In Japan with my sweetie - Part Three
Some people are morning people. I hate morning people. Except for my sweetie, of course. :)
She woke me up early on Friday morning - 7ish - despite our plans to sleep in as best we could to fight the jetlag. The air, she said, was insanely clear when she'd stepped out onto the balcony and Mt. Fuji was brilliant white in the distance. I just had to see it for myself. So she told me.
And she was right. Clear days in Tokyo are as rare as... as... I want to say as rare as Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings but unlike that bird, I have photographic proof that clear days still happen in Tokyo. Not often, mind you, but they do happen. We'd initially planned to visit the Shibuya area that morning but given how clear it was, we decided to first go to Shinjuku and pay a visit to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to visit their free observatory on the 45th floor of each of the two spires. The western suburbs sprawl toward Mt. Fuji and today, with the clear sky, the views were spectaular. The air was so clear that I even got a shot of Yokohama some 20 miles away.
From there, we caught the Yamanote Line 2 stops south to Harajuku, where we alighted in the middle of Tokyo's youth fashion mecca. On the other side of the tracks, after crossing the bridge over the Yamanote Line tracks where the city's beautiful people hang out, we came to the entrance of Meiji Shrine. The shrine stands in honor of Emperor Meiji, under whose leadership the Tokugawa Shogunate fell and Japan was ushered into the modern age. It is a green oasis of peace in Tokyo and my sweetie was quite taken with it... despite the fact that its meandering and poorly-marked paths got me very lost for a while. After ending up at the back entrance, which I'd never seen in some 2 dozen visits, we made our way back to the front and went back across the bridge to Harajuku. We had a buffet lunch at one of the stylish cafes off Omotesando Avenue, Tokyo's other answer (besides the Ginza) to Park Avenue and then wandered Takeshita-dori a little, marveling at the cramped street and hundreds of clothiers and accessory stores crammed side-by-side with the street's famous crepe stands. It was here that I introduced my sweetie to the crepe, Japan-style. She had a chocolate cream crepe while I had strawberry cream. Buttery, sweet, delicious, and doubtless very bad for you.
After this, we took the Yamonote Line one stop south and paid a brief visit to Hachiko Square, where the statue of Hachiko the dog serves as arguably the most popular gathering spot in Tokyo and is doubtless the most photographed pooch in the city.
By the point, my sweetie was tiring quickly so we returned to Shibuya Station (all of 30 steps away) and caught the Yamanote Line to Shinjuku, the Chuo Line to Ogikubo, and the bus home.
One of the great joys of Tokyo is that almost every train station has at least one large department store, which in turn contains at least one grocery store and numerous vegetable, fish, meat, and bakery stands. We bought dessert at one of the department stores - chocolate ganache, cheesecake, and a creampuff - and had them following a delicious (if I may say so) dinner of stir-fried yakisoba noodles with an assortment diced, shredded, and julienned vegetables.
We finished by relaxing in front of the television.
Speaking of which, I don't think I'm rich enough to watch CNN in Tokyo. While ads for minivans, antacids, and the wonders of South Dakota pay the bills for CNN in the USA, CNNj pitches the likes of Rolex watches and Crown Royal whiskey, interspersed with advertisements from the tourism bureaus of South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand. CNN International even has a show called Mainsail (or "Mains'l") that covers the world of international yachting while Living Golf features the finest links on the planet for those with the means and the skill to play them.
All in all, a very good day. Tomorrow, Yokohama!
She woke me up early on Friday morning - 7ish - despite our plans to sleep in as best we could to fight the jetlag. The air, she said, was insanely clear when she'd stepped out onto the balcony and Mt. Fuji was brilliant white in the distance. I just had to see it for myself. So she told me.
And she was right. Clear days in Tokyo are as rare as... as... I want to say as rare as Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings but unlike that bird, I have photographic proof that clear days still happen in Tokyo. Not often, mind you, but they do happen. We'd initially planned to visit the Shibuya area that morning but given how clear it was, we decided to first go to Shinjuku and pay a visit to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to visit their free observatory on the 45th floor of each of the two spires. The western suburbs sprawl toward Mt. Fuji and today, with the clear sky, the views were spectaular. The air was so clear that I even got a shot of Yokohama some 20 miles away.
From there, we caught the Yamanote Line 2 stops south to Harajuku, where we alighted in the middle of Tokyo's youth fashion mecca. On the other side of the tracks, after crossing the bridge over the Yamanote Line tracks where the city's beautiful people hang out, we came to the entrance of Meiji Shrine. The shrine stands in honor of Emperor Meiji, under whose leadership the Tokugawa Shogunate fell and Japan was ushered into the modern age. It is a green oasis of peace in Tokyo and my sweetie was quite taken with it... despite the fact that its meandering and poorly-marked paths got me very lost for a while. After ending up at the back entrance, which I'd never seen in some 2 dozen visits, we made our way back to the front and went back across the bridge to Harajuku. We had a buffet lunch at one of the stylish cafes off Omotesando Avenue, Tokyo's other answer (besides the Ginza) to Park Avenue and then wandered Takeshita-dori a little, marveling at the cramped street and hundreds of clothiers and accessory stores crammed side-by-side with the street's famous crepe stands. It was here that I introduced my sweetie to the crepe, Japan-style. She had a chocolate cream crepe while I had strawberry cream. Buttery, sweet, delicious, and doubtless very bad for you.
After this, we took the Yamonote Line one stop south and paid a brief visit to Hachiko Square, where the statue of Hachiko the dog serves as arguably the most popular gathering spot in Tokyo and is doubtless the most photographed pooch in the city.
By the point, my sweetie was tiring quickly so we returned to Shibuya Station (all of 30 steps away) and caught the Yamanote Line to Shinjuku, the Chuo Line to Ogikubo, and the bus home.
One of the great joys of Tokyo is that almost every train station has at least one large department store, which in turn contains at least one grocery store and numerous vegetable, fish, meat, and bakery stands. We bought dessert at one of the department stores - chocolate ganache, cheesecake, and a creampuff - and had them following a delicious (if I may say so) dinner of stir-fried yakisoba noodles with an assortment diced, shredded, and julienned vegetables.
We finished by relaxing in front of the television.
Speaking of which, I don't think I'm rich enough to watch CNN in Tokyo. While ads for minivans, antacids, and the wonders of South Dakota pay the bills for CNN in the USA, CNNj pitches the likes of Rolex watches and Crown Royal whiskey, interspersed with advertisements from the tourism bureaus of South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand. CNN International even has a show called Mainsail (or "Mains'l") that covers the world of international yachting while Living Golf features the finest links on the planet for those with the means and the skill to play them.
All in all, a very good day. Tomorrow, Yokohama!