Tokyo Tower

Ah yes…that icon of anime…Tokyo Tower! Ignorant of Japan as I was when I first started watching anime, I didnâ€t know that Tokyo had a larger and more colorful version of the Eiffel Tower. And on the way up to the tower, a beautiful flower looked so perfect youâ€d swear it was an imitation.

It was truly amazing and there were tons of people there. The view of the city was incredible, and there were still a lot of cherry blossoms around, though they were definitely getting a bit on the thin side at that point. I would strongly recommend going to Tokyo Tower during the week, as Saturdays are packed out like a theme park. The lines were long! But due to the quiet and organized nature of the crowds, it was not an unpleasant experience. No screaming brats running amok, thatâ€s for sure! Also, the gift shop was pretty cool with loads of different stuff. I got a lot of inexpensive souvenirs there.

Harajuku

The next day, we went to Harajuku to see, thatâ€s right, the Harajuku Girls! For those unfamiliar with the whole Harajuku experience, this is the area thatâ€s known for its trend-setting fashions. The girls that dress in the interesting gothic Lolita-type clothing gather on the bridge that leads to the temple in Yoyogi Park. The tiny train station had people pouring out of it, heading across the street to Takeshita Street and down to the bridge where the girls hang out.

They had amazing outfits on, though unfortunately I wasnâ€t able to get any really good pictures. And have I mentioned all the people? This is the main street through Harajuku, Omotesando. Those are people as far as the eye can see. Holy frijoles, Batman.

We ended up going to Yoyogi Park as well, since itâ€s just beyond the bridge where all the girls hang out. Thereâ€s a temple in here and there were two traditional Japanese weddings going on while we were there. The kimonos were beautiful! And even though strangers were imposing by taking pictures (like me), they were still smiling and very gracious.

Someone asked me a question in the blog about whether or not I knew Japanese. Both Jax and I took language lessons for six months before the trip, in addition to learning hiragana and katakana. I strongly believe that it made getting around a lot easier than if we didnâ€t know anything, and I think the effort was truly appreciated by the Japanese people. I could get around and ask for directions, and besides, itâ€s cool watching anime in Japanese and actually understanding some of what they say! I would recommend that anyone going learn at least the very basics such as numbers, directions, yes, no, basic phrases like where is…, what is…, how much…, and how to say I do/do not understand, please and thank you as well as general greetings like good morning. Oh, and Mandarake is pronounced Mandala-K, and Nakano Broadway is Nakano Burodoway by the Japanese. When I didnâ€t make that distinction when asking for directions, the people I had asked looked at me like I had two heads. But when I pronounced it the way they would, they understood.

Well, I’ll be signing off for now. Hereâ€s links to my previous postings if you haven’t seen them:

https://www.animenation.net/blog/2008/04/18/tokyo-was-awesome/

https://www.animenation.net/blog/2008/04/25/tokyo-was-awesome-part-2/

Thanks for reading and see ya next week!

https://www.animenation.net/blog/2008/04/18/tokyo-was-awesome/

Nakano Broadway

Continuing on my trip to Tokyo, as promised, here are detailed instructions on how to get to Nakano Broadway. Iâ€m VERY directional and the DPS (Daphne Positioning System) works best when she knows what direction sheâ€s facing. That being said, the DPS had some issues working in Tokyo. To find Nakano Broadway from Shinjuku station, take the JR Chuo line west to the Nakano stop, third from Shinjuku. NOT Higashi-Nakano! Thatâ€s the mistake we made trying to find it. Here’s a picture I took from the north exit of the train station, looking straight across the street:

When youâ€re at the Nakano station, take the north exit and walk straight across the bus/taxi plaza to the deco-style covered shopping arcade that leads to Nakano Broadway (thereâ€s a sign for McDonaldâ€s directly to the right of the entrance). Walk to the end of the shopping strip to see the sign over Nakano Broadway. Woohoo! The first floor didnâ€t have much of what we were looking for, but floors two and three had tons of figures and other collectible-type items. Nirvana!

