Ginza, Shinjuku and beyond Roppongi!
Ginza, Shinjuku and beyond Roppongi!
Today, Steve and I woke up in our quaint shoebox like hotel room for our first full free day in Tokyo. On impression the day before, we felt Tokyo to be a very well kept city. I think prior to arrival in a city you really create a picture of "What it might be like?" but when you get there it seems to be always the opposite of what you actually might have imagined in to be.
I woke up around 8am with my stomach growling and screaming to fed while my brain was urging me to get out and get coffee as quickly as humanly possible. The APA chain hotel we booked in the locality of Akihabara did not include a breakfast in the room deal. The previous night we had completed a quick scan of the neighbourhood and sourced potential breakfast option for the following morning.
I think with an arrival to a new city these days provided that there is one, its almost compulsory to make at least one visit to the McDonalds - the Golden Arches because there are inevitably some varied and interesting items on the menu. On the way across the road Steve asked me what I wanted for breakfast. Being somewhat of a pancake lover I thought to myself "I haven't had any McDonalds Hot Cakes in a really long time", so I had decided that this selection might be a real possibility. The previous evening in Ueno - we had come across some language challenges upon entry to the sushi bar and expected something similar this morning.
On arrival at McDonalds, we were faced with a menu completely in Japanese and decided that it was probably just simpler to use the universal language of pointing. In this instance we chose from the breakfast menu and an equivalent of our Egg/Bacon or Egg/Sausage Mc Muffin with a side of what we discovered a terrible side of bad tasting coffee. ;o) Steve and I discovered that our Mc Muffin Tokyo equivalent had somewhat of a sweet twist, the alleged bun surrounding the Egg/Bacon/Sausage actually resembled more of a pikelet that a bun/muffin. Mine in particular had tiny sweet pockets of raisin or jam which oddly seemed to work with the savoury filling.
No longer hungry and satisfied Steve and I left the humble Golden arches and headed back towards the JR station to decide which part of Tokyo we would explore first. I'm not your typical woman when it comes to shopping or bargain hunting. I mostly do it as a necessity or occasionally stumble across things while out for the groceries but Tokyo has a reputation for being a "Shopping Capital" so Steve and I headed first to the GINZA locality to inspect some department stores.
While in GINZA we stumbled across our second Starbucks (the first being at Narita Airport, prior to boarding the Sky Liner Train), apparently this Starbucks was the first of its kind in Japan. We stopped to top up our caffeine levels as well as forget about the ghastly coffee we'd drunk out of addiction back in Akihabara. Sometimes it nice to sit in a coffee shop and just watch the world go by. Steve and I chose a seat on the first floor and watched as people walked up and down the pavements running past us.
After leaving the Starbucks, we headed towards one of the major department stores. I wasn't so much interested in fashion or electronics as I was in the art of origami and the hand - crafted style Japanese paper specifically for this. I thought perhaps I could source some in the vicinity. After wandering around GINZA for a bit Steve and I wandered into a department store and with curiosity headed down to the basement for inspection of the food market. We just wanted to see what was on offer and whether any of it might have taken our fancy. What I we did discover what that the Japanese a very big on their sweeties. They have large selections of sweet bun, pots of custards and so forth as well as an interesting selection of cake types.
We wandered around aimlessly for some time in this large department store when by accident I came across a poster and pamphlet advertising a "Snoopy Japanesque" exhibition. I thought "What Luck!" and looked at Steve with that look that just says "We have to check it out, we cannot miss this" to which Steve replied with a look of " OMG, this is so boring and I can think of a million things Id prefer to be doing!" I thought Id hit the jackpot once we found the exhibition on the 8th Floor of the department store. Around the exhibition that they had a Snoopy souvenir store, Steve patiently waited while I scurried around reminiscing my childhood and love for Snoopy. With joy, I purchased Snoopy stationary and Snoopy Origami paper... SCORE!
