My Japan trip and series is slowly drawing to the end, with the final entry next week...then I'm actually going to have to think about what I am going to talk about again! However, I'll cross that bridge later. Enjoy part 4!
Part 4 - Tokyo, the sequel
Currently,
I am sitting with a sandwich and a latte at the airport, so where better than
here to recount my final days in Japan?
When I left you last, I was on the train back to Tokyo on day 10 and as
such, I then arrived back in Tokyo. As
we had time to kill before our hotel check-in, we decided to have a quick
detour to the Tokyo Metropolitan
Government Tower, where you can ride up to the 47th floor. This gave us an amazing panoramic view of the
surrounding area, which really highlighted the number of green areas within the
city.
After
enjoying the view, we then had some lunch before heading into the Shinjuku area
for a wander around the variety of shops and departments stores littering the area (There was about 4 department stores in this particular area). Before that, we searched for a place called Mosaic Street, which was a small but
impressively lit shopping street that sold a variety of items plus Electric Town: a part of the city that
is filled with a variety of electric stores, all selling the most modern items
you can think of...and a few you probably wouldn't think off. We then headed down to the Isetan food store
and bought some of the best cheesecake I have ever had. Coated in base, it had two layers...the first
was a baked cheesecake layer followed by the creamiest layer of normal
cheesecake layer ever. It was epic. This area is also home to the amusingly named 'Piss Valley', known for it's small restaurants and named for the previous lack of toilets.
Finally,
after a few hours of wandering, we had dinner at a small cafe (amazing food and
cheap as well) before bed.
Now,
day 11 was a big one. We got up
especially early so we could go to Tsukuji
Fish Market, a place famous for the fish (Obviously - Ed) and for the tuna auctions in the morning. We knew that we wouldn't get to see the tuna auction
as you had to be there for 4:30am but we were looking forward to seeing all the
sellers hawking every type of fish imaginable!
So, eager and filled with excitement, we walked down Ginza, stopping
only for a quick look at the Sony
Building, before arriving at the market.
We turned the corner and there it was: the sight of sellers packing up
their wares. Oops. Seemingly, you need to get up even earlier
than we thought...so, time for some advice.
We arrived at 9am, so make sure you're even earlier if you want to see the actual sales. Slightly disappointed, we managed to
salvage the visit by exploring the shops next to the market. These sold a variety of goods, from teas to
fish to dishes to knives. Now, in
particular, the stalls selling Japanese knives were impressive as they were
just lined with a variety of ultra-sharp cooking utensils. If you bought one, you then had it sharpened
in front of you and could even get your name (Japanese symbols) carved into
it. Having decided I would pick up a
multi-purpose kitchen knife in Japan, I was tempted but I wasn't sure about
buying it from the market without researcj.
After
the market, we then grabbed a coffee and headed to Hama Rikyu Gardens for a wander around. These particular gardens are famous for being
the old duck hunting grounds of the emperor and was split into hree
distinct areas. The first area you came
to was a small garden with a huge lake with a tea house in the centre. You arrived at said tea house by wandering
over a meandering bridge that gave a great view of the lake and surrounding
gardens. It should also be noted, that
as you entered, you walked past a three hundred year old tree that was absolutely
massive and had survived earthquakes, wars and dynasties! The next area you came to was
the bay area, a small path that gave good views of Tokyo Bridge and the
bay. Finally, you then wandered back to
the entrance through a forested section, which is supposedly filled with cats:
a throwback to the parks old duck hunting days but they must have been on holiday that day.
Our
next stop was the man-made island, Odaiba
bay but to get there, we had to travel via the Monorail (Monorail
Monorail Monorail Monorail
Monorail). After our
fleeting trip across the Rainbow Bridge, we headed first to Palette
Town where there was a shopping department called Venus Town. Now, I guess
you're probably thinking 'Robbie, you seem to be spending a lot of time in
department stores' and whilst I agree that I spent more time than I normally
would in departments stores, they seem to be a massive part of Japanese
culture. Plus this was made to look like
a replica European Medieval town, complete with massive fountain. That I had to see.
