Japan Day 9 – Tokyo: Shibuya Crossing & Koreatown

Day 9 would be our final full day in Japan. I think a week and a half is probably about right for a trip like this. If the trip is any longer, as active as we have been, you might start having diminishing returns due to lack of energy.

Shibuya Scramble Crossing

Our first destination would be a city intersection. People can make tourist destinations out of anything. The other street crossing that comes to mind is the Abbey Road crosswalk in London which I visited many years ago. It was underwhelming as I sort of knew it would be. But its celebrity drew us to it anyway, just as Shibuya crossing did.

The crossing has been described as the world's busiest pedestrian crossing, with 1,000–2,000 people traversing during a single green light cycle. A 2014 flow measurement survey by the Shibuya Redevelopment Association estimated around 260,000 pedestrians crossing per day on weekdays, and 390,000 pedestrians crossing on non-working days. Others estimate as many as 500,000 people on the busiest days.

It is often featured in films and television shows which take place in Tokyo, such as Lost in Translation, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Alice in Borderland, Jujutsu Kaisen, Resident Evil: Retribution, Sonic The Hedgehog 3, as well as on domestic and international news broadcasts. It was also featured in the 2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony to promote the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

To be honest, unless you’re there at a peak time, it is, like Abbey Road, a bit underwhelming. Like a Kardashian, you can make something famous just by saying it’s famous. The surrounding buildings are certainly impressive and have sort of a Times Square feel to them. Imposing buildings. Flashing billboards everywhere. It’s a lot to take in for our daughters who don’t have much large city experience.

We approached the junction and, as the light turned green, we joined the crowd and crossed. In looking around it appeared that most people crossing were tourists. As I said, it’s a self-perpetuating tourist attraction.

We had heard that the views were nice from a Starbucks overlooking the crossing. We were due for a coffee anyway, so we thought we would check it out. I assumed it would be overwhelmed with people but it wasn’t.

Hachikō

Before I change topics, I should mention the remarkable story of the dog Hachiko. Hachikō was the pet of a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University. Hachikō met his owner at Shibuya Station every day after his commute home. This continued until May 21, 1925, when the professor passed away while at work. From then until his death on March 8, 1935, Hachikō returned to Shibuya Station almost every day to await the professor’s return. Ten years!

Hachikō statue adjacent to the crossing

According to some contemporary accounts, Hachikō faced neglect and occasional mistreatment at Shibuya Station after Ueno's death but was undeterred from visiting. Once his story became nationally known, his remarkable display of loyalty was widely reported in Japanese media, and public interest grew significantly. He continues to be remembered worldwide in popular culture with statues, movies, and books. Crazy.

* * *

We were supposed to meet with another of Priya’s relatives while we were in Tokyo. But prior to arriving she informed us that she was not feeling well with a cough. Japanese take germs seriously and she sadly called off our get together.

As such, the day was open. The plan was to explore this neighborhood for a while and then head back to our neighborhood of Shinjuku for lunch and, at Kiran’s request, visit Koreatown.

* * *

Koreatown

In the northern part of Shinjuku is Okubo, also known as Koreatown. It was on our daughters’ list of priorities, and we had no choice but to accommodate.

I should mention that Korea and Japan, as neighboring counties, have had a tense relationship over the years. Korea was a colony of Japan from 1910 to 1945. During World War II, Imperial Japanese Forces committed extensive atrocities against Koreans including forced prostitution (“comfort women”), forced labor, etc. After the war, Japan was forced to relinquish control over the Korean peninsula and later ended up paying $300 million in compensation. Things improved slightly during the Korean War (1950-1953) as Japan supported South Korea but then deteriorated again in the 1990s as Korean former “comfort women” went public with their experiences during the war creating awkward bilateral relations. Japan has issued multiple apologies, including for the colonization, but it’s a lingering sore between the two countries.