One thing Steve and I often do while exploring new cities is just walk. Walk, walk, walk until physical exhaustion, so from the GINZA locality, we slowly made our way to Hibiya Park. Friday 3rd May is the Constitution Day in Japan and similarly the day has the same meaning in Poland. On our way to Hibiya Park, we past some important government buildings and found ourselves somewhat in the middle of some protest. This protest is however, did not have the same structure as a protest might in Melbourne. There was a heavy police presence but the protest really only contained a few guys in vans with large speakers ranting as they drove around in circles. Hardly fun and less impact I would imagine, everyone in the vicinity barely battered an eyelid and went about their daily business.
Hibiya Park was quite lovely, everything is so green in Japan right now and just rich with the feeling that comes with spring. Steve and I wandered through Hibiya park and found ourselves near an amphitheatre with a smooth jazz performance and took the time to sit down for a moment to take in the atmosphere and music. One thing we had noticed in Tokyo is that although it is a concrete jungle just like any other major city in the world, the streets are lined with careful sculpted Bonsai like trees and close to the road, the kerbs have endless hedges of mini rhododendrons which are spectacularly in flower right now. All their parks (including Hibiya) have these wonderful sculpted trees. Its just beautiful.
After a quick rest at Hibiya Park, Steve and I continued onto Kokkaimae Park. My map indicated that this park was Japanese style and I was thoroughly keen to inspect it. It wasn't a large park and really when we got there it didn't really seem all that much different from Hibiya Park so we marched on after taking a few souvenir photographs towards Akasaka wanting to inspect the grounds of the Imperial Residence.
While walking towards our next destination, Steve and I looked at the time and realised it was almost 2pm and we hadn't thought about lunch so we diverted off our main path into some compact area which contained a large number of eateries and bars. Quite close to our hotel back at Akihabara we'd noticed a chain called Coco Curry House and had put it on our list of places to try. Steve just love Katsu and fortunately in Akasaka there we stumbled across a store from the same chain. I think what has challenged us while here is our inability to decipher a Japanese Menu. I think Steve and I both love food and are willing to try just about everything, but just not knowing what you are ordering presents us with some inhibitions when ordering food. One thing I have noticed however is that upon entry to such an establishment we are most promptly handed an English style menu (if they have one) which does take the frustration out of ordering food and as was the case in this Coco Curry House. I have to say that the food was delicious here. Steve ordered a curry with a bit more punch than I, but mine had just enough to give my tastebuds a tingle but still enjoy the rich flavours of such a dish.
As we exited the restaurant, I politely said Thank you and smiled at our host rubbing my tummy indicating to him that I had thoroughly enjoyed his cooking and went on our way. It was at this point Steve and I thought that walking to Shinjuku was probably a bit far so we found a metro line nearby and used it to transport ourselves to Neon city.
Our next stop, Shinjuku was rather overwhelming. Tokyo in general is rather overwhelming... for so many reasons, but this area was ridiculously crowded. Its one of the busier areas of Tokyo. Admittedly, neither Steve nor I lasted very long there, we were over it rather quickly and just wanted to get out as quickly as possible! We did have a look around a bit and wandered around without any direction or plan along some of the main drags. These walks without any purpose can be somewhat surprising because as I had stumbled across the Snoopy exhibition in Ginza, here I practically tripped over a "Hello Kitty" Memorabilia store and promptly went in to stock up on some souvenirs. What I did notice next to this Hello Kitty store was a Baskin Robbins ice creamery that was just filled to the brim with teenagers which overflowed onto the street. Madness. After the Hello Kitty purchases Steve and I decided that we wanted to just disappear into a corner somewhere away from the masses and again on our attempt to do so came across a Kirin Beer Speciality restaurant bar. Steve practically dragged me in there and we relaxed for a moment and studied our maps planning where we should head next.
I woke up around 8am with my stomach growling and screaming to fed while my brain was urging me to get out and get coffee as quickly as humanly possible. The APA chain hotel we booked in the locality of Akihabara did not include a breakfast in the room deal. The previous night we had completed a quick scan of the neighbourhood and sourced potential breakfast option for the following morning.
