Tokyo was Awesome! Part 3

So this installment will be less about shopping and more about the touristy things we did there. We did a lot of exploring and wound up at Tokyo Tower and Harajuku in the middle of the trip. Upside? We saw these awesome places. Downside? It was on Saturday (Tokyo Tower) and Sunday (Harajuku). However, since Sunday is the day that the Harajuku Girls are out and about, that’s the best time to see them. More on that later…

Tokyo Tower

Ah yes…that icon of anime…Tokyo Tower! Ignorant of Japan as I was when I first started watching anime, I didn’t know that Tokyo had a larger and more colorful version of the Eiffel Tower. And on the way up to the tower, a beautiful flower looked so perfect you’d swear it was an imitation.

It was truly amazing and there were tons of people there. The view of the city was incredible, and there were still a lot of cherry blossoms around, though they were definitely getting a bit on the thin side at that point. I would strongly recommend going to Tokyo Tower during the week, as Saturdays are packed out like a theme park. The lines were long! But due to the quiet and organized nature of the crowds, it was not an unpleasant experience. No screaming brats running amok, that’s for sure! Also, the gift shop was pretty cool with loads of different stuff. I got a lot of inexpensive souvenirs there.

Harajuku

The next day, we went to Harajuku to see, that’s right, the Harajuku Girls! For those unfamiliar with the whole Harajuku experience, this is the area that’s known for its trend-setting fashions. The girls that dress in the interesting gothic Lolita-type clothing gather on the bridge that leads to the temple in Yoyogi Park. The tiny train station had people pouring out of it, heading across the street to Takeshita Street and down to the bridge where the girls hang out.

They had amazing outfits on, though unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any really good pictures. And have I mentioned all the people? This is the main street through Harajuku, Omotesando. Those are people as far as the eye can see. Holy frijoles, Batman.

We ended up going to Yoyogi Park as well, since it’s just beyond the bridge where all the girls hang out. There’s a temple in here and there were two traditional Japanese weddings going on while we were there. The kimonos were beautiful! And even though strangers were imposing by taking pictures (like me), they were still smiling and very gracious.

Someone asked me a question in the blog about whether or not I knew Japanese. Both Jax and I took language lessons for six months before the trip, in addition to learning hiragana and katakana. I strongly believe that it made getting around a lot easier than if we didn’t know anything, and I think the effort was truly appreciated by the Japanese people. I could get around and ask for directions, and besides, it’s cool watching anime in Japanese and actually understanding some of what they say! I would recommend that anyone going learn at least the very basics such as numbers, directions, yes, no, basic phrases like where is…, what is…, how much…, and how to say I do/do not understand, please and thank you as well as general greetings like good morning. Oh, and Mandarake is pronounced Mandala-K, and Nakano Broadway is Nakano Burodoway by the Japanese. When I didn’t make that distinction when asking for directions, the people I had asked looked at me like I had two heads. But when I pronounced it the way they would, they understood.

Well, I’ll be signing off for now. Here’s links to my previous postings if you haven’t seen them:

https://www.animenation.net/blog/2008/04/18/tokyo-was-awesome/

https://www.animenation.net/blog/2008/04/25/tokyo-was-awesome-part-2/

Thanks for reading and see ya next week!