Day Five - Shinjuku

I spent about half the day preparing for my journey within a journey that starts at Hiroshima tomorrow. The other half of the day, I spent in Shinjuku, which is close to Harajuku/Yoyogi.

Shinjuku has pretty much everything you could hope to find in Tokyo... bright lights, tall buildings, ridiculous architecture, all kinds of shopping, parks, shrines, and a giant train station... in fact, I think it might be the largest or second largest hub in the city. I didn't leave to go there until later in the day, so I missed Shinjuku-gyoen (a park), which closes down at 4.30. I was okay with that, because I had three other things on my agenda, and I was able to do them all.

First I strolled around for a bit before landing in some branch of Marui (OI), a department store (the clothes only kind... I should really call them clothing stores :<) that has many instances all over, but especially in Shinjuku. I think I saw at least four seperate OI stores, and there's a good chance I didn't see all of them. The one I went to had four floors dedicated to lolita, gothic, rock, etc. style, which is what I was looking for. The clothes were expensive, like in Laforet, but so, so awesome. The atmosphere in each store is equally awesome... despite being completely open to the hallway (or, in many cases, part of the hallway, or on both sides of the hallway), each store has its own unique personality which they express through decoration, and they all do it very well. I wanted to take pictures, especially on the goth floor where many of the stores built walls around their spaces, filling them with moody lighting, giant crosses, chains, etc., but you're not supposed to take pictures. I took one of the Angelic Pretty display window outside, a store name that I actually recognize from fantasizing about lolita clothes on the internets. If I go back there, I'm going to try to take some discreet photos. . _.

I walked through some of the smaller, more alley-like-but-not-really-because-they're-so-bright-and-full-of-stuff-etc streets. I decided to try eating at one of those places where you order at the machine outside. I chose my set, put the money in, and pushed the button for what I wanted. Out popped a little ticket and my change. Then, you go inside and put your ticket on a tray by the kitchen and say soba or udon (for noodle type... I like udon cos it's chewy :3). Within about two minutes (really!) you have your meal, and it was pretty damn good, too. I had a beef curry set, but it was about 1/3 curry plate and 2/3 giant bowl of udon. In and out were businessmen from the nearby skyscrapers, grabbing a quick meal before heading out on their journey home, I suppose. The whole area is really full of businessmen and OLs (office ladys) because there are so many office buildings and they are all so big, and I was there during a period when work would be letting out. Suits everywhere >_>

Afterwards I made my way to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices, a pair of attached towers with a 45th floor observation deck open to the public. Night time was definitely the way to go... after winding through all the crazy skyscrapers on the way there, I got to see them all lit up from above, along with the rest of the city. Tokyo looks like it goes on forever... you think a city like New York is really big, until you come here, and realize how really really big it is. The only part that wasn't all lights was a dark outline of Shinjuku-gyoen; otherwise they went on forever. I managed to get a few decent photos by sticking my camera right up to the glass. They had a little table with a stamp and inkpad on it so you could commemorate your journey to the top... I stamped a page inside my little black book ._.

The last thing I wanted to see was Hanazono-jinja, a shrine smack in the middle of all the crazy Shinjuku action. I wanted to see it because I wondered how they managed to put a shrine in with all that craziness... but they did it. You just walk down the street, and it's tall building, torii, tall building. You go through the torii and it leads you down a path with big lanterns and another torii, then the shrine. You could tell the shrine wouldn't look as pretty if it weren't at night, as it is, after all, still plunked down in the middle of all kinds of stuff. But with it lit up, it was very pretty. I didn't get good photos because I couldn't stabilize my camera on anything and it was dark.

When I came out of the station to see Hanazono-jinja, I stopped in the food basement of Isetan, a department store (an actual one). I don't know if I've talked about food basements yet, but they're amazing. Pretty much every department store that's actually a department store has one. There are many sections with tons of vendors selling things from bento to fresh meat and fish to bread and candy. There's usually a section that's like a grocery store, and the rest is full of vendors behind counters, who will often give you a free sample if you seem interested in their wares. They organize the vendors by product type.

At Isetan in particular, the food basement was totally awesome. It's a little more subdued and refined because of the type of store Isetan is, but in general the goods were not overpriced and they came in very nice packaging. I picked up two awesome looking bento for the trip tomorrow (one for each of us) and a gift or two :3 All the bento boxes there were so pretty, I wanted all of them. Many had little compartments and were in nice wooden boxes, some of them laquered or with other decorations, or wrapped in pretty paper. The one I picked out is in a box shaped like a fan. Finally, when the "store closing" song and announcement was playing, I picked up... melon pan. It was awesome. It is definitely in my top 5 favourite things I like to eat. The bread was fresh and soft, the sugar was sparkly, and there was some green-tinted, melon essence action going on. Also, it had a filling! I think it was supposed to be a melon filling... it was light orange. I don't know. It was great. Sugoi!

Also, while it's true that people in Japan don't just run around shouting "kawaii" and "sugoi" at things (unlike certain people at certain conventions >_>), I have to say that Japanese teens/early 20s girls... do. It's more subdued in a department store, but at the game places, it's pretty rampant. I go in those even more to watch than to play. The girls are so cute :< and sometimes they're with their boyfriends or dates, I guess, who all spend tons of money trying to get the girl the prize she wants.

I might be updating less frequently over the next... several days. I'm going to try to pop in an internet cafe or two, or take advantage of free hotel internet, but who knows. Best way to reach me is, as always, by sending mail to my phone.

It's really late now... I have to get up early... ugh. Maybe I can catch a nap on the train ^_^;;;