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Kon'nichiwaaaaaaa,
We took the Shinkansen to travel from Osaka to Tokyo for the weekend the next day! Another smooth ride and we were there in no time!
We arrived on friday around 2ish and our hotel was near the Hachi(ko) statue and the Shibuya crossing. It was crazy busy when we arrived! Tokyo is always busy, but during the weekend, visitors double to some of the places we visited. So maybe avoid the weekends here! Compared to my earlier visits to Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto I felt as if it was so busy everywhere and I don't know if it's the time of year and/or cherry blossom but it unfortunately took away from the charm I felt some places had before. It was however still fun to go back and reminisce about my previous visits!
We visited some of Tokyo's favorites;
- Hachi(ko), not so much the statue that we did pass a number of times but this became Dennis' favorite theme when shopping for souvenirs!
- Shibuya crossing, these days also known as Shibuya Scramble croasing. The world's biggest pedestrian crossing where all vehicle lights turn red at the same time so people can cross in every direction.
- Asakusa, one of my favorite areas when I went to Tokyo before. Huge temple, fun market, nice area. But again, super busy (during weekends)!
- Tsukiji market, mostly known for it's tuna auction and fish market/restaurants. They sell what they buy on the market in the morning. But the reason I wanted to go was to look at table wear (cups, bowls, plates), I remembered this from last time and was hoping it hadn't changed. This is still a nice area to visit and all three of us bought stuff here :-)!
- Kiddyland, a huge toy store where people go nuts to get their favorite toy! Super fun to visit! We went to the one close to Yoyogi Park, it's located in a huge shopping street full of high end brands.
- Yoyogi Park, went for a short stroll through the park to get away from the busy streets of Tokyo. Also where you can find Harejuka girls (mostly sunny days/weekends). We didn't go into the park far enough but did see some on our way here.
And we visited/saw/experiences some new things on our final day in Tokyo, happy sunday;
- Kanamara Matsuri festival, it's all about the penis haha. I came across this when looking for cherry blossom events and just had to go! This is one of those things you will not find anywhere else! The festival has been around for quite some years and traditionally, sex workers came here to pray for protection against STDs. It has then also been visited in the war against HIV and is nowadays more about general fertility rite for succesful pregnancy and marriage. It's a strange thing to witness. Three statues of (as they call them) erect phalluses carried on portable shrines in a parade through town (a quiet town where nothing else seems to happen but this festival). One is made from wood (oldest), one is made from black iron and one is pink. And of course, there are also themed merchandise and food items sold!
- Johnny Walker Black Ruby. When we arrived to Tokyo, there were posters everywhere of Johnny Walkers Black Ruby and the date of the weekend we were there. We had no idea what it was. Turned out that it was kind of a launch party for the newest 'flavor' and it was pretty much next door, with a DJ and live music as well. So we visited it, tried the 3 types of cocktails with the Black Ruby and walked around for a bit before visiting our next activity!!
- Mario Kart!! Although it's not Mario anymore nor can you wear any of their outfits after a series of lawsuits, so it's Street Kart nowadays, but still something I really wanted to do and so did the boys! Now you do need an international drivers license (not all countries do) and of course a regular drivers license since you are driving in actual Tokyo traffic and so some preperations needed to take place before we left, but easy peasy! And I booked one for 9pm, I wanted to go at night cause of all the lights, in Akihabara. It was a good time and place to get a bit away from the most touristy places and rush hours so you just get to drive without stopping too much or hitting traffic, we saw a bunch of them crossing the Shibuya crossing. One of our highlights!
That's it for Tokyo! Going back to Osaka tomorrow for our final two nights!
Cheers,
T.
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