#Japan16 Embracing Tokyo

Cover photo: One of the first stamps I collected!

I woke at 6am, too excited and full of plans to return to sleep. The others in my dorm woke at about seven thirty when I finally started shuffling about to get ready. One is another English girl, who also takes annual leave to travel the world independently. She is planning Tokyo-Kyoto-Hakone plus day trips, whereas I am planning Tokyo-Hakone-Osaka-Koya San-Hiroshima-Miyajima-Kyoto plus day trips for the same period of time!

First I got on a metro train heading for Harajuko, which I hadn't really done justice the previous day. Part way into the journey I realised Akihabara anime district. I jumped off the train spontaneously and realised that a) I was going in the wrong direction for Harajuku anyway and b) I had got off at the ideal stop to change for Akihibara! Lucky accident...

Electric Town, Akihabara

I completed my second successful fully Japanese transaction, gleefully purchasing some 'Lotte' koala mini biscuits to banish my hunger pangs, (which I then remembered I couldn't eat in the street!) and walked to the Akihabara Electric district, where there was an immense queue of Japanese men about my age, apparently for the release of a new saga anime game! Everywhere you looked, starry eyed manga girls with ridiculous proportions begged you to play with them or buy something (usually both)

Unfortunately the Anime museum and shop, my second priorities to see after Electric Town itself, were closed, as Mondays in Japan are like Sundays in Britain. However, in the same building, I found myself a very interesting breakfast of tea and cake. The cake was not like what I'm used to, the sweet potato cake being particularly... challenging, but at least it was pushing me out of my comfort zone a little!

Sweet potato cake. Just as stodgy as it looks!
Interestingly, Japanese packaged cakes come
 with these drying sachets inside!

Whilst I was in Akihabara, I got far too excited about finding a normal toilet (no frightening buttons that have the potential to shoot jets of water at you whilst you're sat, and not a squat either!), and I also bought some amazing souveniers...

Chihuahua waffle anyone? Or would you prefer a St Bernard Burger?

Next, I went to Tokyo station to begin my Japan stamp collection (no really), and see the Imperial Palace. The station is attractive, although not very Japanese looking, and sits in the middle of the high rise metallic business district of Tokyo. I took some photos, collected my stamp, and then headed on to the imperial palace.

Tokyo station is so large, it calls itself a city in its own right!

The imperial palace gardens were closed for Monday, as I knew they would be, but I enjoyed the fountain park and walking the perimeter of the palace. I honed the art of selfies further, but still can't balance my phone and manage a peace sign at the same time. Happily, there wasn't much to see, so it's not a major issue that my face fills most of the photo!

God I'm so happy!

With my first stamp in my notebook, I boldly returned to the hostel to grab my Japan Rail pass, and commenced a tour of Tokyo via the Yamanote line (an over-ground loop of the city), disembarking at every stop and stamping my little notebook. I got to visit Shimbashi (the home of Japanese railways), Kanda, re-visited Ueno, Akihabara, and Shibuya (the latter in the dark, for what I hoped would be more dramatic photos of the neon) and finally arrived at Harajuku. Harajuku is amazing. The closest thing I can compare it to is London's camden market, but without the seedy, druggyness, and more Kuwai (cute!). There were also crepe stores offering ridiculous crepes involving things from cheesecake to Tuna Curry. I personally opted for green tea icecream and 'brown sugar syrup'. It contained three weird gelatinous balls, and the 'syrup' was pretty gelatinous too and, come to mention it, so was the sauce which I had taken to be whipped cream... but the green tea icecream was nice! I'd had a fruit smoothie from Shimbashi for lunch as I'm concerned about the nutrition I've been not getting.

An Harajuku Crepe. Ew.

Last stop was Ginza, as I was hoping to watch a Kabuki performance - Japan's traditional theatre, in which famously only men are allowed to perform, many of whom as female characters. It promised to be an amazing spectacle, but unfortunately my city map was hopelessly vague, and and after I explored all street corners within a three minute (one block) walk of Ginza metro station, I only later discovered that it was ten minutes away. I got very frustrated at that. However Ginza was a beautiful place, full of polished, expensive high end shops, and I came across my first Japanese busker - a talented lady playing a saxophone to a respectable gathering of onlookers. This didn't seem quite right in Japanese culture - in a country where waiters do not accept tips, and eating and drinking in public spaces is not permitted, it seemed to clash with the practice of paying people playing music in the street.

Finally I mooched back to the hostel. Tomorrow my metro pass expires, as I will be going out of town for at least a few hours to explore the seaside town of Kamakura.