After a full day of conquering the prime targets of the city, having declared ourselves victorious, it was time to partake of the spoils of Tokyo! With our feet rested, our shopping bags empty, and our ninja skills honed, we set out for a full day of shopping MADNESS.
Armed with a one-day JR Pass and an appetite for the city's treasures, we spent the day traversing Tokyo's incredibly convenient Japan Rail (JR) train system. We of course took a few moments at the beginning of the day to go over how to read one of these - key to navigating the massive city. Once ready, we boarded the JR Yamanote Line bound for Shibuya and set off.
Our first stop was out in Shibuya, the trendy fashion capital of Tokyo. Shibuya is known for it's expansive departments stores, such as Shibuya-109 and 109-2, dedicated to the latest fashions. The town is also a hub for much of the music buzz that comes out of Tokyo. With music stores like Tower Records, HMV, and Tsutaya very close to the station, as well as billboards and advertisements for the latest J-Pop releases adorning every vertical flat surface in town, the music scene and fashion scene thrive upon each other. That Thursday was no different, and after meeting up at the must-see meeting spot Hachiko, we dispersed to explore.
We reconvened at the Hachiko statue and took a break to take the requisite photos next to the bronze canine. Some of us were especially slick, looking like hollywood was in town, and generally knocking the ladies dead (in a good way). Then we set our sights on the neighboring town of Harajuku. While Harajuku is indeed another fashion hub of Tokyo, it's very different in both style and atmosphere. With a far more undergound feel to the fashion and mentality, Harajuku is very uniquely different from Shibuya, despite being a mere 10-minute walk from one another. Much like Shibuya, Harajuku's culture is closely intertwined with its own respective music scene, but with more punk/gothic themes apparent. On Sundays you can see street performances by dancers, bands, and other various talentos. It's also THE place to go if you want to eat the most delicious dessert crepes you've ever had in your life.
Destination Japan's steadfast travelers arrived on the Harajuku scene with JR One-Day passes safely tucked away and ready to check things out. We assembled at Jingu-bashi, the bridge adjacent to the JR Harajuku Station, famous for its Sunday shenanigans. After a brief explanation, those that wanted to explore left to do so, and those that wanted a bit of a walking tour strolled down Omotesando Street, then over to Book-Off, and back up Takeshita Street.
Our time in Harajuku was punctuated with a trip to a ramen restaurant. Wait. I know what you're thinking. Ramen? No. RAMEN. As you can see from the simple diagram below, authentic ramen is completely different from the instant ramen you've come to know. The Destination Japan group gathered together and took the opportunity to try some of the best food in Harajuku: Kyushu Jangara Ramen. It was well received by all accounts.
The group assembled once again to make the last leg of the day's shopping trip. No one needed to say it - everyone knew this was the shopping day's main event. We were headed to AKIHABARA. With bated breath we boarded the JR trains and made our way over to the shopping district famous for electronics, anime, manga, and games.
Traveling from station to station via the JR trains was quickly becoming second nature to the participants, and soon the group was comfortable with making transfers to various JR lines. As everyone grew more comfortable with the process, they started to notice that Japan's advertisements were out in full effect. Tommy Lee Jones seems to be pretty big this season. Ninjas too.
Once we'd made it through a couple of stations and line-switches, we finally made our descent on the unique town of Akihabara. The town was already busy with human traffic, and stores were open and ready for our monies. Those that wanted to explore the place on their own were welcome to, and even a few that wanted to simply say goodbye to the group for the day and get lost in the mad-hatter town of Akiba were allowed to do so. A good portion of the group got a brief walking tour pointing out landmarks and stores to check out such as Gamers, Kotobukiya, Club Sega, Tora no Ana, animate, Akiba Crossfield UDX, Yodobashi Akiba, Gachapon Kaikan, Cospa, Don Quixote, and the brand new Sofmap building.
Destination Japan participants were given ample time to check out everything they could, and then we gathered to return to the hotel to take in some much-needed rest. Some who wanted to stay, stayed. After such a long day of rocking the shops of Tokyo, everyone needed a nice relaxing night back at our excellent hotel. One more day of glory was done and gone...
...OR SO WE THOUGHT! After meeting up back at the hotel, a portion of the group set out to go to a movie theatre in Eastern Shinjuku down near Kabukicho to catch a viewing of the first movie installment of Rebuild of Evangelion. Evangelion 1.0: YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE was playing at the Tokyu Shinjuku Milano01 Theatre, and we had it in mind to see it well before the US would have the chance. We managed to make it in right on time, and everyone enjoyed it quite a bit, even without any subtitles to help us understand what anyone was saying. Most of us were at least somewhat familiar with the material anyway. I'll stop there before this turns into a movie review.
After the movie was finished, we all headed back to our hotel to turn in and get some rest. While chatting about the movie on the way back, I stopped and picked up some random movie tie-in Doritos. The flavor is "soruto" which I'm pretty sure is supposed to be "salt."
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