Next,
we wandered down the alley, passing a 22m
high robot, to the museum of Science
and innovation where we enjoyed playing with different exhibits for a few
hours. This covered a huge range of
topics, including space, medicine, data and robots. It is well worth a look if you're in the
area. However, it was here that I
discovered that I suck at keyhole surgery. I'm pretty sure I killed the patient several hundred times. After the museum shut, we then walked to the giant robot, which turned
out to be a life-sized version of a robot from the anime Gundam. As we got closer, it suddenly lit up, started
making noises, moved about and had smoke emitting from it. Either we arrive in time for some short of
show or I'm sort of intergalactic threat.
I
have to extend my thanks to my mum here.
One of the many reasons why I love her is that, when her (apparently)
grown up son gets oh-so-very excited about a giant robot that lights up and
moves, not only did she humour me (instead of pretending she wasn’t with me),
she was more than happy to come with me to get a closer look and even took
photographs of me in front of it! That
said, you would be dead inside if you didn’t get a little excited over a giant
robot with smoke coming out of it.
Once
the show was done, it was time to get a quick picture of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower
(wow Japan seems to have everything).
I'm not really sure why Japan has replicas of these but they do, so
that's that. After we were done here and
after a very long day, we headed back to the hotel area, stopping off at
another small eatery for some chicken cutlet with noodles, rice and demi-glace
sauce and a large beer (delicious after a very long day). In my
not-very-professional opinion, I would only go to Odaiba Bay if you have plenty
of time in Tokyo. It has a few nice
sights but it is very much like the rest of Tokyo: I only went as I thought it
would be more beach-like but oh well, I still had fun.
Day
12 was upon us and my time in Japan was quickly coming to an end. I did have one special thing up my sleeve
though, to ensure I went out on a high: the Studio Ghibli Museum
which was just amazing. To start with,
the building is beautifully designed, with ivy running up the sides and as you
enter, you receive a film ticket. Not
only does this allow you into a special showing of a Studio Ghibli short that
is only shown at the museum but it has film cells in it as well, so you get a
small keepsake straight away. The museum
itself is a fairly open layout, letting you wander into the different exhibits
as you please and the hallways, corridors and even the bathrooms are beautifully
designed, reflecting the worlds that Studio Ghibli creates. Moving onto the exhibits themselves, they are
a mixture of short films, interactive displays and artwork: all scattered into
rooms that replicate scenes from films.
These allow you to see behind the scenes of these films, and highlights
the amount of work and detail that goes into each, whilst managing to remove you from reality. Finally, there is the short film that you get
to watch as mentioned earlier, which is only shown in the museum. I won't discuss what it shows (as it would
ruin the magic) but it left me smiling for a good long while. As you exit, there is a cafe and a souvenir
shop. The cafe I didn't go into, as it
was crowded and overpriced but the souvenir shop has a huge range of Studio
Ghibli items: from biscuits to towels to dvds to jigsaws. If you're a fan of the films, I can't
recommend this enough. It was one of the
memorable museums I have ever been to and I was grinning throughout the museum
and long after.
After
Ghibli, I then headed to Akihabara, the main anime and manga area, taking a
detour to a shrine. Now, you wander
through the various streets and when you suddenly realise that most windows of most
shops suddenly have anime characters plastered over them: that's how you know
that you've arrived. What you will find
is a mixture of multi-storied shops selling anime characters and game centres,
with a few electronic stores thrown in for good measure. I enjoyed just wandering through an area
filled with items and dvds of things that I know and like plus it was pretty
cool seeing all the huge figurines in the store. This is basically an Otaku's dream and when I go back, I'll make sure to go for even longer.
Once
I had my Otaku fill, I then rushed to an area called Roppongi Hills, the upmarket shopping area with a great view of
Tokyo Tower aka the Japanese Eiffel Tower.
