Another big-ish update. A lot of pictures follow the text post. What can I say; I guess I tend to get a lot of things done in a day.
As planned I slept in today. I woke up feeling much better than I have all week. I think I’ve gotten over my cold. Just in time for the weekend, hooray! I started out lounging around the house and doing a load of laundry. After I hung my clothes out to dry (did I mention I have no dryer? If not, now you know). After I was sure they weren’t going to blow away while I was out I did my typical first step of any trip, I got on the train to Shinjuku.
In Shimotakaido as well as Shinjuku station recently I’ve noticed there are more and more signs asking people to report suspicious looking persons or items. I can’t help thinking that one of these days someone’s going to report me. How much more out of place can you get than a 2 meter tall caucasian guy?
Before getting on the train I had already made up my mind to go to Asakusa. But during the ride I decided I hadn’t yet been to the top of the Tokyo Metro building yet. The Tokyo Metro Building (TMB from here on) is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and affords one of the best views in all of Tokyo. It being a nice sunny day I exited Shinjuku station and walked the 5 blocks to the base of the building. I then proceeded to walk around the building fully twice. I could not for the life of me find the sky-deck entrance. Most of these places have big showy sings; some in English saying “Come on in”… I saw nothing of the sort. In my travels around the building I stepped into Shinjuku Central Park to check out an ad-hawk flee market. After my second lap around the outside I stopped and watched where a tour group was going. It turns out I was on the upper deck of a 2 layered section of the building. I was basically circling the second floor, while the entrance to the sky deck is on the first floor. Finding a handy set of stairs I made my way inside. There are two towers to choose from when entering the TMB. It’s one building, but it splits at the 30th or so floor, making two towers. I chose, on a whim, the south tower. Good choice, more on that later. I entered the south tower elevator entrance and a guard searched my bag before letting get in line for the elevator. Did I miss something? The entrance fee? Oh, it’s free. That’s right, best view in Tokyo and it’s free of charge. No wonder they want to tear down Tokyo Tower (though that was worth the $8.00.) My ears popped on the elevator which too all of maybe a minute to go up the 55 stories to the observation lounge.
The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking. Everything looks so small, so close, it’s quite fascinating. I did the rounds looking out all 3 sides worth of windows. Remember I said there were 2 towers and the south was better? Well in the south tower, the north side is a gift shop and had very few windows (you can only see the north tower anyways.) The opposite is true in the north tower, you can’t see south very well. Most of Tokyo’s famous sights lye south of the TMB to therefore the south tower is definitely the cooler of the two. (Of course being free, if one had time both could be seen.) Big easy things to see are the Shinjuku skyscraper district, the Meiji Shrine, and if you look hard Tokyo Tower. Of course, I took lots of pictures (though the glass wasn’t anti-glare so some came out a little shinny.) And, even thought it was a sunny day, it was quite hazy so once again my attempts to view Mt. Fuji have been foiled (curses!)
After returning to terra-firma I went around the corner and below ground to the subway. Managing, amazingly, to not get lost I made my way from Shinjuku to Ueno. Ueno? I thought you were going to Asakusa? And I did, but not wanting to skip out on history I wanted to ride the Ginza line into Asakusa. *Warning history lesson* The Ginza line between Ueno and Asakusa was the first subway line built in Tokyo. It was called the Asakusa line then and has since been expanded and renamed (as it goes through Ginza now.)
I stopped in front of the “Mon” in front of Asakusa and snapped a picture as many other people were doing. Going under the huge lantern I started to walk down the crowded arcade. As I walked I noticed there were women in the aisle, dressed in traditional merchant wear looking at the booths. I assumed at first that they were there to make sure no one shoplifted (I should have known better, no one shoplifts in Japan, no one). After some distance music started to play over a loud speaker system… the women started to dance! They went on for 5 maybe 10 minutes doing a traditional dance of some sort. I have no idea why. I was quite odd, yet very cool. After the music stopped, everyone clapped and the women disappeared. I finished walking through the arcade and came to the Asakusa Temple. Not to look down on them, but after a while one temple/shrine/holy sight starts to look like every other. I took some pictures and headed back through the arcade. I stopped and bought a wall scroll I saw on the way in (it’s a silk version of my FAVORITE Ukiyo-e (wood block) print, picture below.) Then I stopped for lunch.
