After so much traveling, it was still difficult to fully adjust to the time change. The sun rises early here and we began our day by watching the Japanese equivalent of "Good Morning America." One of their main stories was cellphone cases, which are evidently becoming very elaborate (and large) here. One was shaped like a watermelon, another one looked more like a stuffed panda bear than anything that could be attached to a phone. We grabbed breakfast at the Japanese equivalent to Starbucks and walked to the Tokyo Metropolitan government building.
We took a free elevator to an observation deck where we could somewhat orient ourselves to the city. We could identify a few landmarks like the Tokyo Tower and the Meiji-Jingu shrine a mile away, but it was too hazy to see Mt. Fuji or anything like that. Afterward the government building, we continued walking to the shrine we had seen from up above. Walking it seemed to take a bit longer than it appeared from the skyscraper, but it was beautiful sunny weather and we got to take an easy stroll through the park to the shrine.
It is partially under renovation now, so scaffolding and other additions kind of ruined its appeal, but it was nice to go from a very modern building to a very historic one within a short walk. After leaving the shinto shrine, we were trying to head toward Shibuya station in hopes of finding the world's busiest crosswalk. It was difficult to orient ourselves after exiting the park with the shrine, but against all odds, I recognized a street name from 15 years ago -- Takeshita Street. I suppose it just had a nice ring to it that resonated with a sophisticated gentleman such as myself.
We walked down Takeshita Street, where against all odds, we spotted a store that was featured in this morning's TV piece about ridiculous phone covers. There were all kinds of offbeat stores lining the sides of the pedestrian-only street. I was enticed into one by the lure of a t-shirt that simply had a skateboard strapped with nori to a block of rice like a musubi. It was like all of my favorite things, so I bought it on the spot. After exiting Takeshita Street, we continued walking into Shibuya until we finally reached the big intersection we had all been waiting for. We walked to the second floor of a Starbucks in hopes of getting a better vantage point and I shot this video...
Next we went to pick up our Japan Rail passes, which was like a comedy of errors. We went to the information booth at Shibuya Station and we kept getting redirected from one booth to the next until FINALLY we had our rail passes in hand. We took the the Yamanote circular line back to Shinjuku. This time we took it the correct way and stopped off at a 7-11 to get some food. I purchased some katsu chicken and rice with some sort of thing that I can only describe as spaghetti stuffed into a hot dog bun. I researched later and this is called Yakisoba. Nicole unknowingly ordered the most popular item at 7-11, a pair of onigiri -- triangular rice blocks filled with salmon and wrapped in seaweed. I am not sure if it was a cause-and-effect situation, but when we got back to the hotel to rest for a little bit, Nicole began vigorous research on where to get dinner.
After so much traveling, it was still difficult to fully adjust to the time change. The sun rises early here and we began our day by watching the Japanese equivalent of "Good Morning America." One of their main stories was cellphone cases, which are evidently becoming very elaborate (and large) here. One was shaped like a watermelon, another one looked more like a stuffed panda bear than anything that could be attached to a phone. We grabbed breakfast at the Japanese equivalent to Starbucks and walked to the Tokyo Metropolitan government building.
We walked down Takeshita Street, where against all odds, we spotted a store that was featured in this morning's TV piece about ridiculous phone covers. There were all kinds of offbeat stores lining the sides of the pedestrian-only street. I was enticed into one by the lure of a t-shirt that simply had a skateboard strapped with nori to a block of rice like a musubi. It was like all of my favorite things, so I bought it on the spot. After exiting Takeshita Street, we continued walking into Shibuya until we finally reached the big intersection we had all been waiting for. We walked to the second floor of a Starbucks in hopes of getting a better vantage point and I shot this video...
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