(v) Activities in Tokyo

So I've talked about the major tourist attractions that we visited Tokyo in the last post. Instead of lumping "everything Tokyo" into one big post, I've put in "the rest" of the activities here - shopping, night life, our 1 night capsule hotel experience, and our visit to an owl cafe. A separate Disney Sea edition will have its own post.

Shopping

Shopping in Tokyo can be done almost anywhere due to the number of shopping centers around each corner, but the most popular and recommended places on our list included Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku, and Ikebukuro.

Arriving in Shinjuku we were already bombarded with numerous shopping malls around the station. We first visited Lumine, which consisted of two separate malls filled with mostly lady's fashion but with a floor or two that also had male fashion. Personally I found the items hitting above my budget - I once found a shirt that costed around $80 AUD - so I sadly came out empty handed from Lumine. Needless to say the fashion there were of very high quality. But I was able to open and partially (and quite happily) empty my wallet at MyLord, a mall consisting of small boutiques that still had great quality, fashionable clothes aiming towards young women at reasonable prices. I noticed there were a lot more teenagers and women in their 20s-30s shopping in this arena.

The latest fashion trend in Japan during the time I went were 2 things (that I've noticed) - long skirts and shoulder less tops. Very cute and sophisticated. Pretty sure I will see this trend emerge a couple months later down the track back home.

Shibuya wasn't really on our shopping destination list but it could easily be a place where we could spend hours exploring the busy streets and alleys. We only spent a short about of time here to capture two iconic shots - the Hachi memorial statue located at the station exit 8 (not surprisingly since 8 in Japanese is Hachi), and the road crossing. The line for a photo with the statue never stops so I had to be quick to get a lone shot.

There were a number of areas suggested to get a perfect photo of the crossing. The original site we were planning to go to was the Starbucks at Tsutaya (as shown in the photo below on the upper left), but we were able to get a great shot in the Shibuya station itself where a enormous dragon art mural was located. Easy to find, with plenty of area and space to get the shot. The best time to capture the iconic busy crossing would be during rush hours, either in the morning between 7-9am or in the evening after 5pm. The time we went was unfortunately just mediocre busy.

Harajuku can be a walkable distance from Shibuya, although I probably won't suggest it if the weather was wet and dreary...like what we had to do. The journey consisted of walking through the city of Shibuya before following the train fence line leading towards Harajuku station. The famous alleyway situated outside the station consisted of many boutiques and cafes, plenty of Harajuku crepe stands, and of course Lolita-style dress stores that the area is known for.

Other than clothes shopping, there was obviously plenty of other stores to visit. Technology was another big thing, and stores like Yodobashi provided a huge collection of cameras, laptops, computers, phones, games, and accessories.

Quite a rare find in western countries, there was a wide range of otome games on the PS Vita in Japan. Otome games are story based games aimed towards women audiences, usually romance oriented.

Anime or otaku stores are a major hit for anime lovers such as myself. The most common areas include Akihabara, Ikebukuro and Nakano Broadway. Animate, Mandarake and Lashingbang were the big chain stores we visited, particularly Lashingbang since they also sold second hand games at much lower prices. There were also plenty of other smaller stores scattered around that sold collectible figurines, cards, and toys. Nakano Broadway was the best place to go to for hunting down figurines and other rare collectibles as they're all condensed inside one indoor arena.

And what otaku fan would miss the Pokemon Store in Tokyo? Located in Sunshine City, Ikebukuro, the store was filled with not just toys but Pokemon themed souvenirs, utensils, and cute biscuit tins. They also opened another store in Kyoto and Narita Airport, which are both worth to visit since they also sell limited edition items only specialized for that store - particularly the toy Pikachu's. Tokyo's store has a Pikachu on the Tokyo Skytree, whereas Kyoto has a traditional costumed female and male Pikachu, and Narita has a male Pikachu in a pilot costume and a female Pikachu in an air hostess costume.

