Read Part 1 here.
After Shinjuku Park I decided to walk about 25 minutes down to Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shrine. If Shinjuku park was a little escape from the city then Yoyogi Park will make you forget there is a city at all. Like Central Park in New York Yoyogi park is a huge area of land in the middle of Tokyo with numerous paths well suited for jogging or walking. I inadvertently entered through a side entrance and was able to enjoy quietly walking around listening to the buzz of the cicadas.
Centered towards the top of the park is Meiji Shrine, a shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. It’s crazy to see something like this, especially given its size, in the middle of Tokyo. The main shrine building is extremely impressive and the grounds have an area where you can purchase a charm or fortune if you want as well as an ema that you can hang around a tree on the grounds. Not far outside the main gate to the shrine is the entrance to the inner garden, an area below the shrine that has a lovely pond and iris garden. Unfortunately since it’s late August the irises were not in bloom, the middle of June is the best time for that. I would like to come back and visit it around that time. Even with nothing in bloom the area is still a nice place to stroll through.
Leaving Yoyogi park I decided to head over to Harajuku to get a very late lunch and ate at Ichiran Ramen which has an interesting way that you order. Before entering you put money into something that looks almost like a vending machine and make selections of what you want, for example I got a bowl of ramen, extra pork, and a drink. Once you’re done the machine spits out little tickets and any change that you get. You take the tickets into the restaurant and take a seat at one of the booths. You then circle some preferences about how you want your ramen on a sheet and give that as well as your tickets to your server. A little while later they bring you the food. The ramen was great and really hit the spot as I hadn’t eaten in a while. I’d highly recommend going if you are in the area, and I also recommend going one step above the recommended richness of the broth.
After lunch, if you can call it that, I went to the famous crossing in Shibuya, mainly because I was already close and figured I should see it. It is pretty neat to see all the people bustling across the street and if you are in the area I do recommend you check it out. You may even be able to get a hug from Free Hugs Guy.
After that I took a bus to the final stop on my long day, Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. I heard that it had a really nice 360 degree observation deck and wanted to check it out. Unlike the one in the Tokyo Metro Building this one cost a bit of money but it did offer a really nice view of the entirety of Tokyo. You really get an idea of the size of this city by looking out across it and I highly recommend anyone coming here for the first time take a trip to any of the major observation decks in the city, Roppongi Hills, Tokyo Metro, Skytree, or Tokyo Tower.
Going to Roppongi Hills was not something that I had planned to do when the day began but it turned out to be an unexpectedly great decision as I was in for a surprise when I got there. Shonen Jump magazine was having its third manga exhibition to celebrate it’s 50th anniversary. I’d had no idea this was going on but was more then pleasantly surprised that I was able to catch it. While I’m not the biggest Shonen Jump fan there are plenty of titles there that I do like and even then it was a really cool exhibit. I think I took more photos here then the entire rest of the day. It was a great and surprising end to the day.
After that I took a train back to the hotel, took a much needed shower and passed out shortly after. Today is a pretty big day for me as I plan to go to Akihabara the center of Japanese Otaku culture. I don’t really have any plans other then that but considering how well that worked out for me yesterday I’m not really worried.
Gaidai Gaiden 