Day 84: The Main Event
With my first bit of train traveling out of the way, I can
get down to business in Tokyo, the place that I have really come to Japan for.
In the end, doing Osaka first and Kyoto last and putting Tokyo in one chunk in
the middle is better than my initial decision, and because of the JR Rail Pass,
as cost-effective. Tokyo is a large, large city. I don’t have too many days
when you count the day trips and the fact that I don’t really get up early and
the fact that I’m meeting a long lost friend for a day or two, but that only
makes me more focused.
I got up rather late (big surprise) and decided to skip
breakfast (even bigger surprise), so the first place I went to was Tokyo
Central, using it as my main hub to wander around Central Tokyo (saving North
Tokyo for later in the week). While the JR Rail Pass doesn’t allow you to use
the subway, it does allow you to use the next best thing, the local JR lines
that run through most of the main areas of the city. Someone inside the cavernous
Tokyo Central station is the entrance to the Daimaru Shopping Center, one of
the many large shopping department stores, all housing food courts on their
bottom floor. Because of its cavernous-ness, and the fact that there are many others to choose from, I left
the Tokyo Station and headed to the Nipponbashi Takayamashi (or something like
that – look it up, there is little chance I’m getting even 50% of the names of
Japanese locations right), another place that from the outside looks like
Macy’s in New York.
The bottom floor of the department store was a giant
paradise of ready-to-go food (along with groceries, which were less interesting
to me, but still plentiful). There were so many different stalls selling
packages of sushi, or bento boxes of meat, or both, or neither but stuff that
looked equally interesting. Since no one really knows English, I had to go by
appearance only in choosing my lunch, which was incredibly difficult. Since I
wanted to expand my sampling of Japanese cuisine to include things that were
not Japanese Korean-BBQ or sushi, I went for a beef bento box. I then wanted a
beer, because I had read on a blog detailing cuisine in Japan (which listed
this as the best Diamaki – what they call department store food hall) of the
writer having a beer and a bento on the rooftop park seating area. I went up to
ask one of the people where the beer was, and she looked at me like I had seven
heads. I asked another and he shouted at me in Japanese and pointed up. I took
the verbal cue, and took the elevator to the roof, hoping that I understood
what he meant by pointing up. Luckily, I did, and I got my beer at the top and
sat back at a table and had my beef.
Rooftop park is about as apt a description as this place can
be given. It really is a small, clean park (equipped with fountain) full of
lush greenery on the roof of this building, with a nice view of Central Tokyo
around you. I read in my research about Singapore that Singapore had the 2nd
highest living standard of any Asian country after Japan. I don’t know why, but
seeing this rooftop park made me believe it. After lunch finished, I took the
elevator back down and headed out and down south towards Ginza.
My incomplete research about Ginza prepared me for a
shopping district. I guess that is correct, but the more apt comparison or
descriptor would be that Ginza is a larger, but shorter, Times Square. Ginza,
like Times Square, is closed off for car traffic. All that did, however, is
made me avoid the onslaught of people and hasty shoppers that careened down the
street from store to store. The bottom floors of those building were all
branded stores, with high glass and men in gloves manning the doors. Unlike
similar stores in India or Australia, these were full. Makes sense, though,
since the only people in those same stores in Australia were Asian.
Ginza stretches about 3-4 blocks in the heart of Tokyo, all
closed off to cars, all full of stores and glitzy restaurants and bars,
ensuring that this stretch of Tokyo stays full all day and night long. I walked
into the Hermes store just to see the prices. I got a few awkward stares when
walking in, probably because people with black Jansort backpacks and Nike
sneakers don’t usually walk into Hermes. Anyway, I have no idea if the prices
here compare to the prices in the US, because I don’t know the prices in the US.
With my curiosity in these stores extinguished, I left Hermes to continue
walking down Ginza. Eventually, the cars were allowed to return to the streets,
which was my sign to leave Ginza and head for greener pastures.
Tokyo has many parks inside the city. The main two parks are
the Eastern Park which houses the Imperial Palace, and the Ueno Park in
Northern Tokyo which houses the Tokyo National Museum. I left Ginza headed in the
general direction of the Eastern Park and the Imperial Palace. Of course, I say
headed in the general direction because street signs are a little hit or miss
in Japan. Japan tries to make up for this with large maps place throughout the
city, and I appreciate that, but even those maps are mostly in Japanese.
Anyway, when walking towards the Eastern Park I came across another park, a
park I was unaware of, Hibaya Park.
Now, nothing was really special of the small Hibaya Park if
I had come three days earlier. However, I didn’t come three days earlier, but I
came today, which was Day 2 of a 10-day long Tokyo Oktoberfest. Enveloping the
main square of Hibaya Park were about seven to eight stalls selling craft
German beer and German food. The place was incredibly well attended, this being
a weekend. To my dismay, the price of these German beers was not cheap at all.
It was about 10 dollars for a pint, which isn’t terrible in isolation, but not
great compared to the rest of Tokyo. Still, everyone there had at least one
beer. The food was equally ridiculous, with schnitzels and similar fare being
about another 10 dollars. I couldn’t help myself in the end and got a dark
German beer, which was good but probably not worth it.
Still, having a beer in that square, with a live German Folk
band playing on one side, and the hundreds of Japanese 20-somethings all in a
great mood singing along to the music, was an experience unto itself. The whole
place was done up well, with the server girls dressed in little German outfits,
and each place with German names and their own cups (which had a 1000 yen
deposit, refundable when you return the cup, which was smart for them since I
would have probably jacked the stein if not for it). I would not have ever
though I would experience Oktoberfest in Japan in May, but here I was.
With my dalliance in Oktoberfest Tokyo complete, I left
Hibaya Park through its emptier, more quiet and picturesque side, and headed
North (or what I hoped North would be) towards the Imperial Palace. The
Imperial Palace is tucked away inside a large park that itself is right inside
Central Tokyo, almost like Central Park (though not as large). Many were
jogging and running by my on the walking path up the park towards the Palace.
By the time I reached, I realized that there probably wasn’t enough time left
before the Palace closes at 4:30 to see it all today, and without enough days
left I decided to just walk around the park and enjoy the palace later next
week.
The Park has extremely well-manicured tree s and shrubs
lining a large weaving walking path through the park. It was a great walk, with
little nooks and crannies along the way, and after about 40 minutes I emerged
on the other end, a little tired. I left the park then and headed back to the
hotel to freshen up for the evening.
I couldn’t have too late of a night since I was scheduled to
meet my father’s friend and former colleague tomorrow. I decided to have a
light dinner near the hotel and then leave to meet my friend in Roppongi. I
remember quite a bit of what I did there, but instead of detailing those parts,
I’ll talk more about my general impression of Tokyo on my first full day.
Tokyo is a large city, but with its parks and open streets,
it seems more walk-able than it should. There aren’t a bunch of tall buildings,
but enough shorter ones where it seems like a series of districts than a
complete city, a shocking thing given the incredible size and population of
Tokyo. What I really like is there is some space between the buildings. They
aren’t built on top of each other and they aren’t fighting for room on the
street. They are well spaced, well designed and well maintained. Tokyo is about
as easy a major city as you’ll see. I never felt cramped, overwhelmed by the
towering buildings. I never felt my neck crane as I had to look up for too
long. As someone who lived in New York, that is a major plus. Also, my neck
doesn’t crane because I’m taller than the average person here. That helps too.
