We’re home

There’s just a few bits to put away.

Japan

Ferocity

Craftsmanship

Culture

History and heritage.

But also,

manga and anime cartoons

all the electronics you can imagine

and vending machines

tempered with a timeless awareness of the seasons.

We began our day at the Edo-Tokyo Museum, went on to Akihabara Electric Town and finished it in Ginza, the smart shopping district.  We saw women dressed in kimono and girls dressed as maids.  We enjoyed fine art and woodblock prints and later, manga and video game characters.  A woman was sitting in the computer store, selecting photographs of her garden to print out at a coin operated machine whilst the man next to her was selecting a few of naked women.

What will be the image which stays with us?

Fuji-san! 

We woke this morning to clear sky and our favourite view, this time directly from our bedroom window.

We can go home now.

KitKat of the day

Saved the best till last…

Yes.

Really.

Ready to go again?

We’re in Harajuku, remember?  Sitting in a Starbucks drinking a Sakura Frappucino.  However, I think we’d better get going because we have a couple of places still to go before meeting the boys.

Turning the corner at the top of the street, it’s suddenly changed from shops like Claires to “real” fashion stores, like Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren.  Omotesando is the “Bond Street” of this part of Tokyo, I’ve heard, though I don’t think that’s quite accurate looking around today.  Still, we’ll carry on and find our way to Cat Street, where our next call will be.

Kiddyland is full of young women and girls and is mostly aimed ay anything but kiddies.  Every character you can think of and many more are here on the shelves in every format you desire – furry, sticker, stationery, bags, toys...

I was in search of a Harajuku Hello Kitty but once there, I was distracted by other interesting variations, including this little one dressed up in her “cos”

I quite liked the Miffy in disguise, too.

And look, there’s the Ghibli Cat Bus!  Totoro’s there too.

All done here, Harajuku Hello Kitty purchased, we’ll head on up Cat Street towards Shibuya.  Mark just texted me to say they’re nearly there.

We’ll pass this curious paper shop full of free leaflets and handouts.  I’m sure I’ve been in something similar somewhere else but can’t think of where.  Perhaps one of you will know?

Feet aching and feeling very weary, how pleased I am to see Hachiko

We are meeting up in the traditional place outside Shibuya Station.  The boys are tired and hungry and want to go and eat sooner rather than later.  What do you fancy tonight – noodles or sushi?

Noodles it is then.

Edward assures us that his fishy dish is delicious whilst we joke that the cook left his dishcloth in the bowl.  Over dinner we share stories from the day – they’ve had a great time, too.

I think it’s time for home now, don’t you?  Let’s cram onto this train with more people than we can imagine, then stop at the next stop and pile still more on board from the other side.

Can you see the young man doing his homework in spite of all of that?

(sorry, sumimasen, I think I stepped on your toe there)

It’s only a short walk back to the hotel from here but yes, I’m sure it’s further than it was this morning, too.

Our reward will be a bonus KitKat of the day.  This time, it’s purple sweet potato flavour and indeed, it does taste peculiarly of potato.

And yes, it is.

Purple.

Take a walk with me in Tokyo

Well, we’ll take a short train ride at some point, but I’ll get you through on my Suica card, ok?  The boys have gone to see a ship in Kamakura or thereabouts, so I’m happy to have company.

Hope you’ve got comfy shoes on.

Our travelling companions will stay and wave to us from the window.  No doubt they’ll have their own adventure today!

Following this not-quite-as-young-as-he-thinks man to downtown Shinjuku, I note the caption on his jacket “Duty Calls!  The World War 1 Flying Ace Must Carry On!”  Goes well with the pink umbrella, I think.

Outside the station, I need to go down an escalator and I notice I’m following the “smoking police”.  Smoking is strictly forbidden on the streets here, except in designated places, and I have seen many of these elderly gentlemen ensuring that everyone behaves.

We’re heading for Okadaya, first stop of the day.  Seven floors of everything you might possibly need to sew, knit, dress up, make jewellery…whatever.