There are several Mandarake stores in Nakano, which deal in secondhand items. However, people who sell off their items to Mandarake take very good care of their stuff. I managed to snag all three of Minekura Kazuyaâ€s Backgammon art books for about 1000 yen off the cover price of each. Just a little something Iâ€ve been in search of for a long time! Each Mandarake store specializes in a different type of goods such as doujinshi, manga, yaoi, and more. We managed to make it back to the train station with goodies in tow, although we did go back for a second round later in the trip. Back to the hotel to peruse the stuff we bought!

Akihabara

The next day was the first trip to Akihabara. My goal: purple PSP. I was very lucky in that I was able to get one in the second shop I asked. However, no one seemed to have either of the colors that Jax was looking for. We eventually found one later in the trip at Bic Camera in the Odakyu building in Shinjuku…she got the green one. Cool colors and sparkly to boot! We found more figures, yeah, ‘cause we needed more, right? We shopped at many of the game stores and bought lots of PSP and PS2 games. One thing I have to say is that the stores are LOUD! Around every corner is a speaker blaring out music or game and movie trailers. The loudest places were the larger electronics stores like Sof-Map and Bic Camera, and the variety store Don Quijote was the worst. Wow…just, wow. I thought Best Buy was loud, and yet even though BB annoys the heck out of me, it didnâ€t bother me in Tokyo. Go figure!

Just a couple of observations:
There are a lot of people in Tokyo…well, duh.

I have to say that in all the big cities Iâ€ve ever been (New York, Honolulu, Paris, and more), Tokyo was, by far, the cleanest. Even though there arenâ€t garbage cans at every corner, there was no trash in the street. Finding one of the recycle bins could be challenging at times, but the vending kiosks and train platforms usually had something to put trash in. And did I mention that Iâ€ve never felt safer? Iâ€m not naïve enough to think that thereâ€s no crime in the city, but I also know that it is one of the safest places in the world. Even something as simple as dropping change became a positive encounter in Tokyo. A 100 yen coin (about a dollar) had fallen out of my pocket when I got up to exit the train and the gentleman that had been sitting next to me tapped me on the shoulder and gave it back! And another time, Jaxâ€s had left her handbag open after getting money for the train and her cash, passport, credit cards were there for all to see for about a half hour and nothing went missing. Just amazing!

Well, thatâ€s it for now. Tune in next week for another installment of my trip!

3 squares and a cot

We stayed at the Keio Plaza in Shinjuku. Highly, highly recommended. There are less expensive places to stay, but the location is a short walk to the JR station as well as the subway lines, with lots of places to eat close by. Itâ€s really expensive to eat at the hotel ($25 for breakfast, $50 for dinner), though the Poppins Bakery has great food for cheap like croissant-wrapped sausage, bacon bread, and almond croissant. I recommend checking out the basement of Odakyu or Keio department stores (they sit on top of Shikjuku station) for a great selection of Japanese food, from dumplings to tempura to sushi…YUM! And the huge selection of sweets was fabulous, too. Close by is Yoshinoya on the main road south of the station. Awesome beef bowls and really inexpensive if you need to eat on the cheap to save money for other stuff.

Day 1…Explore!

Due to severe jet lag (13 hour difference, Tampa to Tokyo), we were up very early our first morning there. Our room faced east in the direction of Shinjuku Station right on the pedestrian street.

Since it was so clear, we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building first. Itâ€s located directly west of the hotel and has observation decks in both towers for free. We went up the south tower and got a great view of Mt. Fuji and Tokyo overall.

From the TMG building, we went exploring east and west Shinjuku. We also attempted to find Nakano Broadway, and though we walked for a couple of hours, we never found it. Yeah, wrong station, not once but twice! I will be posting detailed directions in my next installment.

Well, thatâ€s it for this posting, I hope yâ€all like what you see. Please stay tuned for my next installment early next week…thanks!