Koreatown began in the 1980s, as tensions between the two countries were thawing. The area had been a slum area when a Korean businessman established a factory there. Japan had a labor shortage at the time and was allowing Korean workers into the country. As is often the case, immigrants were drawn to a place where they could integrate more easily. The population grew and Koreatown began to develop an identity.

Today, a lot of the signage is in both Korean and Japanese. There are obviously lots of Korean restaurants. But the biggest change in the neighborhood over the past few years is the growth in K-pop and other successful Korean industries. The first thing that caught Kiran’s attention was a store dedicated entirely to BTS. We later found other stores full of K-pop swag and K products. These stores give me the creeps, and I opted out early to go have a tea. The ladies joined me later, showing off their new swag.

Tokyo by Night

Our hotel was a short distance from Koreatown and after stopping there for a few minutes to regroup, we headed out again to enjoy our last night in Tokyo. It’s a treat to walk around the city and not worry about crime or bad weather.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a big fan of cities. I have to say, of all the cities I’ve been to, Tokyo is towards the top of the list. The Japanese respect for the other is one of the big reasons. Some Americans, particularly New Yorkers, might miss the edge that NYC and most  cities have. The unexpected. The chaos. Tokyo seems to have the energy with very little of the chaos. I enjoy its predictability. If I have to be in a city.

taiyaki - fish-shaped cake filled with sweet or savory

weird having chocolate or custard in something shaped like a fish, but yummy 

 

* * *

The next day, we checked out of our human-less hotel and walked the short distance to the train station. It would be a straightforward 2-train, 1-hour ride to the airport. China Southern had a long queue, but their methodical, almost mechanical, style of processing the check-in moved things along efficiently. Soon we were near the gate having our last Japanese lunch and emptying our pockets of yen. Very successful trip. Already thinking about what we would do on a subsequent trip.

Japan Day 8 – Kyoto to Tokyo: Shinjuku City

Given that I was extremely busy during my last month or so of work, I ended up participating very little in the planning of our Japan trip. Planning travel is something I ordinarily love to do, but it was nearly impossible to devote too much time to it with all that I had going on, including a very busy trip to the US. As such, Priya did the heavy lifting of the thinking and planning. As the trip unfolded, and as I realized how well it was organized, I was happy I stayed out of her way. But at this stage of our trip, I was quite happy with all that we had seen and done. Good weather most of the time certainly helped.

Kyoto to Tokyo

Our train reservation to return to Tokyo was scheduled for early afternoon. We took a taxi to the station midmorning and found a place for a coffee and pastry. It was a workday and almost everyone in the coffee shop was alone and quietly working. Though there is some variation in women's work clothing, it's rather conservative (many with skirts just below the knee). Men are almost exclusively in dark suits and dark shoes (tie optional).

We grabbed some snacks for the 3-hour train ride. Though you can't eat while walking around a city, it is acceptable to eat on the train. Our seats were on the left side (the Mt. Fuji side) just in case we would be fortunate enough to catch a glimpse as we near Tokyo. 

Bullet trains in Japan are fantastic. They are clean, quite and super fast. Each time the train conductor passes through the car, he turns in the doorway and bows before he exits. I noticed that on the China Southern flight, the flight attendants all bow at the same time after everyone is seated and the plane is ready to go. They bow again once the plane has been prepared for landing. I like the bowing. 

the beautiful Japan countryside

 

After a few days of mostly cloudy skies and quite a bit of rain, the sun had come out and we were feeling optimistic that we might finally see Mt. Fuji in all its glory. As I mentioned previously, it's such a scenic train ride as the route follows the southern part of the island, often with hills on the left and coast on the right. 

Alas, as the train moved closer, clouds accumulated. By the time we exited the final tunnel before Mt. Fuji would come into view, the mist obscured the entire mountain. Oh well. It will be something to look forward to in a future visit to Japan.

