We headed off early to Shinjuku station and made our way to the West side of the station, passing this holographic image along the way. I was reminded of the "all seeing eye" from Lord of the Rings.
We emerged into Tokyo's skyscraper district, as West Shinjuku is otherwise known. It is the financial hub with most large banks and companies having offices, if not whole buildings here.
We were headed for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office building whose architecture instantly recalls Notre Dame in Paris, on which it is modelled. Both the towers have observation decks on their top floors which can be visited for that bird's eye view of the city. There are many other viewpoints in the city, such as Tokyo Tower, but this has consistently been voted the best. One can visit one, or both towers, and best of all, its free !
We had decided to go up just one tower and it was pretty much the luck of the draw as the elevator to the North Tower opened first. Its a quick ride up and then the largest city in the world unfolds before you.
Tokyo is large, and also very dense. Houses and residences are very small and packed together with almost no space in between.
After our visit, we made our way to the Takashimaya Department Store, where I was meeting my cousin Ajay and his girlfriend Hina for lunch. Ajay has been in Tokyo for over 10 years and it was great fun catching up with him and getting an unique insight into life in Tokyo and Japan. Lunch was long and leisurely at an Italian cafe in the Takashimaya department store building.
A view of Yoyogi Park from the restaurant shows how close it is, and also how the sakura is yet to manifest itself in all its glory. We were never in Tokyo on a Sunday and hence missed the chance to watch cozplay - the crazy happenings every Sunday at Yoyogi where Tokyo teens dress in their wierdest costumes and hair dos and hang out.
Late afternoon, we made our way to Shibuya to while away the evening. One of the most popular neighbourhoods in Tokyo for its shopping, food and nightlife. We emerged at the Hachinko exit, named for the statue of the faithful dog who waited for his dead master to come home. It is now the most popular meeting point in Shibuya and hence almost always crowded. The street leading to the right has many malls and department stores as well as the largest Tower Records showroom in the world.
The first thing we wanted to do however, was to head across the street from the station to the Starbucks in the building seen below, on the first floor. This is our pick as the best vantage point to see....
...this ! The Shibuya crossing is the most crowded crossing in the world, and is great fun to watch. Starbucks has a great location, and if it happens to be raining, warm your innards with a hot latte while watching the sea of umbrellas below.
So here are the before and after shots. Before the traffic light turns red as the masses swell at the crossing, and after the signal turns red and all hell breaks loose.
Sushi is available in so many different ways - a proper sit down meal at a restaurant, as part of an elaborate kaiseki meal, in the obento box, take away from the food halls at the depachikas, off conveyor belts and as below - standing sushi.
The alleys and streets around Shibuya are filled with interesting shops, game parlours, restaurants and cafes. Heading further up is "Love Hotel Hill" where one can rent theme based rooms for short durations. Most have unmanned receptions with the entire transaction done electronically. There are also several capsule hotels, but women are generally not allowed anywhere near them.
One of the many malls in Shibuya, this one is very popular with the young crowd of Tokyo for its trendy designs and edgy collections.
We had an enjoyable dinner at a local restaurant called Miami Garden before ending up at the Tower Records store just to browse around. We bought a couple of books from their book section before making our way back to the hotel.