I think with an arrival to a new city these days provided that there is one, its almost compulsory to make at least one visit to the McDonalds - the Golden Arches because there are inevitably some varied and interesting items on the menu. On the way across the road Steve asked me what I wanted for breakfast. Being somewhat of a pancake lover I thought to myself "I haven't had any McDonalds Hot Cakes in a really long time", so I had decided that this selection might be a real possibility. The previous evening in Ueno - we had come across some language challenges upon entry to the sushi bar and expected something similar this morning.
On arrival at McDonalds, we were faced with a menu completely in Japanese and decided that it was probably just simpler to use the universal language of pointing. In this instance we chose from the breakfast menu and an equivalent of our Egg/Bacon or Egg/Sausage Mc Muffin with a side of what we discovered a terrible side of bad tasting coffee. ;o) Steve and I discovered that our Mc Muffin Tokyo equivalent had somewhat of a sweet twist, the alleged bun surrounding the Egg/Bacon/Sausage actually resembled more of a pikelet that a bun/muffin. Mine in particular had tiny sweet pockets of raisin or jam which oddly seemed to work with the savoury filling.
No longer hungry and satisfied Steve and I left the humble Golden arches and headed back towards the JR station to decide which part of Tokyo we would explore first. I'm not your typical woman when it comes to shopping or bargain hunting. I mostly do it as a necessity or occasionally stumble across things while out for the groceries but Tokyo has a reputation for being a "Shopping Capital" so Steve and I headed first to the GINZA locality to inspect some department stores.
While in GINZA we stumbled across our second Starbucks (the first being at Narita Airport, prior to boarding the Sky Liner Train), apparently this Starbucks was the first of its kind in Japan. We stopped to top up our caffeine levels as well as forget about the ghastly coffee we'd drunk out of addiction back in Akihabara. Sometimes it nice to sit in a coffee shop and just watch the world go by. Steve and I chose a seat on the first floor and watched as people walked up and down the pavements running past us.
After leaving the Starbucks, we headed towards one of the major department stores. I wasn't so much interested in fashion or electronics as I was in the art of origami and the hand - crafted style Japanese paper specifically for this. I thought perhaps I could source some in the vicinity. After wandering around GINZA for a bit Steve and I wandered into a department store and with curiosity headed down to the basement for inspection of the food market. We just wanted to see what was on offer and whether any of it might have taken our fancy. What I we did discover what that the Japanese a very big on their sweeties. They have large selections of sweet bun, pots of custards and so forth as well as an interesting selection of cake types.
We wandered around aimlessly for some time in this large department store when by accident I came across a poster and pamphlet advertising a "Snoopy Japanesque" exhibition. I thought "What Luck!" and looked at Steve with that look that just says "We have to check it out, we cannot miss this" to which Steve replied with a look of " OMG, this is so boring and I can think of a million things Id prefer to be doing!" I thought Id hit the jackpot once we found the exhibition on the 8th Floor of the department store. Around the exhibition that they had a Snoopy souvenir store, Steve patiently waited while I scurried around reminiscing my childhood and love for Snoopy. With joy, I purchased Snoopy stationary and Snoopy Origami paper... SCORE!
One thing Steve and I often do while exploring new cities is just walk. Walk, walk, walk until physical exhaustion, so from the GINZA locality, we slowly made our way to Hibiya Park. Friday 3rd May is the Constitution Day in Japan and similarly the day has the same meaning in Poland. On our way to Hibiya Park, we past some important government buildings and found ourselves somewhat in the middle of some protest. This protest is however, did not have the same structure as a protest might in Melbourne. There was a heavy police presence but the protest really only contained a few guys in vans with large speakers ranting as they drove around in circles. Hardly fun and less impact I would imagine, everyone in the vicinity barely battered an eyelid and went about their daily business.
Hibiya Park was quite lovely, everything is so green in Japan right now and just rich with the feeling that comes with spring. Steve and I wandered through Hibiya park and found ourselves near an amphitheatre with a smooth jazz performance and took the time to sit down for a moment to take in the atmosphere and music. One thing we had noticed in Tokyo is that although it is a concrete jungle just like any other major city in the world, the streets are lined with careful sculpted Bonsai like trees and close to the road, the kerbs have endless hedges of mini rhododendrons which are spectacularly in flower right now. All their parks (including Hibiya) have these wonderful sculpted trees. Its just beautiful.
