We visited the park across the street from our hotel for the first part of the day before heading back to what has probably been our favorite spot the entire trip, Akihabara.
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Day 19: Relaxation
So it's basically our last day here and we're feeling conflicted. On one hand we want to maximize our final hours here, but on the other we've literally hit everything on our to-do list and are really feeling the weight of our adventures here. We've seen and done so many things and while we don't want to leave having missed anything we already feel that our time has been very well spent. For our last day we decided to just relax a bit.
We visited the park across the street from our hotel for the first part of the day before heading back to what has probably been our favorite spot the entire trip, Akihabara.
We visited the park across the street from our hotel for the first part of the day before heading back to what has probably been our favorite spot the entire trip, Akihabara.
Day 18: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
The area of Shinjuku, it turns out, is actually the seat of government for the entire Tokyo metropolitan area. Considering that Tokyo is the most densely populated area in the world the government is basically running an entire country. Inside this building is an observation deck that I'd been wanting to check out for a while. We had some plans for later in the day but needed to kill some time so we headed down the road a bit and hit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.
As soon as we got in there we decide we might want to skip the observation deck until later since the line to go up was wrapped around the hall. Luckily though there was a tourist information center inside so we decided to check it out. There we found some nice, helpful documents that we could use for the rest of our time here. Suddenly while looking at the racks of info a nice lady came up and started asking us questions. How long had we been in Japan, did we use a tour service (the fact that we did it all ourselves seemed to surprise most people) and finally she asked if we wanted to take a tour of the building...Heck yes we do!
After the tour we checked the line again but decided to wait for another time/day on the observation deck. We had been wanting to head back to Odaiba, the man-made island that was now a huge shopping area, since we got back to Tokyo. This time we had our JR passes so the trip was done by train instead of boat but it still took about 30-40 minutes.
We've found that for some reason Japan has become a haven for failing or failed US businesses. Zima is everywhere here but more importantly they still have a few Krispy Kremes!
The Odaiaba area is really fun. There are basically three huge malls there and we checked out all of them, with another stop off at the Gundam statue to get some better pictures.
So we got some shopping done and had a great time revisiting one of our favorite areas from our first week. Nothing too crazy but a good time none-the-less.
As soon as we got in there we decide we might want to skip the observation deck until later since the line to go up was wrapped around the hall. Luckily though there was a tourist information center inside so we decided to check it out. There we found some nice, helpful documents that we could use for the rest of our time here. Suddenly while looking at the racks of info a nice lady came up and started asking us questions. How long had we been in Japan, did we use a tour service (the fact that we did it all ourselves seemed to surprise most people) and finally she asked if we wanted to take a tour of the building...Heck yes we do!
This is a traditional broom-like display that is meant to bring good luck
The architecture was a very big talking point
The building is built to withstand very strong winds
The lines are meant to convey traditional Japanese window/door slats
The actual meeting place for the Tokyo government
After the tour we checked the line again but decided to wait for another time/day on the observation deck. We had been wanting to head back to Odaiba, the man-made island that was now a huge shopping area, since we got back to Tokyo. This time we had our JR passes so the trip was done by train instead of boat but it still took about 30-40 minutes.
We've found that for some reason Japan has become a haven for failing or failed US businesses. Zima is everywhere here but more importantly they still have a few Krispy Kremes!
The Odaiaba area is really fun. There are basically three huge malls there and we checked out all of them, with another stop off at the Gundam statue to get some better pictures.
University of Florida stuff halfway around the world...wow
I want this for my house
Wait, where are we?
So we got some shopping done and had a great time revisiting one of our favorite areas from our first week. Nothing too crazy but a good time none-the-less.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Day 17: Sony Building, Nakano and Harajuku
During the first week we were here we visited the Ginza area. We were in a bit of a hurry that time due to the Studio Ghibli tour, but there were a few things that we wanted to see again later on. Today we went back to check out one of my main attractions, the Sony building. Inside the Sony building they have a multi-floor showroom that give you hands on experience with current and upcoming Sony products.
After over two weeks here we're finally on a normal schedule with the rest of the world so we were actually in the area when all the stores and restaurants were open. The whole time we've been here we've enjoyed experiencing all the new and different food, but we've also been yearning for a taste of home. The last time we were here we saw a closed burger place that looked great. This time we stopped in before we made our way to the Sony building.
The burgers were really great, although all the Japanese burger places seem to love huge tomatoes, and the atmosphere was actually very nice. This was one of the few places we visited that played some of our more favorite music and it was similar to a lot of American bars or burger places.
After eating lunch we headed over to the Sony building to see the showroom. We went to the top floor and were treated to an amazing 4K TV and presentation. If you don't know already 4K is the resolution that is coming after 1080p, it is a much higher resolution and is able to be shown on very big screens without issue. I love my 1080p TV but seeing this really wowed me a lot and made me look forward to it becoming more widely available in a few years (probably about 10 actually).