 Kyoto Store

Tokyo Store

  

 

 

Night life

Once the sun sets, another cycle of activities begin once more as Tokyo's night life comes out to play. Our night life in Tokyo was filled with exploration, eatery, and arcade gaming. It was also a time where I witnessed what the locals did when their shifts or classes ended for the day, and the streets certainly became ten times busier than before. Office workers would be getting on and off subways and hurrying off home, or hurrying into bars or small restaurants to have their evening meal before settling back home. Others would enjoy a night out with their friends and co-workers in bars, or stare blankly in front of a Pachinko machine (similar to a slot machine but with a game strategy component involving silver balls) in brightly lit and widely advertised Pachinko stores. Young adults and students on the other hand were commonly found in shopping centers, clubs, cafes, book stores, and arcades.

Other areas that are not so PG are the red light districts. Kabukicho in Shinjuku is the largest red light district in Japan, with many host and hostess bars and clubs around. They don't shy away with their advertising at all, as there were many huge billboards advertising the hosts and hostesses of various clubs. One thing not to do though was to photograph them in the streets.

Whilst ads for hostesses and prostitutes tend to lean towards a more provocative side (with huge emphasis on the 'boobage'), I found that male hosts were dressed in a more elegant fashion, usually in neat and stylish suits. Real life hosts can also be seen on the streets targeting potential customers. For me, the way to spot one was to look out for a tall, skinny young man in a suit with dyed stylish hair - 9/10 it's usually a host.

        

And of course the arcades! Opened till late, they're really not hard to find as they're fairly large buildings housing new and classic games, capsule machines, and claw crane games. Taito HEY, Club Sega, and Super Potato are one of the few widely mentioned. Each game costs around 100-300Y, and it's really hard not to find a game that peaks your interest. There were classic ones like button punching fighting games, car racing and shooters, and also some unique dancing games like DDR, boxing, drumming (my personal favourite), and music rhythm games that seemed to be the craze at the time we were there.

Capsule Hotel - 1 Night 1980 Hostel

Whilst we were in Tokyo, it was also a perfect time to try the widely talked about capsule hotels. 1 Night 1980 Hostel was one of the highly recommended capsules on the net. As the name suggests it costs 1980 yen per person per night. It is situated in the northern area of central Tokyo - in Shitaya to be exact - just less than a 10 minute walk from Iriya station. The building has one floor dedicated to a female only section, and the others being male floors. Girls are provided with a small bag of goods with simple amenities such as towels, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc, plus a security card to enter the dorm room. This card was handed back to the desk clerk every time we had to exit the building.     

Both the shower rooms and toilets were extremely clean and top notch. From memory there were 5 shower rooms, each within a cubicle with enough room to change and step into the shower.

       

The dorm itself had 2 sections - the beds area and the personal storage room for each guest. The storage rooms were big enough for storing large pieces of luggage, although the capsule itself was quite a snug fit. At night it gets pretty warm and stuffy, so if anything they should provide more ventilation. The building also has a roof area where guests can lounge around and mingle. I personally found it quite satisfactory for a cheap stay. It's clean, simple, and a 5-10 minute walk from the nearest station. I found my night's stay very quiet and peaceful, although because the guests were in very close proximity to each other, any slight sounds can be easily heard (especially if a loud snorer decided to bunk close by).

Owl Cafe - Akiba Fukurou

Another attraction that was unique to Tokyo were the animal cafes. From kittens, puppies, hedgehogs, to even a sheep cafe, we decided to choose an owl cafe since we rarely get to see them up close. I chose this cafe specifically because it was close to our hotel in Akihabara and we get to receive a laminated photo with one of the owls. Visitors are allocated a time period when booking, so only small groups could enter and avoid disturbing the owls. It was a very quiet environment (which the staff encouraged), and each owl was 'rotated' so that some were resting whilst others were allowed to be petted and perched on the guest's hand for a photo. I fortunately had an owl that not only defecated onto my shoe, but also regurgitated out a pellet (undigested food) onto my lap...very nice.