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Day 84: The Main Event
With my first bit of train traveling out of the way, I can get down to business in Tokyo, the place that I have really come to Japan for. In the end, doing Osaka first and Kyoto last and putting Tokyo in one chunk in the middle is better than my initial decision, and because of the JR Rail Pass, as cost-effective. Tokyo is a large, large city. I don’t have too many days when you count the day trips and the fact that I don’t really get up early and the fact that I’m meeting a long lost friend for a day or two, but that only makes me more focused.
I got up rather late (big surprise) and decided to skip breakfast (even bigger surprise), so the first place I went to was Tokyo Central, using it as my main hub to wander around Central Tokyo (saving North Tokyo for later in the week). While the JR Rail Pass doesn’t allow you to use the subway, it does allow you to use the next best thing, the local JR lines that run through most of the main areas of the city. Someone inside the cavernous Tokyo Central station is the entrance to the Daimaru Shopping Center, one of the many large shopping department stores, all housing food courts on their bottom floor. Because of its cavernous-ness, and the fact that there are many others to choose from, I left the Tokyo Station and headed to the Nipponbashi Takayamashi (or something like that – look it up, there is little chance I’m getting even 50% of the names of Japanese locations right), another place that from the outside looks like Macy’s in New York.
The bottom floor of the department store was a giant paradise of ready-to-go food (along with groceries, which were less interesting to me, but still plentiful). There were so many different stalls selling packages of sushi, or bento boxes of meat, or both, or neither but stuff that looked equally interesting. Since no one really knows English, I had to go by appearance only in choosing my lunch, which was incredibly difficult. Since I wanted to expand my sampling of Japanese cuisine to include things that were not Japanese Korean-BBQ or sushi, I went for a beef bento box. I then wanted a beer, because I had read on a blog detailing cuisine in Japan (which listed this as the best Diamaki – what they call department store food hall) of the writer having a beer and a bento on the rooftop park seating area. I went up to ask one of the people where the beer was, and she looked at me like I had seven heads. I asked another and he shouted at me in Japanese and pointed up. I took the verbal cue, and took the elevator to the roof, hoping that I understood what he meant by pointing up. Luckily, I did, and I got my beer at the top and sat back at a table and had my beef.
Rooftop park is about as apt a description as this place can be given. It really is a small, clean park (equipped with fountain) full of lush greenery on the roof of this building, with a nice view of Central Tokyo around you. I read in my research about Singapore that Singapore had the 2nd highest living standard of any Asian country after Japan. I don’t know why, but seeing this rooftop park made me believe it. After lunch finished, I took the elevator back down and headed out and down south towards Ginza.
My incomplete research about Ginza prepared me for a shopping district. I guess that is correct, but the more apt comparison or descriptor would be that Ginza is a larger, but shorter, Times Square. Ginza, like Times Square, is closed off for car traffic. All that did, however, is made me avoid the onslaught of people and hasty shoppers that careened down the street from store to store. The bottom floors of those building were all branded stores, with high glass and men in gloves manning the doors. Unlike similar stores in India or Australia, these were full. Makes sense, though, since the only people in those same stores in Australia were Asian.
Ginza stretches about 3-4 blocks in the heart of Tokyo, all closed off to cars, all full of stores and glitzy restaurants and bars, ensuring that this stretch of Tokyo stays full all day and night long. I walked into the Hermes store just to see the prices. I got a few awkward stares when walking in, probably because people with black Jansort backpacks and Nike sneakers don’t usually walk into Hermes. Anyway, I have no idea if the prices here compare to the prices in the US, because I don’t know the prices in the US. With my curiosity in these stores extinguished, I left Hermes to continue walking down Ginza. Eventually, the cars were allowed to return to the streets, which was my sign to leave Ginza and head for greener pastures.
Tokyo has many parks inside the city. The main two parks are the Eastern Park which houses the Imperial Palace, and the Ueno Park in Northern Tokyo which houses the Tokyo National Museum. I left Ginza headed in the general direction of the Eastern Park and the Imperial Palace. Of course, I say headed in the general direction because street signs are a little hit or miss in Japan. Japan tries to make up for this with large maps place throughout the city, and I appreciate that, but even those maps are mostly in Japanese. Anyway, when walking towards the Eastern Park I came across another park, a park I was unaware of, Hibaya Park.
Now, nothing was really special of the small Hibaya Park if I had come three days earlier. However, I didn’t come three days earlier, but I came today, which was Day 2 of a 10-day long Tokyo Oktoberfest. Enveloping the main square of Hibaya Park were about seven to eight stalls selling craft German beer and German food. The place was incredibly well attended, this being a weekend. To my dismay, the price of these German beers was not cheap at all. It was about 10 dollars for a pint, which isn’t terrible in isolation, but not great compared to the rest of Tokyo. Still, everyone there had at least one beer. The food was equally ridiculous, with schnitzels and similar fare being about another 10 dollars. I couldn’t help myself in the end and got a dark German beer, which was good but probably not worth it.
Still, having a beer in that square, with a live German Folk band playing on one side, and the hundreds of Japanese 20-somethings all in a great mood singing along to the music, was an experience unto itself. The whole place was done up well, with the server girls dressed in little German outfits, and each place with German names and their own cups (which had a 1000 yen deposit, refundable when you return the cup, which was smart for them since I would have probably jacked the stein if not for it). I would not have ever though I would experience Oktoberfest in Japan in May, but here I was.
With my dalliance in Oktoberfest Tokyo complete, I left Hibaya Park through its emptier, more quiet and picturesque side, and headed North (or what I hoped North would be) towards the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace is tucked away inside a large park that itself is right inside Central Tokyo, almost like Central Park (though not as large). Many were jogging and running by my on the walking path up the park towards the Palace. By the time I reached, I realized that there probably wasn’t enough time left before the Palace closes at 4:30 to see it all today, and without enough days left I decided to just walk around the park and enjoy the palace later next week.
The Park has extremely well-manicured tree s and shrubs lining a large weaving walking path through the park. It was a great walk, with little nooks and crannies along the way, and after about 40 minutes I emerged on the other end, a little tired. I left the park then and headed back to the hotel to freshen up for the evening.
I couldn’t have too late of a night since I was scheduled to meet my father’s friend and former colleague tomorrow. I decided to have a light dinner near the hotel and then leave to meet my friend in Roppongi. I remember quite a bit of what I did there, but instead of detailing those parts, I’ll talk more about my general impression of Tokyo on my first full day.
Tokyo is a large city, but with its parks and open streets, it seems more walk-able than it should. There aren’t a bunch of tall buildings, but enough shorter ones where it seems like a series of districts than a complete city, a shocking thing given the incredible size and population of Tokyo. What I really like is there is some space between the buildings. They aren’t built on top of each other and they aren’t fighting for room on the street. They are well spaced, well designed and well maintained. Tokyo is about as easy a major city as you’ll see. I never felt cramped, overwhelmed by the towering buildings. I never felt my neck crane as I had to look up for too long. As someone who lived in New York, that is a major plus. Also, my neck doesn’t crane because I’m taller than the average person here. That helps too.