After lunch I walked across the street from the arcade entrance to check out what looked like a river. Sure enough I found the Sumida-Gawa River. There was a very nice park along the bank that I decided to walk along. I walked, I walked some more, I took some pictures I walked some more. It’s not that it wasn’t beautiful, but it’s hard to describe the fact that I just took a long aimless walk along the river. After maybe a kilometer I noticed there were more and more “homeless tents”. I almost refrain from calling these people homeless; some of these domiciles have hard wood floors and TV’s! Digressing… I walked on. I stopped at a 7-11 and got something cold to drink and sat for a while before walking on. I think I walked maybe… 5 kilometers? It’s hard to judge, it took a while but I crossed the river 3 times so my path was sort of zigzag. Once I decided I could walk no further (and the path gave out) I headed away from the river in search of a train station.
After walking through a high rise apartment district for a while I finally asked a parking attendant “eeki wa doko desu ka” (where’s the train station?) He replied with half Japanese half English “(go down this street make a) left (one block then) right…” and trailed of signifying that’s where the station was. I thanked him and wandered off. Left, one block, right, then… What I found around the corner wasn’t a train station, but rather the main train yard for JR East Tokyo trains! Walking around for a while I finally found the station that is closest to the yard and boarded a train for home.
I’m quite exhausted from today’s walking so I have to rest up for tomorrow’s Kendo class. The teacher who invited me to the class won’t be there so… I’m not sure how it’s going to work out. He said he e-mailed some on the other student’s and that they’d take care of me (I don’t have my own shinai yet.) I hope I remember enough of the routine to be able to use my Japanese and follow along. I guess I’ll see…
Ja Mata Ne.
As planned I slept in today. I woke up feeling much better than I have all week. I think I’ve gotten over my cold. Just in time for the weekend, hooray! I started out lounging around the house and doing a load of laundry. After I hung my clothes out to dry (did I mention I have no dryer? If not, now you know). After I was sure they weren’t going to blow away while I was out I did my typical first step of any trip, I got on the train to Shinjuku.
In Shimotakaido as well as Shinjuku station recently I’ve noticed there are more and more signs asking people to report suspicious looking persons or items. I can’t help thinking that one of these days someone’s going to report me. How much more out of place can you get than a 2 meter tall caucasian guy?
Before getting on the train I had already made up my mind to go to Asakusa. But during the ride I decided I hadn’t yet been to the top of the Tokyo Metro building yet. The Tokyo Metro Building (TMB from here on) is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and affords one of the best views in all of Tokyo. It being a nice sunny day I exited Shinjuku station and walked the 5 blocks to the base of the building. I then proceeded to walk around the building fully twice. I could not for the life of me find the sky-deck entrance. Most of these places have big showy sings; some in English saying “Come on in”… I saw nothing of the sort. In my travels around the building I stepped into Shinjuku Central Park to check out an ad-hawk flee market. After my second lap around the outside I stopped and watched where a tour group was going. It turns out I was on the upper deck of a 2 layered section of the building. I was basically circling the second floor, while the entrance to the sky deck is on the first floor. Finding a handy set of stairs I made my way inside. There are two towers to choose from when entering the TMB. It’s one building, but it splits at the 30th or so floor, making two towers. I chose, on a whim, the south tower. Good choice, more on that later. I entered the south tower elevator entrance and a guard searched my bag before letting get in line for the elevator. Did I miss something? The entrance fee? Oh, it’s free. That’s right, best view in Tokyo and it’s free of charge. No wonder they want to tear down Tokyo Tower (though that was worth the $8.00.) My ears popped on the elevator which too all of maybe a minute to go up the 55 stories to the observation lounge.
