We were ready to explore the city when we got up on Friday morning. But first we got some delicious breakfast at our guest house with free coffee and everything The guest house is beautifully designed.
First stop in the city was the tourist office to get some help getting our bearings. We spent about a year in there getting excellent advice about where to go, what to see and where to find things. We also investigated going to see a Sumo match, partaking in some Kendo and an evening out doing karaoke.
But one by one these options were eliminated due to price and practicality. The Sumo guys are out of town, Kendo would be in the outskirts and very expensive and Karaoke also priced us out - plus karaoke is more fun in a group. But that's ok, good to get your options (or lack of them) straight and it's not like there's nothing else to see in Tokyo and loads of it is free.
So it was time to get out and about and first stop was Sushi for lunch. Yum.
Then time for some shopping. Luckily the tourist office and good sushi train restaurant were based in Ginza, Tokyo's biggest shopping district. The shops were multiple and overwhelming. Huge department stores smaller boutiques such as the Hello Kitty shop for example. It felt like Bond St and Regent St. Lots of designer stores like Chanel and Prada. Not for the likes of us!
We spent hours exploring, playing and buying some pressies (at more affordable place - don't get too excited people about the photo below, this was for Rob's niece and nephew!)
Then when we were at breaking point we popped into an English style pub for a drink as there doesn't seem to be any Japanese pubs.
We were well and truely sleepy after our day of shopping so after a couple of drinks we grabbed some cheap dinner in the station, made for "home" and got some more use out of the guest house's DVD collection.
But the next morning we were rested and ready for more. With another good Andon brek and coffee inside us we started our second day of exploration and total emmersion. We started in Akihabara the electronics end of town. In Japan things tend to be segmented. Restaurants sell one type of food and the town is divided and designated into areas.
Akihabara is full of computer shops, electronics shops, computer game halls and maid cafes. Maid cafes have apparently been invented for stressed business men to come and be looked after and payed with like a child - apparently in an innocent rather than dirty way. It certainly wasn't underground and there were women dressed as maids everywhere handing out fliers. Bizarre.
We got a few more bits and pieces from around here and had an excellent soba noodle lunch before getting back on our way.
Stop two was Shinbuya junction which Rob had an image of in his mind from playing computer games as a kid. The junction was huge and crazy and when the cars stop people flood in from all sides.
We had a bit of a look about at all the cool kid shops, quite different from yesterday's more fancy shops - a kind of Carnaby street to yesterday's Bond Street. People are incredibly fashion conscious here and everybody is fully dressed up and styled and seems to be shopping at all times. God knows where they get their money from, especially the teenagers.
Third stop was Harajuku for another type of shopping experience again; probably more like Camden if we're making comparisons.
It was fun here as it was pedestrianised and we found a fun shop to spend a while in before climbing up some stairs to a cute little cafe overlooking the street. We'd been hoping to spot some Harajuku girls around this area and finally we did in the cafe. All dolled up, literally, in their puffy dresses, big shoes, tights, bunches, make up, hair accessories, and full on jewelry. Unfortunately we didn't get a photo (as they are people not tourist attractions apparently) but I got this one of the view from the cafe.
Final stop was Shinjuku, another busy area of the city, famous or it's night life. It was dark now and so shining and shimmering in all it's manic glory. We walked around for quite a while, swept up by the crowds and buzz but then felt it was time for a drink.
We saw a sign for a bar up on a second floor so climbed up to investigate. However at the top of the stairs there was pictures of naked people tied up and others holding whips. So on second thoughts we decided this maybe wasn't the place for us (not today anyway) and so literally hurled ourselves down the stairs back onto the road.
Eventually we found a bar that wasn't a maid cafe, porn bar, karaoke bar, darts bar or restaurant and happily had a small beer. The downside to the bar, which we only discovered when we paid up, was that they had a cover charge per person that was nearly as much as the drinks and so one quiet drink proved pretty pricey. Oh well, it was fun to be out and about for a bit but that expenditure put an end to it really. Plus we needed to find a cash point on the way home - always a mission with our funny foreign bank cards!
However, we went home feeling we'd had a really good explore of Tokyo and a really fun couple of days. We were looking forward to getting out of the city the next day - we're off to visit Mr Fuji-san.
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