Tokyo Tower and Harajuku - June 26
We didn't get up particularly early on the 26th, which combined with our need to do laundry that morning meant we got a pretty late start. We didn't get out the door until about 1, and grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Mini Mart in the hotel building before heading off to Tokyo Tower.
It was a little overcast that day, and we were glad it didn't end up turning stormy as they close the upper parts of the tower in bad weather. Our main goal at Tokyo Tower was to traverse all the stairs to the observation deck, as I had seen somewhere on the internet that they give out certificates to anyone to completes the climb. We all toughed it out through the 600 or so stairs up the tower, getting pretty hot and sweaty by to top. We were most disappointed to find that the observation was completely enclosed with no access to fresh air, so we just had to sit down and sweat it out. We all got some souvenirs (I got a postcard for my Grandma) and ice cream before heading back down. We took some pictures with silly poses at the bottom of the tower on the way out, and were most pleased when a couple of Japanese tourists asked us to take their picture and struck the same pose as us.
We decided to stop by the hotel in Shinjuku before continuing on, as Brian needed to grab a new battery for his camera. Per tradition, we spent some time getting lost again attempting to navigate Shinjuku Station. Eventually we recovered and headed to the next stop: Harajuku (原宿). On Sundays, Harajuku is a big hangout for members of an eccentric fashion subculture usually referred to as "Harajuku Girls". We ended up arriving a bit late for that and didn't see much, so we went to nearby Yoyogi Park (代々木公園) instead. Yoyogi Park is home to the Meiji Shrine (明治神宮), which was incredibly serene.
Yoyogi Park is more of a forest with a wide path cut through the middle, and blocks out the surrounding city completely. After a short walk we entered the shrine and paid our respects before heading over to the shop. There, we bought some charms (mamori, 守り) for relatives and also some wood tablets for wishes. There are boards in one area of the shrine with a bunch of nails in them, and after you write your wish on the wood tablets you hang them on the board. Wishes can be anything from general "world peace" to simply "do well on my upcoming test". Kirt and Brian wished for general peace and good lives, and mine was more of a commitment to continue learning Japanese. I wrote my wish in Japanese, though upon subsequent inspection I screwed it up a bit. Oh well.
We had been wanted to go to Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き meaning roughly "fried whatever-you-like") for dinner for a while, so we decided to go to a nearby place while in Harajuku. Okonomiyaki is often described as a "savory pancake", but it is a pancake in form only. They use a little batter to cement the ingredients together, but for the most part it is just a bunch of meats, fish, and veggies thrown together on the grill. It was delicious, and Tim and I had some fun trying various drinks from the menu (Tim was particularly fond of the "Moscow Mule"). We sat at the bar in the restaurant, which was kind of a cool experience as well. At the bar you sit right in front of the huge flat grill that your meal is cooked on, and when your food is ready the chefs simply slides it over to you on the grill. You get a small spatula so you can cut off little pieces onto your personal plate.
We decided to Karaoke a bit after dinner, and turned out to be a bit of a different experience than other Karaoke places we had been to. Most other places simply played the song and displayed lyrics, but this one also judged your singing ability and cut off the song if you performed too poorly. This proved quite difficult, with some songs getting cut off at the 30 second mark or fewer. I managed to complete a few songs, but it was more difficult that I would have expected. When we went to the front to pay we were confronted with a bill several times that of other places we had visited. We were confused at first, but a careful inspection of the sign out front showed that rates went up significantly on weekends. Probably should have seen that coming...oh well.
We headed back to Shinjuku and almost certainly got lost once again before finding our way back to the hotel. This time Tim had been fairly confident in his knowledge of the station, but we still managed to get lost because, unbeknownst to us, some of the tunnels out of the station close at night. The gate was just a nondescript metal doorway, and we didn't notice until our second pass through the area. Shinjuku Station...good times.
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