Why was I here? Well, I had
decided to visit the Yoshikino Showroom, for their Global Knife sets. As mentioned earlier, I had decided to pick
up a Japanese knife so I decided to go with the Global Santoku Knife. I had thought about it a lot and decided with
Global as it had a lot of good reviews plus I can expand my set without having
to return to Japan. This gives me
something that I can work on and build on as the years go on. The reason I went with a Santoku knife is
because of the versatility of it.
Roughly translated, it means 'Three Graces' which means it can be used
for meat, fish and vegetables and can be used for chopping, slicing and
dicing. Basically, it is a Japanese chef
knife, so can be used for most things.
Finally,
having returned to the hotel, we went out for dinner. Originally going to have a quick dinner, we
ended up walking slightly further than planned and decided to go to a
recommended tempura restaurant. Sitting
at the counter by the kitchen, we decided to go with the chefs recommended set
which was made up of a variety of fish and veg, including eel and a clam still
in the shell (you just pick out the meat).
The benefit of sitting at the counter means that we could watch the
chefs as they prepared and cooked our foods and, as soon as they were ready,
they were passed straight to us. Both
delicious and fresh, it was well worth the (short) time waiting for the
seats. The batter was light, the fish
and vegs were perfectly cooked and you had either soy sauce with radish or
salt, pepper and wasabi to dip it in.
Add a bottle of sake and some tempura ice cream (Yes I know but I had to
try it and where better than here? Don't
judge me!) and it was a great last (proper) meal in Tokyo (as we were having a
quick dinner on the last night).
Day
13 and it's D-day or T-day, if you will.
The last day in Japan! This
basically translates to a day of last minute shopping, buying gifts and items. However, I decided to start off the day with
a little bit of culture, an ukeo-yo or Japanese woodprint gallery. Held in a mock zen garden, the gallery
covered three floors and displayed items that depicted from mythological
scenes, historical battles and secret murders. Fascinating but not for the weak of heart.
After the gallery, I then continued with some shopping in the area before
lunch.
Going
to another recommended restaurant, this time for ramen, I stood in the queue
waiting for a seat, when the elevator next to me opened and I got ushered in,
by what I assumed to be a one of the waiters.
However, it turned out to be a completely different restaurant soooo
straight back down to a nice hot, creamy bowl of pork and garlic ramen (much to the disgruntlement of the waiter who spotted me as I entered the restaurant). This was a perfect meal for such a cold day and it left me with a nice warm stomach for ages afterwards. In fact, I'm making it tonight! Next, it was back to the busiest crossing in
the world to pick up some Christmas presents then it was to a book store with
some English Mangas and cook books that I had spotted the other day. I
even managed to pick up a manga anthology whilst I was there: something I
couldn't have easily picked up in Nepal or the UK. Finally, I headed back to Isetan for the last
of the gifts I needed to buy where I then promptly got lost in the food
department.
Seriously,
it was like the circles of hell in there.
Each corner led deeper and deeper into the cavern, where stranger and
stranger sights were to be found. I felt like I was in a
'Where's Wally', set in a culinary hell where I couldn’t find anything I needed. However, as I decided to give up, I
eventually discovered what I was looking for and was able to make a bid for
freedom, dashing to my hotel before I got lost again (after fueling up with a coffee). One last dinner (Teriyaki pork and rice),
some packing and just like that, it's my 6am bus to the airport to leave. Sayonara Japan, it's been a pleasure.
Pick of the week
Aberdeen Parkour - Ok, I'm not much of a parkour enthusiast but not from lack of want. I've practised a few times with friends and really enjoyed it but I'm not sure how suitable Kathmandu is for parkour. However, if you're interested and you live near or in Aberdeen, check out this webpage! It's a great link to the parkour community, highlighting classes run by professionals and detailing what parkour is. It also has links to other communities in various cities, so you have no excuse! A great way to have fun and get fit.
Music of the week
Unlike the last couple of weeks, I know exactly what I am playing this week: Rammstein - Ich Will It's an amazing song and an equally amazing video. I love it and I hope you love it as well.
