Yaaay welcome to part 3!
I went shopping for a new bag in Harajuku, which I found a bit of a disappointment. It seems to consist of 3 parts. First the very highclass fancy expensive part, which is nice (like Omotesando hills). Secondly, the backalleys with small cool boutiques by independent designers, and finally the cheap lousy touristic part that only sells low quality semi-funky shit. Strangely this is the part where you see most tourists, even more than at any other tourist spot in Tokyo!
The second part is the coolest of course, with shops that look like they're run by fashion students. I dont know if this bagshop is unique or part of an international chain, but it felt small and personal.
Cool lamps!
What??! I bought something.. with COLOUR?? Yes, you can gasp.
They have the most creative advertisement outside.
An expensive but satisfying piece of pastry. Hot towels are addictive and should come with every cup of coffee.
I liked the paper decoration in the windows and lamps. Such nice balanced design, with the chairs and everything, they consider all details. The only thing they usually forget is the menu, with sloppy typography.
This is Alisa, half american half Japanese and having a bit of a Sex and the City lifestyle in Tokyo! And in the foreground is grilled prok with sour cream and mango.. mmmh.
In the middle of Shibuya a bit of Kriterion (Amsterdam student cinema) atmosphere.
Another surprise: the Japanese LOVE wine. They also really love the whole romantic lifestyle they associate with wine. This wineshop sells complete picnic sets and more wine gadgets than Ive ever seen.
They also have workshops, and a booksection. There is also a very popular manga and lifeaction TV drama that centers about a group of young sommeliers, and all the drama and competition that comes with it...
Another GENIUS shopping mall, this time decorated like a fantasy italian town. In the middle this insane sugarly sweet fountain, combined with Enya music.
The staff has outfits straight out of a game, with feathers on their hats!
There was also a car museum, with parts of fake exterior of '50s Napels, Paris and USA (like a typical american Dinner). The thing is, it was all done very very well. The detail and creativity was just amazing. Japanese fake is just the best fake there is, and endlessly better than Las Vegas fake for example.
The mirrors make it look huuge!
The neighbouring mall tried to lure visitors by an entire floor themed with '50s Japan nostalgia. They even had a restaurant shaped like a junior high classroom, to get people back to their childhood.
Another one had a 'little Hong Kong' theme, were everything was made a little dirty and messy on purpose. The restaurants had lesser service to get a autentic Hong Kong experience...
Piyodamari is the latest incredibly cute thing from Korea, they have FANTASTIC little stop motion movies that somehow arent online yet... but keep an eye out for it!
So many Totoros.
Here I found the ULTIMATE PRESENT SHOP. Its like a huge book-toy-kitchenary-CD-gadget shop in one. Whether you need to buy a gift for a housewife, 2 year old or student, this place got it.
YES!
YESS!
A batman costume, Portuguese cookbooks, fluffy toiletseat covers shaped like animals, Star Wars memorabillia, both Elvis and Mary statues, underwear with tigerprint, waterbottles shaped like the Eiffeltower, cute baby clothing and discoballs.
Nextdoor there was a free showroom/attraction park by Toyota, including a lot of info-games to test your reflexes and reaction time. You could also testdrive the latest models on a special route throughout the facility!
Taro was gone for the weekend so I had to find new accomodation for 2 days, and decided to try out the famous CAPSULE HOTEL! Many of these only accept males, but I found one in Asakusa that had a female-only floor.
You get slippers, pjs and towels, and store your coat in a locker. There is a spacious shared bathroom (gender seperate) and then there is.. the capsule!
I always imagined it to be something like a coffin.. but its actually very big. The height is 80 cm so you can sit up straight with no problem. Even with my backpack inside there was plenty of space to sleep. There is radio, alarm clock and tv. Some even have internet in the capsule.
I thought it was quite cozy! Felt a bit like being a kid again, sleeping in a closet or treehouse.
Pj's.
Another elegant shopping mall, they often have museums and galleries as well.
Cool bamboo bench design.
And another fiiiine garden. Too bad the weather got real bad, we even had some wet snow.
I call this 'Sparrow and Carp'
Who ever got the idea its hard to get good coffee in Japan? Ive had nothing but, so far.
This cool design cafe felt a bit like an Amsterdam student cafe. See all the forgotten umbrellas? A minute later, the waitress put them all in a big garbage bag to throw them away! Umbrellas have a very short lifecycle here I guess... too bad, because the transparent plastic ones are only 100 yen (1 euro) and the BEST I've EVER had.
