky, a 229m high observation deck that opened in 2019 in place of a planetarium that had operated since 1957. We were extremely lucky to get tickets for this. Luckily I had a look into it a few days back and realised tickets booked out a month in advance, but that people could return tickets for an 80% refund if no longer attending. I managed to get two tickets for 12pm entry and one for 11.20am entry. So Dad entered at 11.20am and Mum and I did some souvenir shopping before heading up later. We've found some of the rules being followed here in Japan absolutely ludicrous and nonsensical. There is no budging and sometimes no room for logic. This was our Shibuya Sky example:
Dad got to the top floor without us and was told he was not allowed to bring his water or hat out onto the observation deck, and that he needed to hire a locker to put them away. Lockers cost 100 yen, and only took 100 yen coins. There had been no signage explaining this prior to going up. Dad only had a credit card and 1000 yen notes. He had to stand and wait for 40 minutes until Mum and I could come up. But wait, there's more! Mum and I didn't have any 100 yen coins. We had a 500 yen coin. We had just spent $25 Australian on credit card in a souvenir shop. Mum went and politely asked could they swap the 500 for some 100s please, and the lady just stared her down and said "no". So we went back, I put our receipt on the counter and said "you're either changing the coins or giving us a refund so we can pay cash and get a 100 yen coin please". She then changed the coins.
I understand having rules to keep things in order and the importance of following rules, but we've really found the attitude here to be "follow the rules at all costs", with no flexibility for using logic. Eg we've seen older or disabled people being forced to stand and eat street food despite chairs being available, simply because the cafe they purchased food from has decided they don't want people sitting on the chairs. The example above at Shibuya Sky again just made no sense. Either put up proper signage or include in the ticket email some information about needing a 100 yen coin for a locker. Or provide lockers for free for paying ticket holders if you don't want people taking certain items out onto the observation deck.
Anyway, after all of that, we ended up having a good time. Poor Dad had had to stand and wait for ages but once Mum and I arrived and we got a locker, we walked around and enjoyed the 360 degree views the tower afforded us. It was a bit cloudier than yesterday and we couldn't see Fuji, but we enjoyed seeing the Tokyo Skytree, Olympic Stadium, Tokyo Bay in the distance, and the area we would then do our walking tour to this afternoon (Yoyogi Park). The rooftop section in particular was great, it felt like you were floating on top of the city and the windows were really clear.
Once back down, we caught the train one stop to Harajuku and started our final walking tour of the trip in that area. We were the only three on the tour today, and our guide was the beautiful Kumi, who had lived in Melbourne 35 years ago but was born and bred in Tokyo and lives here again now. She was really kind and great at explaining things, and very passionate too. She told us that during the pandemic she worked the Olympics, and that it was very strange because the country was still so locked down with so many rules, but she got to go into the athlete's village etc and meet people from all over the world.
Our tour started at the entrance to Meiji Jingu Shrine. Meiji Jingu Shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his wife Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji was the 122nd emperor of Japan and the great great grandpa of the current emperor. He was the first emperor to rule over the empire of Japan after the Meiji restoration in the 1800s which I've mentioned before. The forest surrounding the shrine was beautiful and lush, and provided us a lot of shade. We had an enjoyable walk here and eventually reached the famous sake barrels. Each barrel originally held 72L of sake, and the barrels have been left here as offerings to the spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife. Each had a different pattern on it, and Kumi explained different sake breweries put different labels/patterns on theirs. They were very colourful! Opposite the sake barrels were lots of wine barrels from the Burgundy region in France. Emperor Meiji introduced some western concepts to Japan as after the Meiji Restoration the country finally opened up to the world again. He enjoyed red wine and beef, so the wine barrels are also offerings to him.
We saw two torii gates whilst heading to the shrine, the second of which had to be replaced in the 1960s after being struck by lightning. All of the structures in the shrine complex including the toriis were natural colours, browns etc instead of the typical red. This was because Emperor Meiji enjoyed nature. Once this gate was destroyed, Taiwan donated 1500 year old cypress trees to create a new one. Today, a lightning rod stands nearby that is taller than the gate so that if lightning strikes it hits that instead of the new torii. The forest surrounding the shrine is also man made. People all over Japan 100 years ago donated all different types of trees and some botanists planted them. The shrine itself was lovely too with some more beautiful trees. On New Year's Eve it gets very busy apparently, as we've heard at other shrines too.
Our next stop was neighbouring Yoyogi Park. We stopped at a pretty flower garden with a solitary building at the end, which Kumi explained even a lot of Japanese people don't know is part of the old athlete's village from the 1964 Olympics hosted here. Many of the same type of building were constructed in this area in the late 1940s by Americans for them to live in after the war, and they were repurposed to become the 1964 athlete's village. Today this is the only one that remains, near the entrance of the park. Kumi told us that the athlete's village from 2020* (*2021) is in the Tokyo Bay area. Initially the plan was to sell the condominiums off to people as housing after the games, but the 'Illusion Olympics' as the people here refer to the 2020 games were viewed as cursed/unlucky, and they have not been finished or sold. They'll likely fall into disrepair and end up having to be demolished eventually which is sad and wasteful. Kumi said the silver lining of the 2020/2021 games was that kids got to attend in the crowds whilst keeping distance and wearing masks, which they wouldn't have been able to otherwise.
Our tour ended in the Harajuku area. We walked down Takeshita Street which was busy and full of "kawaii" (cute) items, quirky clothes, interesting foods such as rainbow fairy floss, and interesting people. We then finished in a more modern shopping street nearby where we explored a rooftop garden. Mum, Dad and I then went back to Takeshita Street and shared two crepes from the famous 'Marion Crepes'.
We caught the train back and I got a huge fright whilst we were walking slowly with the flow of the peak hour crowd down some stairs after exiting the train in Shibuya. A young guy decided to run through us at top speed to try and make the train (which was stupid as there were huge queues anyway). He caught on my bag strap somehow and I got spun around, nearly falling down the stairs. Luckily Mum caught me a little and I regained my balance. I went into protective pregnant woman mode and screamed at him so loud that he looked more frightened than me in the end! It's been really disappointing how unaware and disrespectful a lot of the younger people are here (I feel 3000 years old saying that!). We've often seen older people get up for pregnant women on the train, only to have to stand themselves, while younger people are so engrossed in their phones they are total aliens and don't notice anything (or pretend not to!). I have no idea how I didn't fall down the stairs, and I'm very glad I didn't.
We had dinner at a restaurant near our hotel tonight, and then Mum and I went and shared a burger and thickshake at Shake Shack afterwards. Shake Shack is American and we don't have it in Australia. I've now also had it in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. It is deeeeeeelicious!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
We had dinner at a restaurant near our hotel tonight, and then Mum and I went and shared a burger and thickshake at Shake Shack afterwards. Shake Shack is American and we don't have it in Australia. I've now also had it in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. It is deeeeeeelicious!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
No comments:
Post a Comment