The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking. Everything looks so small, so close, it’s quite fascinating. I did the rounds looking out all 3 sides worth of windows. Remember I said there were 2 towers and the south was better? Well in the south tower, the north side is a gift shop and had very few windows (you can only see the north tower anyways.) The opposite is true in the north tower, you can’t see south very well. Most of Tokyo’s famous sights lye south of the TMB to therefore the south tower is definitely the cooler of the two. (Of course being free, if one had time both could be seen.) Big easy things to see are the Shinjuku skyscraper district, the Meiji Shrine, and if you look hard Tokyo Tower. Of course, I took lots of pictures (though the glass wasn’t anti-glare so some came out a little shinny.) And, even thought it was a sunny day, it was quite hazy so once again my attempts to view Mt. Fuji have been foiled (curses!)
After returning to terra-firma I went around the corner and below ground to the subway. Managing, amazingly, to not get lost I made my way from Shinjuku to Ueno. Ueno? I thought you were going to Asakusa? And I did, but not wanting to skip out on history I wanted to ride the Ginza line into Asakusa. *Warning history lesson* The Ginza line between Ueno and Asakusa was the first subway line built in Tokyo. It was called the Asakusa line then and has since been expanded and renamed (as it goes through Ginza now.)
I stopped in front of the “Mon” in front of Asakusa and snapped a picture as many other people were doing. Going under the huge lantern I started to walk down the crowded arcade. As I walked I noticed there were women in the aisle, dressed in traditional merchant wear looking at the booths. I assumed at first that they were there to make sure no one shoplifted (I should have known better, no one shoplifts in Japan, no one). After some distance music started to play over a loud speaker system… the women started to dance! They went on for 5 maybe 10 minutes doing a traditional dance of some sort. I have no idea why. I was quite odd, yet very cool. After the music stopped, everyone clapped and the women disappeared. I finished walking through the arcade and came to the Asakusa Temple. Not to look down on them, but after a while one temple/shrine/holy sight starts to look like every other. I took some pictures and headed back through the arcade. I stopped and bought a wall scroll I saw on the way in (it’s a silk version of my FAVORITE Ukiyo-e (wood block) print, picture below.) Then I stopped for lunch.
After lunch I walked across the street from the arcade entrance to check out what looked like a river. Sure enough I found the Sumida-Gawa River. There was a very nice park along the bank that I decided to walk along. I walked, I walked some more, I took some pictures I walked some more. It’s not that it wasn’t beautiful, but it’s hard to describe the fact that I just took a long aimless walk along the river. After maybe a kilometer I noticed there were more and more “homeless tents”. I almost refrain from calling these people homeless; some of these domiciles have hard wood floors and TV’s! Digressing… I walked on. I stopped at a 7-11 and got something cold to drink and sat for a while before walking on. I think I walked maybe… 5 kilometers? It’s hard to judge, it took a while but I crossed the river 3 times so my path was sort of zigzag. Once I decided I could walk no further (and the path gave out) I headed away from the river in search of a train station.
After walking through a high rise apartment district for a while I finally asked a parking attendant “eeki wa doko desu ka” (where’s the train station?) He replied with half Japanese half English “(go down this street make a) left (one block then) right…” and trailed of signifying that’s where the station was. I thanked him and wandered off. Left, one block, right, then… What I found around the corner wasn’t a train station, but rather the main train yard for JR East Tokyo trains! Walking around for a while I finally found the station that is closest to the yard and boarded a train for home.
I’m quite exhausted from today’s walking so I have to rest up for tomorrow’s Kendo class. The teacher who invited me to the class won’t be there so… I’m not sure how it’s going to work out. He said he e-mailed some on the other student’s and that they’d take care of me (I don’t have my own shinai yet.) I hope I remember enough of the routine to be able to use my Japanese and follow along. I guess I’ll see…
Ja Mata Ne.
posted by Dockett at 8:57 PM
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