Tokyo tower by day.
The gigantic and beautiful shopping mall in Roppongi Hills.
Within a week Ive seen shopping malls from the '80s, the '90s and the '00. Where these gigantic mega complexes usually fail in the Netherlands, and remain sad and empty after all the millions invested in them, these are BEAUTIFUL and crowded with people. Whyyy do dutch developers keep building ugly non practical stuff when you could make something like this??
And by night.
Seen from the Zojoji temple complex. (closed at night but I sneaked in.)
On sunday I witnessed the Edo Nagashibina, an event where young girls float a paper doll with their wish down the river. But old folk were just as enthusiastic to participate. Here is everybody waiting patiently in line for the big moment.
soo much media attention! Cameras and reporters everywhere.
Kids could go on a picture with them!
Some people were smart and had bought a boat ticket. On this side, there were big air-filled ramps so the paper dolls could land softly in the water.
Screaming and waving with so much energy...
FINALLY after an hour of boring speeches (by local politicians and sponsors) the big moment! The maikos get the honour of doing the first.
YAAAAAAAAAAAY happy little kids.
This is Akiko, my Odaiba island companion! Here at the FujiTV building.
And Chinese restaurant.
More pictures of fake food because my sister requested it. They even had fake steam with the buns!!
And then the main event: Oedo Onsen!
It was GREAT! Inside there is not just a public bath, but a whole fake indoor village where it is a summer festival 365 days a year. You wear a yukata and bare feet.
The great thing is that EVERYBODY wears a yukata and bare feet. Though it is obviously fake, you do get a very peaceful, relaxed and sheltered feeling. It's like time stands still. The only thing you have to worry about is eating, drinking, strolling around, taking a nap and bath, and then eating some more.
Left is boring sundae, on the right green tea ice with sweet riceballs and beanpaste.
There is even an entertainment program! People eating snacks and sitting on the ground, oh how I wish it really was summer!
This fantastic dude with Edo hairstyle played evergreens on various instruments, then did a parapara dance demonstration with the waitresses.
Kids standing in line for the magician.
Then upstairs there is a 'relaxation room' with these giaaant massage chairs where people take naps. The Japanese just know exaaactly what people need. When will a western amusement park ever develope something like a nap area?
Every single member of the staff is dressed in traditional style, down to very last dishwasher. This guy walks around with a mobile beerchart.
Small kids running around with pat pat bare feet, playing around and eating ice cream. Parents just lounging in one of the special tatami rooms, and old guys drinking sake and singing songs.
You just keep ordering more and more snacks and beer, and we completely lost track of time. Akiko said she wasnt so 'strong with alcohol' and had to work early tomorrow morning, but she soon gave in to temptation, and then we just kept them coming...
The place is open all night long!!!
Sadly we had to go at one point. Here one of the bridges to the mainland.
FujiTV building by night, and the driver-less monotrail.
Sleeping on the way back.
Akiko generously invited me to sleep at her place. Beautiful flowers!
This is the weather that makes you think: "Lets go to Kamakura TODAY".
It is quite a sensation to wake up in a complete new place and seeing the view in daylight for the first time.
Akiko going to work. Thank you so much for the great time and spontaneous hosting!
The great Buddha in Kamakura.
OBLIGATED TOURIST PIC. I fail so much at putting a nice face while squinting into the sun.. this was the 4th attempt.
So for the rest of the trip I decided to only take pictures of my rental bike. Here we are at the beach, such a great place to cycle around! Feels like spring at home.
Reminds me of typical Japanese landscape paintings.
Drying seaweed.
I underestimated the amount of tempels a bit. I thought I could see most with my bike, turned out there were more than 60... Here is one of the prettiest with a big group of pilgrims.
Or tourists dressed up like pilgrims, no idea.
Part of the tempel was dedicated to the protector of unborn children. There were small toys and candy placed inside the shrine.
Felt SO GREAT to bike around again! The route from one temple to another runs through residential areas like these.
I took a wrong turn and ended up at a small forest shrine that wasnt even on the tourist map.
Turned out to be one of the least touristic and most beautiful.
The most charming part was the lack of maintaince. Hundreds of fox statues, in moss covered little shrines, with litlle cups for coins in front of them. After all the big touristic spots, this felt like the real thing, the first place to get something of a spiritual feeling. It reminded me very strongly of the forest in Princess Mononoke.
There was a path in the back leading up the hill, becoming steeper and more improvised along the way. It connected to one of the hiking paths on top.
