Oki-na Gaijin, Chisai-na Kuni (Big Foreigner, Small Country) #6

March 25 - Shibuya, Harajuku and Akihabara

After breakfast, Colleen and I headed to some intense shopping. I'm finding that my Japanese has come back quite a bit over the past few days and dealing with people in stores and restaurants has been great practice.



The first place we went to was Shibuya 109 - I think it's named that because there are 109 different little stores in it! It's a teen girl's shopping dream of both cheap and expensive clothes and accessories. Unfortunately for Colleen, she's gaijin-sized and so, didn't fit most of the the clothes.


Then, onto the busy streets of Shibuya. There are very fancy stores like Louis Vuitton, Prada, and more but Colleen was more interested in great deals.


We stopped at Wendy's as Colleen was missing North American food and ended up with a shrimp burger. Hmmm.

We then went to Takeshite Dori - and this was the kind of shopping that Colleen loved. Crowded, noisy, tons of stores - it was a great Tokyo experience! I even bought a couple things.

Unfortunately there were no dressed up girls at Harajuku Station when we got there but Colleen still enjoyed the experience immensely.


We headed towards the Meiji Shrine but, unfortunately, a bird shared a little joy with Colleen's head so after a quick wash of the hair, it was back on the train.

We headed for that bastion of consumer electronics, Akihabara. I thought I'd lost my subway ticket so I had to pay ¥160 but luckily I found it in my cell phone and was promptly reimbursed.


Akihabara was almost as good as last time and almost as crowded. We went to the Tokyo Anime Centre which was OK but the highlight (for Colleen) was the store.


We then had a nice coffee break where the people watching was excellent, a stop at Yodobashi Camera, and then back to the station.


I think the highlight was when we had our photo taken with some girls dressed up on the street.


Back at Kinshicho station, Yoichi and Keiko met us and we walked into Kinshicho park to look at the Sakura. This time of year is very special in Japan. The cherry blossoms, or sakura, are in bloom and the even of their blooming is called Hanami. Hanami means flower viewing.

We then headed to Yoichi's sister's house which was bitter-sweet. It was great to see his sister and her husband after so many years but is was sad because she has liver cancer. She was up today, though, and we had a very nice visit. Her husband's nick name is Ando-san which means Mr. Ando because when he speaks English, he always says "ando" between words.


We all then went the an Izakaya which is a traditional Japanese bar restaurant. The variety of food that I'd never had before was amazing! I really liked this Japanese version of what looked like a corn dog - it was made from pork and you dipped it in raw egg - oishi (delicious)! There was lots more oshinko (pickled stuff), too. To finish off, we had the biggest o-nigiri (rice ball) I've ever seen in my life! It was like a whole extra meal!

After saying goodbye to Yoichi's sister and Ando-san, we headed home. That was good for Colleen as the smoke in the bar - between the cooking and the fact that almost everyone was smoking in a small place - really bothered her eyes.

All in all, another great day.

Oki-na Gaijin, Chisai-na Kuni (Big Foreigner, Small Country) #4

March 23 - Shibuya and Harajuku

Today started a little late. I didn’t really get up until nine and rang up Yoichi at 10.

Staying with someone certainly changes your travel experience. On one hand, you don’t have the freedom to just go whenever you want. On the flip side, there are opportunities that the average tourist would never have.

We hung out and drank coffee until about noon and then headed toward Kinshicho station. This transportation hub has changed quite a lot in 23 years. There is a new subway line going through the station as well as a couple of different train lines so it is very busy. Yoichi and I had a coffee while Keiko went to the Loto place and placed about 100 ¥100 bets. This is a common event on Sundays.


We eventually got on the subway (Hanzomon Line) and went to Omote Sando. . We had lunch at the Spiral Building, so named for its spiral staircase. After the queasiness of last night, the tomato and rice dish was very settling.


We then walked towards Harajuku. The big draw is the show of rebellious teens who dress up in a variety of costumes on the weekend. Some dress up in weird Bo-Peep costumes, others in frilly dresses, others as goths and other strange outfits. And yes, sometimes it’s boys dressing up in the frilly outfits.



There’s also a narrow, long shopping street called Takeshita-dori which was a sea of people - tourists, shoppers and costume play (Cos-Play) teens. Very festive and busy.


The most Cos-Plays on display were outside Harajuku train station and were quite happy to be photographed. Interestingly, there were a few gaijin dressed up in the mix.


We then walked towards Shibuya past all sorts of very fancy stores (Louis Vuitton, Gucci, etc.) that I don’t really care about but are very popular in Japan. We ended up at a gigantic scramble crosswalk in Shibuya - I had to cross it twice - and then headed back for home.


Back in Kinshicho, Yoichi decided that his feet hurt so we all ended up at the massage clinic for a shiatsu body massage. After putting on little Japanese pajamas, the massage guy worked me over for an hour, asking (in Japanese) if I was OK after each excruciating move. But I always said that I did because it felt so good after.

Afterwards, we went to little restaurant near the station which had a nice variety of food. I had the chriasi sushi with is a bowl of rice with a bunch of fish and other stuff on top. It was very good but one of the oshinko - pickled vegetables - that I had - a daikon dyed yellow - was absolutely hideous. Luckily the two big beers I had helped eradicate the bad taste.

After a great dinner and the massage, we were all pretty tired. I watched Bull Durham in Yoichi’s apartment and then retired to bed for my best sleep thus far.