Day 50 – Tokyo
After an exhausting day yesterday, we woke up late again, and went to brunch close by our accommodation at a Japanese fast food franchise called Sukiya. The food was actually really cheap and tasty. From there we walked towards the closest Subway station, where we bought the Tokyo Subway 48 hour pass, which gives us unlimited travel on subway trains excluding the JR trains.
Meiji Jingu / Yoyogi Park
We then caught the Subway train to Shibuya Station so we could walk through the artificial forest to Meiji Jingu. The shrine was built by Emperor Meiji and was completed in 1920. The shrine we saw today was rebuilt after WWII as it was destroyed. The massive forest is said to be made of 100,000 trees that were donated by people during the construction of the shrine. The temple is right next to Yoyogi Park which we walked through.
Large Tori Gates to the entrance of the shrine Like seriously large The tying of the two trees symbolises marriage Wishes / prayers written on wood Sake barrels wrapped in straw offered to Emperor and Empress French wine also offered
Takeshita Street
Takeshita Street is a very cool shopping district that is for foot traffic only. It was very busy street, full of every type of shop you could think of. Of course we are limited with what we can buy so it was mainly window shopping for us, which was still fun due to the cool vibe.
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
After walking around Tokyo taking in more of the vibe, we ended up at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. The building has a large tourist information centre but the main draw card is the free viewing room, from the 45th floor. On the 45th you have views from the various windows. One side of the building, is a restaurant that had a 500 JPY / $ 6.15AUD cover charge, just to enter and take photos. Of course they expect you to eat there.
Just a note, don’t think this is a secret view point. Be prepared to wait for up to 30 minutes due to the number of people going up. There was also a 15 minute wait on the way down.
The views are well worth the wait and I highly recommend it. The glass windows don’t make for amazing photos, especially as it started to rain while we were there.
Omoide Yokocho / Kabukicho
We then walked thorough Shinjuku Station for what felt like 30 minutes to the busy Shinjuku area. Here we found Omoide Yokocho, which is an area with very small restaurants with room for around 5-8 people, creating a very intimate atmosphere. Intimate, and hard to be cheap atmosphere, so we decided not to try it out, for now.
We then ended up in the interesting Kabukicho area, which had lots of entertainment options including a robot restaurant! We were happy to enjoy the lights and people watching, before heading back to the hostel after another packed day and night.