I also got to try out a 3D headset for the PS3. I'm not the biggest fan of 3D and while the idea of these was cool it didn't win me over any. I had to strap the headset on so that it hovered around my forehead and getting it into focus took forever. In the end the actual 3D worked but was barely noticeable. Still, it was fun to get to try it out in the building where it it and the PS3 were designed.
In the basement of the building was a shopping area and to get in we had to go down some interesting stairs. Sony put some nice small touches into the whole building.
While exiting the building we noticed a cool Spiderman display. It had signed scripts and an actual Spiderman suit that was used in the newest movie.
Once we were done with the Sony building there was little left for us in Ginza. We had had such a great time shopping at Nakano Broadway that we decided to go back and do some more. We loaded up on our favorite pop culture items and nerdy action figures once again and then revisited another area we had enjoyed but felt we had devoted too little time to Harajuku.
Once we'd had our fill of shopping we hopped the train and got off at Shinjuku station. We wanted to take the bus back to our hotel but it had stopped for the night so we made the usual trek. Along the way we noticed a nice looking restaurant in the basement of a mall type building. It turned out to be one of our favorite places to eat. The menu actually said that they wished to share the Japanese culture and traditions of the Edo period, so the food was unique and very good.
I think we might have to hit this place again before we leave.
After over two weeks here we're finally on a normal schedule with the rest of the world so we were actually in the area when all the stores and restaurants were open. The whole time we've been here we've enjoyed experiencing all the new and different food, but we've also been yearning for a taste of home. The last time we were here we saw a closed burger place that looked great. This time we stopped in before we made our way to the Sony building.
The burgers were really great, although all the Japanese burger places seem to love huge tomatoes, and the atmosphere was actually very nice. This was one of the few places we visited that played some of our more favorite music and it was similar to a lot of American bars or burger places.
After eating lunch we headed over to the Sony building to see the showroom. We went to the top floor and were treated to an amazing 4K TV and presentation. If you don't know already 4K is the resolution that is coming after 1080p, it is a much higher resolution and is able to be shown on very big screens without issue. I love my 1080p TV but seeing this really wowed me a lot and made me look forward to it becoming more widely available in a few years (probably about 10 actually).
I also got to try out a 3D headset for the PS3. I'm not the biggest fan of 3D and while the idea of these was cool it didn't win me over any. I had to strap the headset on so that it hovered around my forehead and getting it into focus took forever. In the end the actual 3D worked but was barely noticeable. Still, it was fun to get to try it out in the building where it it and the PS3 were designed.
In the basement of the building was a shopping area and to get in we had to go down some interesting stairs. Sony put some nice small touches into the whole building.
While exiting the building we noticed a cool Spiderman display. It had signed scripts and an actual Spiderman suit that was used in the newest movie.
Once we were done with the Sony building there was little left for us in Ginza. We had had such a great time shopping at Nakano Broadway that we decided to go back and do some more. We loaded up on our favorite pop culture items and nerdy action figures once again and then revisited another area we had enjoyed but felt we had devoted too little time to Harajuku.
Once we'd had our fill of shopping we hopped the train and got off at Shinjuku station. We wanted to take the bus back to our hotel but it had stopped for the night so we made the usual trek. Along the way we noticed a nice looking restaurant in the basement of a mall type building. It turned out to be one of our favorite places to eat. The menu actually said that they wished to share the Japanese culture and traditions of the Edo period, so the food was unique and very good.
I think we might have to hit this place again before we leave.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Day 16: Shinjuku Gyoen Park
While we loved the Asakusa area that we stayed in the first week the Shinjuku area is by far more active and filled with things to do. Doing a little bit of research into things that you have to do if you visit Japan shows a couple of things in Shinjuku itself. One of these is the local garden. While we've visited a few gardens in our time here this one is a bit different. It was built in the Edo period and was used by the Imperial family around the beginning of the 20th century. The garden features three distinct zones meant to display traits of different types of gardens. One area is French, the other is English and the final area is a traditional Japanese garden.
Our first stop in the park was a rose garden, while the roses were nice it was obvious that the weather was starting to get a bit cold for them. Then we walked around a bit through the English and French areas before hitting the area that we were really interested in, the traditional Japanese garden.
After our time at the park we did some more walking around the Shinjuku area. There's an area here called "Electric Street" that has a lot of electronics stores. Nothing too crazy there that we hadn't already seen in areas like Akihabara but it was fun to check out.
Chrissy liked the huge leaves
Our first stop in the park was a rose garden, while the roses were nice it was obvious that the weather was starting to get a bit cold for them. Then we walked around a bit through the English and French areas before hitting the area that we were really interested in, the traditional Japanese garden.
There were a ton of people here.
The skyscrapers hovering over the garden was very surreal
Huge Koi as always
After our time at the park we did some more walking around the Shinjuku area. There's an area here called "Electric Street" that has a lot of electronics stores. Nothing too crazy there that we hadn't already seen in areas like Akihabara but it was fun to check out.
Spiderman = Ninja in New York apparently
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