After a quick rest at Hibiya Park, Steve and I continued onto Kokkaimae Park. My map indicated that this park was Japanese style and I was thoroughly keen to inspect it. It wasn't a large park and really when we got there it didn't really seem all that much different from Hibiya Park so we marched on after taking a few souvenir photographs towards Akasaka wanting to inspect the grounds of the Imperial Residence.
While walking towards our next destination, Steve and I looked at the time and realised it was almost 2pm and we hadn't thought about lunch so we diverted off our main path into some compact area which contained a large number of eateries and bars. Quite close to our hotel back at Akihabara we'd noticed a chain called Coco Curry House and had put it on our list of places to try. Steve just love Katsu and fortunately in Akasaka there we stumbled across a store from the same chain. I think what has challenged us while here is our inability to decipher a Japanese Menu. I think Steve and I both love food and are willing to try just about everything, but just not knowing what you are ordering presents us with some inhibitions when ordering food. One thing I have noticed however is that upon entry to such an establishment we are most promptly handed an English style menu (if they have one) which does take the frustration out of ordering food and as was the case in this Coco Curry House. I have to say that the food was delicious here. Steve ordered a curry with a bit more punch than I, but mine had just enough to give my tastebuds a tingle but still enjoy the rich flavours of such a dish.
As we exited the restaurant, I politely said Thank you and smiled at our host rubbing my tummy indicating to him that I had thoroughly enjoyed his cooking and went on our way. It was at this point Steve and I thought that walking to Shinjuku was probably a bit far so we found a metro line nearby and used it to transport ourselves to Neon city.
Our next stop, Shinjuku was rather overwhelming. Tokyo in general is rather overwhelming... for so many reasons, but this area was ridiculously crowded. Its one of the busier areas of Tokyo. Admittedly, neither Steve nor I lasted very long there, we were over it rather quickly and just wanted to get out as quickly as possible! We did have a look around a bit and wandered around without any direction or plan along some of the main drags. These walks without any purpose can be somewhat surprising because as I had stumbled across the Snoopy exhibition in Ginza, here I practically tripped over a "Hello Kitty" Memorabilia store and promptly went in to stock up on some souvenirs. What I did notice next to this Hello Kitty store was a Baskin Robbins ice creamery that was just filled to the brim with teenagers which overflowed onto the street. Madness. After the Hello Kitty purchases Steve and I decided that we wanted to just disappear into a corner somewhere away from the masses and again on our attempt to do so came across a Kirin Beer Speciality restaurant bar. Steve practically dragged me in there and we relaxed for a moment and studied our maps planning where we should head next.
The sun was going down rather rapidly, so we marched rather promptly towards Yoyogi Park - the map had indicated that there was a shrine worth inspecting. By the time we reached this destination, we really had very little light left and just managed to get in and out of the park before announcements that the park was closing for the evening. By this moment, Steve and I were both feeling rather weary, but continued on and jumped onto one of the connecting Metro lines from Yoyogi to Roppongi which I think is downtown Tokyo more where the serious business happens. Truly tired from the days walking, we really struggled to explore this area in any great way, but ended up finding our way to the Roppongi Hills tower district where we wandered around in circles for a while looking for food., eventually giving up because of our fatigue on the Franziskaner restaurant. Who would have thought - of course the food was pricier because of the cost of importing speciality products. I was quite pleased to order a Weiss Wurst with honey mustard and a nice crisp fresh from the over Kaiser brotchen. Seriously, YUM! Steve ended up ordering a three cheese pizza which was about the size of a small plate but also was thoroughly pleased with his selection.
After dinner, Steve and I looked at one another trying to make a decision on whether to push on or give up for the night. Quite honestly, all I need to do is look Steve in the eyes with a "I'll keep going if required, but I'm really tired and would prefer to head back to our hotel" expression which was enough for him to go "Yeah, I'm tired too - Lets go"..... I think we'd both had enough for the day, it felt like we had been walking around for hours and our feet had not yet adapted to the continues onslaught along the foot path.
Besides, we'd planned to visit Mt Fuji tomorrow .....
