Our Last Two Days in Tokyo

We're back! Yes, we were away. You didn't notice? There was a bit of a problem with "the Great Firewall of China" but I seem to have bypassed it. Blogging, with photos, should return. As usual, we're a bit behind...

Tokyo river ferry

When we first planned our flights for this trip, we had figured 5 nights in Japan would be enough to see Tokyo for a few days and a couple days in Kyoto or somewhere like that. Once we started doing some research and realized how incredibly expensive Tokyo is, we changed our flights to only allow four nights. Looking back, 4 nights was a good amount of time to spend in Tokyo but I wish we had more time to see the rest of the country. It's just so expensive. Like we've said almost everywhere we've been, we want to go back. Probably not for a while, though, so we had to make good use of our last couple days in Tokyo. One of the neighborhoods I wanted to check out is Shibuya, known as an area for young Tokyoians to come shop for the latest fashions. The fashion trends over here can be, in a word, ridiculous, so we wanted to see some of it for ourselves. Our first stop was right next to the train station - a statue of a dog named Hachiko. As the story goes, Hachiko and his owner were very close. Every morning Hachiko would walk with him to the train station, then come back later and wait until he came home from work. One day the owner died while at work, yet Hachiko still came every afternoon to wait for his master. Every day for 11 years. A very touching story, especially if you're a dog lover. Today there is a famous statue of Hachiko outside that same train station as a symbol of loyalty, now used as a nice photo-op for the locals.

What is it with Asians and the peace sign?

There is a chain of stores in Japan known as Tokyu Hands that I had been wanting to check out. They carry your standard home decorating items, as well as supplies for DIY hobbiests. Okay, so maybe it's a 'you had to be there' kind of thing, but it's much more interesting than it sounds. This store has everything. Looking to make snow globes for Christmas presents this year? They've got you covered. Can't choose which color sand you want to use in your model train village? Pick a few, they have at least a dozen to choose from. Test tubes, magnifying glasses, back scratchers, hoola-hoops. Not only do they carry all these things, but they have a wide selection. Seriously, they have a good 15 types of back-scratchers to choose from. As I type this, it doesn't sound so great, but trust me, this store is awesome!

Who knew there were so many back-scratcher options available?

I've always wanted a fake rubber pizza that I can spin on my finger

After exploring Shibuya in the morning, we headed north to Yoyogi park. This is the place to be on weekends, where all kinds of teenage cliques and musicians gather. Goths, punks, rock, street performers, the whole lot. It's supposed to be a real spectacle. Unfortunately we weren't there on a weekend, so we had to settle for more normal Tokyoians. Still, we got to watch some extremely unathletic Japanese attempt to play basketball, a couple taking their cat for a walk (on a leash), and some locals practicing anything from acting to sword fighting and bartending tricks. Plus, the weather was perfect and the fall colors were nice.

Sword practice. Japanese take their hobbies VERY seriously

Located adjacent to Yoyogi park is Meiji Shrine, the must-see shrine in Tokyo. Set in a large forested area, it is a beautiful set of courtyards and buildings. I don't fully understand the difference between a shrine and a temple, or even what it is a shrine for, but it was pretty.

Meiji Shrine

A few families had their kids decked out in traditional outfits

After Meiji shrine, we had a real trek to get to the Government Metropolitan Building to see sunset from their viewing room 45 floors up. I may have mentioned Steph is usually the slow and steady type when it comes to walking or hiking (emphasis on slow), but when she wants to get somewhere she does not mess around. We covered what was probably close to 3 miles in about 45 minutes and made it just in time to see the sun fall behind Mt. Fuji. It was incredible. One of the most amazing views we've ever seen. The lights of Tokyo stretch as far as you can see in every direction, and it was our first glimpse of Mt. Fuji, silouetted against the orange-red sunset. Stunning.

Our last morning we finally made it to the Edo-Tokyo museum. We had tried to go our first day, but it was Monday and therefore closed. We can't keep track of the days of the week. Anyways, the Edo-Tokyo museum looks exactly like a spaceship from Star Wars, so I was humming the theme song all day.

How does that song go again?

So, Edo was the original name of Tokyo. Originally it was a small fishing village that grew into the effective capital of Japan in around 1500 or 1600 even while the emperor lived in Kyoto. Tokyo was officially established in the late 1800's after the 17-year-old Emperor Meiji moved to Edo. It all sounds familiar to 'The Last Emperor', but our tour guide said the movie was "weird." It's amazing that Tokyo is really only about 400 years old - an incredibly short amount of time for a city to become one of the biggest, most important cities in the world. The museum was really nice and organized in true Japanese fashion and we were happy to accept the services of a free personal guide. Actually we made money by getting a guide - afterwards she gave us a 5 yen coin (about 6 cents) that symbolizes friendship. A really nice thing to do, and we were extra happy because the 5 yen coin has a hole in the middle and we needed one for our coin collection. Bonus!

They were really proud of this model village. Each figure is hand-made, unique, and cost like $200! There's 800 of them!

A traditional Japanese play. The guy in black is the hero

We were really sad to leave Tokyo behind. We felt like we had barely scratched the surface of Toyko, much less the whole country. Despite the high cost of living (or maybe because of it), it's probably the most liveable foreign city we've come across. How cool would that be? Those dreams (pipe dreams, I might add. Don't worry mom, we're not gonna move to Japan...probably) will have to go on hold as we get set to touch down in the capital of the People's Republic of China and home to life-listers like the Great Wall, Bird's Nest, and the Forbidden City - Beijing! Oh ya, click HERE for all of our pictures from Tokyo - there are a lot but some of them are pretty funny.