Sarah blogging again, because I almost killed Alan today. Everything he says is 2 minutes from the station. He will comment in blood, oh I mean red. I just repeat what the signs say. It's not my fault if that makes Sarah grumpy. Could it possibly be the fact that you say it every 2 seconds even when there is no sign around?
Today started cloudy but looked like it would clear quickly and it did, although it was extremely windy. We had four places on the agenda today but only got three done, although it took 5 hours.
Our first stop was Shibuya Crossing. It is the world's busiest pedestrian intersection crossing. We were there around 11.30am and although there were a lot of people, it wasn't jam packed. Apparently on weekends you can feel like you're getting crushed as everyone tries to cross the street at the same time. It would probably be quite scary in morning peak I would imagine.
Right next to the crossing is a Hachiko Statue. In the 1920s a professor who lived near the station kept a small Akita dog who would come to the station every afternoon to await his master's return. The professor died in 1925 but the dog continued to show up and wait at the station every afternoon in the hope that his master would return, until his own death 11 years later.
Second stop was Harajuku to see the Meiji Shrine. Before getting there, we saw the strangest Japanese girl all dressed up. She was standing by the station refusing photos but we managed to sneak a few of her. The photos aren't great, but we had to be very subtle about what we were doing. We're good at being sneaky like that.
Although we thought we had seen enough shines that weren't as impressive as they were made out to be, we went anyway as it was only a few train stops. This is apparently Japans most famous Shinto shrine. Again the book said 2 minutes walk from the station. OK, the gate may have been 2 minutes walk but there was another 20 minutes after that. We thought the gate was very impressive but it wasn't as impressive as the Shrine. So much wood, so much detail, it was worth the walk. The gate is the biggest wooden one in Japan. The Meiji Shrine was built in 1920, after Emperor Meiji died in 1912 and his soul is said to be present in the shrine. It was destroyed in World War 2 but rebuilt in 1958. It's on a 247 acre site and we were about to give up looking for it when we eventually came across it.
The next stop was the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building at Shinjuku which has free views from its 45th story observation deck. Before getting there Alan was hungry and wanted some western food. Just lucky for him we found a Sizzler and after a burger each, we were back on our road to the building. That was a pretty darn good burger I have to say. Just what we both needed. The view was pretty spectacular. We thought with it being such a clear day we might see Mt Fuji but it was still a little hazy. We could just make it out but we had a better view from the train on the way to Tokyo. We could just barely see the outline of Mt Fuji off in the distance if you stared at it hard enough.
By this stage the trains were packed and people were everywhere. We contemplated making our last stop although it was going to be another long walk from the station. Maybe tomorrow we will get to see the one thing I have marked off in the guide book for about five months.
After returning to the room, we had a quick afternoon nap before venturing out to dinner. We stopped at a nice looking pizza place and although they had two seats left we were told "we have no room for you". Can't help but take it personally. So we tried the Yakatori House where the lady has been trying to pull us in all week. Strange things on the menu but Alan managed to order some pretty decent food. I was skeptical about the lobster and rightly so as we had small fried prawns still in their shells, with legs, heads and eyes. Yes, I ate prawn eyes for dinner. It's better than it sounds. They are soft shell shrimp so although you eat the entire thing, head, shell, feelers and all, it really is quite nice. We simply had no idea what we were ordering but I suppose that's half the fun of eating in a foreign country. The woman serving us was not happy that we only asked to drink water. It's just that drinks are so expensive here.
Back to the hotel on the free shuttle we passed the park on the corner which is standing room only picnicing tonight. Must have double the people for all those who missed out last night due to the rain. And, might I add, tonight is FREEZING. About 5 degrees and blowing a gale.
Tomorrow is forecast to be 17 degrees which will be positively boiling compared to what we've experienced thus far. We're off to Yomiuriland, an amusement park about an hour away by train. Fun fun fun!
We're hoping to meet up with our friend Janet who is flying into Tokyo tomorrow night but given that we leave Tokyo on Saturday morning I don't know if we'll have time. I'm sure we can catch up at home. We only live 10 minutes apart.
Right then, time for our nightly spa. We'll miss it when we leave Tokyo.
Alan also forgot to mention that there were a number of train delays around Tokyo today due to the wind including one Shinkansen accident. Glad it wasn't on Saturday!
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