I came to Tokyo, Japan on a somewhat whimsical decision to visit my roommate and her family. Bought my plane tickets Friday, landed Tuesday, still got a pretty good deal on flights. The first cultural difference was the efficiency and safety of Japan. Before I even got off the plane, health inspectors were on board making sure nobody had any strange diseases. They quarantined a few people, and they handed us face masks to wear through customs.
Meiji Shrine
When I arrived in Tokyo, I still hadn’t heard from Marielle, so I exchanged some money and checked my email in the airport. I hopped a bus to meet her at Tokyo City Air Terminal, and amazingly we got there at the exact same time. That night I got my first taste of the Tokyo subway system and the local shops in her neighborhood. It’s really picturesque.
On the first full day I was here, we wandered through the young and hip parts of the city. We started at the Meiji Shrine, where I got the full experience of washing my hands for purity, throwing money and clapping for the gods, and basking in the peacefulness of the Shrine and its surrounding gardens. When we left the Shrine we ended up on a different street than where we came in, so we wandered around past tons of restaurants with plastic food and those omnipresent vending machines.
From there we went to Takeshita Street, where all the young, the hip, and the punk roam around and do their shopping.
Shibuya at night
It’s a whirlwind, complete with everything from Nirvana T’s to 4-inch platforms. That led out to Omotesando Street, filled with tons of rich European and American stores. We strolled through the Oriental Bazaar, where Marielle showed me some of Japan’s handicrafts. After that, we headed to Shibuya for noodles and purikura, the Japanese photo booths which are so fun we went back a second night. Shibuya is similar to a Times Square, complete with all the lights and people bustling in every direction.
The second day, we fought off some jet lag and got off to a somewhat late start. We headed to Akihabara, the major-discount electronics and anime district.
After digging through bargains on every imaginable electronic from age-old Walkmans multi-feature toilet seats, we finally settled on a pair of headphones and computer speakers. At night, we went back to Shibuya so I could get the karaoke experience, and we sang our hearts out.