Except for the one thing I was hoping to find – darning wool!  I envisaged they’d have it on cards, like the silk thread above, in many colours, because at home I can only get “school colours”.  Sadly, there’s none to be found and I don’t know the Japanese for “darning wool” either…do you?

Oh yes, there are a few bits of Clover goodness here which will be revealed in a future post.  Also, some metal bag closures of the “sprung” type which I think could be useful.  I’m not sure I’m going to remember how to use them though, so a photo of the details is going to come in handy later.

Right, we’re done here.  Let’s walk back past the station and over to Tokyu Hands.  I’m resisting the temptation to go into this electronic store though – not enough customers in there yet and we’ll get pounced on by eager salespeople!

Tokyu Hands is a treasure trove of all things for “the creative life”.  Including special punches to use on sheets of seaweed to create faces on your child’s rice balls in their lunch boxes.  Seeing the huge range of shapes and presses for decorating sandwiches and  lunch ingredients, I think the Japanese mother must be pressured to work wonders on the humble packed lunch, because surely the children compare with one another?  Can you imagine going to the trouble of putting faces on things day after day?

Oho, look what’s there (where I least expect it)  It’s today’s new KitKat flavour, “Yuzu Citrus and Japanese Chili Flavor”.  Oh my goodness, we’ll have to try one of those.

A few more bits to find in the stationery department and an hour or so later, I think it’s time to head for Shinjuku Station, from where we’ll take the Yamanote (lime green) line to Harajuku, to get a little culture.

It’s not too busy from the look of things and as usual, there’s a train due in just a couple of minutes.  The frequency is terrific – every five minutes or so.

I’ve written about travelling on Japanese trains before, so we’ll go straight to Harajuku Station, a popular place with young fashionistas (and their male equivalents).  It’s here where, on a Sunday, they gather to dress up and take photographs, but today is more subdued and anyway, I have a plan.  Let’s turn right out of the station and go over the bridge.

This is the entrance to the Meiji Shrine, set in leafy parkland.  The wide avenue leads down through the trees and past one of the Emperor’s collections – casks of French wine.  I’m not sure if they are really full of what is on the label.  Who knows?

At the entrance to the shrine itself, there’s the trough of water and the bamboo cups.  There’s a ritual for visiting the temple and all of this is explained on the panel above, in both English and Japanese.  These local chaps were taking photographs themselves, so I felt they wouldn’t mind if I did too.

Right, come on…let’s go into the shrine itself, through the gateway and to the little gift shop selling a few little good luck trinkets.

Look at this fantastic design on the gateway.

What do you reckon to this fastening?

Over to one side, there are people writing on these wooden boards and a helpful notice, again in both English and Japanese has suggestions for what we might request.

Further over, at the entrance to the inner sanctum, there is a wooden box with a sign.  What do you reckon?  Shall we have a go?

Wow…by some good fortune, we picked out a poem which is not only very apt for today but also written in English!

“Though you should fall behind your travelling companions, never turn your steps aside from the rightful path”  Emperor Meiji

Let’s take a look in this exhibition of treasures, too, shall we?  Sadly, no photos inside, but I think you’ll agree, that’s some kimono there!  Beautifully embroidered and many layered, it looked extremely heavy to wear.

Let’s head out of the park now and see where those girlies were off to.  What do you think to the outfit in front?  Creating quite a stir with her curly hair (seldom seen here on young women) and very fancy skirt with petticoats underneath, her face is beautifully made up with very pink rosy cheeks.

We’ll follow her to Takeshitadori, a narrow street with many small stores on it, mostly resembling “Claires”.

Oh, it is Claires!

Let’s take a rest at Starbucks just here.  Fancy a “Sakura (cherry blossom) Frappucino”?  Yummy!

Interestingly, all the sizes are one down from both UK and USA.  “Tall” is quite small, which makes me think that Japanese visitors to America must get an awful shock when their coffee is delivered in what even to me, is an intimidating quantity.

Put your feet up, watch the theatre on the street – boys are wearing hiphop fashion with tall peaked caps and very baggy trousers.  Girls are favouring the loosely tied plaid scarf in a dark tartan.

I am feeling old.

We’ll start again in the next post.