Destination Tokyo: Termination in Tokyo

For our final entire day in Japan we visited the capital city, completing the planned itinerary of this two week venture. Tokyo is about ten miles north of our residence in Kamakura, requiring several train rides through the increasingly dense city environments that border the capital. Tokyo itself is not technically a city, but a unique entity referred to as a "metropolitan prefecture" which has characteristics of both a city and a prefecture. Regardless of this nomenclature, the Tokyo metropolis has a population of about 13 million people as opposed to the 8.5 million of New York City. Including the surrounding urban centers, Tokyo has the distinction of being part of the largest metropolitan area in the world with a population of over 37 million people.

Our first stop in this sprawling city was Shibuya, one of the 23 city wards of Tokyo, which besides being a popular shopping and entertainment area contains a famous intersection that can be considered as the Times Square of Tokyo. In addition to many neon lights and screens, which we could not fully appreciate in the bright daylight, this square is flooded by pedestrians whenever a crossing light turns green. In addition to the normal pedestrian crossings that are perpendicular to their respective streets, this square (as well as others which we saw in the city), has diagonal crossings due to the angles and number of intersecting streets. This arrangement results in the impressive and chaotic human flow which has made the area famous.

We next took a short train ride to Shinjuku about a mile north of Shibuya, where we walked through several blocks and saw the head and fore claw of Godzilla protruding from the Shinjuku Toho Building. Feeling hungry at this point we proceeded to the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden where we ate lunch at a nice restaurant where we, in true Japanese fashion, ordered most of our food from a vending-like machine. There was some human interaction required in the drink specification phase so the experience was not completely devoid of life.

After this repast, we returned to the Shinjuku station and travelled back south to Harajuku, which is known as a center of Japanese youth culture and fashion. Here we walked down the famous Takeshita Street where we saw many small shops and restaurants, as well as several costumed natives.

After this interesting stroll we headed across the city to the Hamamatsucho station to walk to Tokyo Tower, an eiffelesque construction which is slightly taller at 333 meters than its Parisian counterpart (300 meters) but markedly slimmer, particularly at the base. We were all struck by this difference as we neared the structure, whose feeble legs do not need to bear the brunt of the weight of the tower due to a central shaft that runs up the center. Our walk to this landmark brought us through Shiba Park, where we passed among other sites the large Buddhist Zojoji Temple, whose traditional architecture creates a stark juxtaposition with the slender contours of the nearby Tokyo Tower.

Arriving at the tower, we rode an elevator to the observation deck at 150 meters which offers a panoramic view of the city. On clear days Mt. Fuji can be seen about 125 kilometers to the south west, but we were denied a view of this conical icon due to a slight overcast. Here we got another opportunity to purchase a stamped souvenir coin, bringing our total from this trip to three (The Hiroshima Castle and Mikasa were the other two).

We ended our visit to this city with a walk south to the Tamachi station during which we enjoyed ice cream from a seven eleven.

-Theodore

Nathaniel outside Shinjuku station.

Nathaniel and the author in a panoramic view of the Shibuya intersection. This Sunday morning was not the busiest time to visit but there were crowds nonetheless.

Maryrose with Godzilla in the background

The author and Maryrose at lunch.

Nathaniel with his lunch

The entrance to Takeshita Street in the Harajuku ward.

Several costumed characters on Takeshita Street.

The other end of the street with the Harajuku station in the background

A Bodhisattva in Shiba Park.

A performer with monkey in the park.

The author in front of the Zojoji Temple and Tokyo Tower. The two storied white block about midway up the tower is the main observation deck that we visited.