It was completely deserted and quiet, you only hear the sounds of the wind in the trees and the huge birds that kept circling above.
Another empty temple.
awwww <3
Bike in action. This was a special path, but normally youre supposed to ride on the pedestrian path!! It's dangerous and a bit cramped, but there is no space on the road. So strange to do something here that I've been fined for in the Netherlands...
I think 5 or 6 is maximum before 'temple fatique' sets in.
This last one was the biggest, with an active zen community. I took a peak inside the functional buildings, and strange to see things like fire extinguishers and drink vending machines inside.
Alright, just one more. I liked the giant tree.
Please dont start a bonfire in the temple.
Last pic of my bike in the sunset. We had a good time together, especially downhill.
Japanese television is sooo cool. I caught these short animations based on classic poetry, with film festival-type quality.
Weddings are BIG business here. One of the gigantic fancy hotels near the boys' house.
Beautiful displays of kimono and flowers in an artificial pond.
Indoor gardens and expensive restaurants are standard for these top hotels.
But WAIT! Is that.. an IKEA LAMP?!?!
March 3 is Doll festival. I asked several people what you do on this day, and the common anwser was: 'not much'. You display the dolls owned by your family (often antiques) and admire them. All hotels and restaurants have them in one form or another, and they are a reminder to young girls of 'feminine values'. You eat special sweets (which are sold EVERYWHERE) and pray for good marriage and healthy family etc.
The dolls represent the Emperor and Empress, with court, musicians, dogs etc.
I think this picture sums it up nicely, here in the Okura hotel (which has the moost beautiful lobby btw).
Akiko told me however that it is absolutely not done to leave the dolls on display after the 3rd. You have to clean them up quickly, or your daughter will marry very late! Akiko complained that her mother was lazy, so now she is still not married.
The famous sweets. The inside is beanpaste, the outside a weird half salty type of dough that contains sakura leaves.
I didnt like it much... so Taro ate them for breakfast.
Many 'fast' small restaurants have this ticket-ordering system, and it didnt hit me until recently how brilliant it is. You buy your food in advance in this machine, and get a ticket, which you present to the waitress. The advantage is that she only needs to make 1 trip to your table instead of the usual 6 (to bring you the menu, to take your order, to bring your food, then your check, then come back to pick up your money, and then bring your change.) Pretty tiring, especially in Dutch restaurants where you have to do a little dance on the table every time you want to attract their attention. This on the other hand is so time efficient, you're in and out within 20 minutes, and you spend the majority of that time actually eating. And the service is still very friendly and good. Another thing to add to the growing list of 'Why dont we have this at home??'
Again: not bad for 5 euro. And the tea is free!
On my last night in Tokyo, my wonderful two couchsurfing hosts took me out for dinner! They asked me what I wanted to eat, and I demanded an either Yokohama or Hokkaido speciality (their hometowns) since I wont be visiting either. They couldnt really come up with a Yokohama speciality, so took me to a Hokkaido restaurant. (On the 39th floor of the Yebisu garden Tower!!)
!!!!!!
Poor boys, straight from work. At 21.00 this was 'early' for them.
Ordering with this giant PSP touchscreen thing.
Left: normal squid. Right: a very VERY special version of frozen half rotten squid, a delicacy comparable with blue cheese in the way that one half of the population loves it and the other finds it horrible. I belong to the latter. The texture is very soft and special, when it melts in your mouth, but the taste is soooo horrrrrrible and lingers in your mouth for half the meal. Taro didnt like it much either, but we were happy we had tried it!
Im so bad with names, the drink is a stronger version of Sake, made of sweet potato. Crab dumplings.
Shouta, mister Hokkaido himself, at work with the stirfry. Very professional.
Crabflesh that is supposed to mix with the melting liver beneath it, then you add sake to the mix to get a tiny spoonfull of crab-goo on your plate. It takes time. Taro called it a 'complex' taste.
No problem waiting when there is more to drink!
Maestro drinks the last bit.
Even desert comes with some kind of alcohol that you have to mix yourself.
TRANSFORMATION TIME.
Taro is a big pinguin fan, so as a gift I bought him a stuffed Suica mascotte (on the left) Its the symbol of the tokyo metro card system.
He liked it very much.
TRANSFORMATION AGAIN at 8.20. Thank you so much Taro and Shouta for being my Tokyo home for 1,5 week! Leaving the big city now to see what other wonders await in the rest of the country. Till next time!
