Japan -2024: Day Two

Monday morning.

The day after the two days before, after two days of barely any sleep I hopped into bed at about 4:30-5:00 am but not before stopping at the 7 Eleven where I’d bought two pairs of socks and two pairs of undies.

My alarm was set to wake me up after about 4 hours, at around 9am and I’d crashed out. Woken, not by my alarm, but the hotel room phone at 8am I got out of the bed and answered the call. “We have your case in reception it has been delivered” they told me. I said that I would be down soon as soon as I’d got dressed.

Next thing I knew I woke up again at 14:15 Tokyo time, feeling a bit better but now knowing that some of the day had been wasted. A quick wash and carton of orange juice from my little fridge (bought from a 7 Eleven, not the minibar) , a trip down to reception to pick up my case and I was almost ready to go out again. I had checked that my case contained everything it should have, my clothes, chargers, my laptop and my Bronica ETRS camera.

My itinerary for the day consisted of the following:

• Meiji temple – An old shrine from 1920
• Yoyogi park – A green piece of land with a nice walk on the way to the shrine.
• Shibuya scramble – One of the busiest junctions and crossings in the world.
• Tokyo tower – An Eiffel Tower like structure painted red
• Rainbow bridge – A bridge across Tokyo Bay that is sometimes lit u in the colours of the rainbow.

After getting my case checked and getting dressed proper it was out of the doors of Hotel Gracery at 15:15 and getting on the JR Yamanote line to Yoyogi, where I could alight and walk through the park to get to the shrine. Coming out of the station I used my google maps to lead me to the park entrance and was taking many photos along the way, stopping at level crossings for trains etc. It was a nice walk.

Time Check at Yoyogi

When I was approaching the gates to the park I noticed that there was only one gate open adn a car was coming out of it, followed by a policeman or security person who saw me approaching and started gesturing that the park was closed. I looked around and saw a sign on the gate saying that the park would close today at 16:20. Then looked at my watch and I couldn’t have timed it more perfectly, it said 16:20 exactly. I laughed to myself, swore a little bit under my breath and headed off in a different direction. I wasn’t angry at anyone else other than myself for wasting those hours in bed when I should have been on my feet, but I think back and if I needed to sleep it’s a good job I did. I hadn’t had many hours sleep in the previous three days.

Harajuku

I strolled back to the Yoyogi Station and then jumped on a train, to get off at Harajuku as I’d researched and heard that it was a buzzing place. It didn’t disappoint. I got off the train at Harajuku station and wandered into a UniQlo shop where I purchased some T-Shirts for presents and then walked along Takeshita Street, known for being a hip and trendy young people’s fashion store street. There were some interesting shops down here and some quite expensive style boutique shops too, I didn’t really bother going in them as I wasn’t really looking for anything for myself.

I visited a Gachapon Store (or Capsule Shop) that had hundreds of silly vending machines like the old bubble gum machines of old, where you inserted coins, turned the handle and got out the plastic capsule. It’s bizarre to see some of the things in these capsules that must sell or the shops wouldn’t exist. I bought nothing from the Capcom shop but had a look in another smaller shop and bought one each for my two kids, wandered around a bit more taking photos and then headed towards Shibuya. Taking photos in Harajuku was a target rich environment and although it was quite low light I managed to get a couple of shots that I was happy with, and that oozed Tokyo.

Shibuya Scramble

JR Yamanote line took me the one stop to Shibuya and I had a directionless walk around looking for the Shibuya Scramble Crossing and also if I could get up to Shibuya Sky to look down over the crossing. The crossing was mad at 7:30pm Tokyo time and hundreds of people lined the edges of the road to join in the dash across when the green man showed and the birds started tweeting. It was as I’d imagined it and an experience to be a part of. Traffic flowing through was cool too, I loved the taxis and the little box shaped cars that seemed common in Japan from my limited experience, even a few Mario Kart style tour groups racing through the busy intersection.

When I failed to find the Shibuya Sky for a while, I strolled and snapped, then found the queue with the person at the front holding a big sign stating that there were no further tickets left for today. The book my wife had bought me for Christmas did say that I shoul dbook a couple of days in advance so I only had myself to blame, again.

Towering Above Tokyo

Heading back to the metro again, I jumped on a train to Toranomon then exited the station to go and find the Tower. My first sight of it tonight was reflected in some of the huge skyscraper office blocks in the area and I was taking a couple of pictures when a local photographer with a mirrorless Canon spotted what I was doing and couldn’t quite see the reflection, so I beckoned him to the spot I had been on and he was happy to see the reflected illuminated orange structure.

A few more photos as I walked nearer to the Tower and as I arrived underneath it, I found it to be very impressive. The colours it is painted combined with the red/orange lights give it such a striking appearance, it’s no wonder it’s such an icon of the Tokyo skyline.

No queue to get in to the Tower, I put my large camera backpack into the coin lockers and then jumped in the lift up to the platform at 150m. Ideally I’d have loved to buy the guided tour ticket for a bit more cash and get up to the 250m platform but it was closed as it was a bit windy and bloody freezing cold. Up in the lift with a quick description by the young fellow in the lift and then it was a door opening over the whole city. There were some wonderful images to be had of the Tokyo Cityscape at night and it was only marred a little by the brightly lit rooms behind you, causing reflections off the glass. There were also glass floor panels looking straight down and it was funny to see people too afraid to stand on it, skip around it and try not to get pushed onto it by their date or friend.

This viewpoint over the city was well worth the 1200 yen and I’d recommend it to anyone visitng the city. The fact that it is also 3m taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris is also fun to know. the presentation of the tower is faultless and with no queues at all it was a piece of cake getting in and out, there was also a cool shop on the first deck which had all sorts of tower related merch, and I bought a couple of postcards and a bookmarker for my wife, Joanne. I was out of the Tokyo Tower at 10pm and back to the hotel in Shinjuku for 11pm.

Night In Shinjuku

There was some action out on the streets when I got back near the hotel and there were people absolutely off their faces with drink, I assume. I never smelled any weed anywhere like you would in London or Birmingham so I can only assume it was drink. I wouldn’t fancy being caught by the police with drugs on my person, as I’d heard that they come down very hard on this sort of crime. One man was being asked for his ID in Kabukicho and couldn’t stand up, the officer was looking for his ID card, after he was handed the wallet over, only to watch the guy stumble across the footpath to be picked up repeatedly by the very patient cop. In the end, he sat him on a bollard to give him some stability.

I figured that I’d get into bed and catch up with some sleep at around midnight as I wanted to be up early to be on the train bound for Hiroshima, did I make it in time, find out in Japan 2024 Day Three (when it is written)

Thanks for reading this blog, it’s mainly for my own benefit but if it piques anyones interest in a trip to Japan, I’d highly recommend it.