Shinjuku

We would be staying in a different part of the city from where we were a week earlier. Shinjuku City is a diverse and interesting neighborhood west of downtown Tokyo. As much as we liked the area (and the hotel) where we were before, it was time to explore something new.We exited the train and our hotel would be a short walk of less than a couple hundred meters. As with our hotel in Kyoto, this one was self-service. They send you a code on your phone to enter the front door and another code to enter your room. We never saw any hotel staff the entire time we were there.

The hotel room was basically the size of a large RV. And I don’t say that as a complaint. It worked out perfectly well given that we were there mostly for sleeping. It was very clean, had a washer and dryer, two small bedrooms, a small kitchen area and did exactly what we needed it to do. As is the case with much of Japan’s construction, no wasted space.

By the time we were settled into our hotel, it was late afternoon. The sun sets early this time of year in Japan. Depending on where we were, the sun set between 4:30 and 4:45pm. Interestingly, Japan has early sunsets in October because they have chosen to have a single time zone for the entire country (makes sense). As such, you have exactly an hour difference between the sunset in Sapporo in the northeast (4:20pm) and Fukuoka in the southwest (5:20pm). They also have no daylight-saving time (also makes sense).

local shrine

For our first evening back in Tokyo, we would limit ourselves to exploring the neighborhood, having some dinner and going to bed. We found a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that didn’t appear to get very many tourists. There was no English on the menus, and the staff didn’t speak hardly English at all. We used Google Translate to read the Japanese and ordered by pointing at pictures.

It was a bit dingy but not offensively so. The walls were busy with lots of small hand-written postings in Japanese. With the help of Google, we found out that most of was food offerings. But the longer we took in our surroundings, the more we noticed small things like a couple of small photos taped to the with women in swimsuits and the fact that there were no women in the restaurant except for our waitress. Japanese professional baseball was playing on the TV mounted in the corner. As most people know now, baseball is a huge sport in Japan. But yes, a locals restaurant. 

more ramen - so. good.

Once again, the food was amazing. And not very expensive. We had an early night and would hit the streets of Shinjuku the next morning.

Japan Day 7 – Kyoto: Rain and the Nishiki Market

Wet Your Appetite

The rain that we had more or less successfully avoided, came upon is with vigor on day 7 (Monday). We had been so fortunate to that point that it was hard to complain. We had already ticked the key boxes for Kyoto, and we were comfortable to have a slow start and seek out some activities that were weather-friendly. In Japan, that often involves some sort of food. 

Nishiki Market

After some debate, in the end we opted on going to the Nishiki Market. It’s a covered street roughly six blocks in length full of all kinds of wonderful foods and various shops catering to tourists and locals alike. 

It was pretty amazing, I have to say. The only downside was that, given the ceaseless rain, we were not the only ones who felt that it was a good way to spend a few hours. It was packed with people. This isn’t a massive tourist time of year, and I wouldn’t want to be in Kyoto when it is, but generally speaking, crowds have been manageable.  

hot sauce artwork that could only be done by a Japanese person

baby octopus with quail eggs stuffed inside

We walked about a half-hour in the rain to get there and then walked the street from one end to the other. The idea was to scope everything out and then do a U-turn and return to home in on what interested us most. Given that it was around lunchtime, our first stop was to tuck in to some tempura that the girls had seen earlier. On the trip thus far we had had many different kinds of Japanese food but tempura (not the healthiest of options) hadn’t been among them.

tempura-fest

The place could comfortably be defined as a hole in the wall. Tables consisted of boards sitting on stacked beer crates. The lone waitress shuttled back and forth between hanging near the street to beckon passers-by to enter and waiting tables.

beer crates supporting the table, kegs, etc.

Our lunch was good, but I admittedly have less of a tolerance for greasy food than I used to. But it was good to get off our feet for a while and discuss what we would do next. After a half hour or so, we were on our way again. We stopped at a few shops on the way back for matcha, chili sauce, rice crackers, etc. before pulling out the umbrellas and heading back for our hotel.

Respect for the common good

The Japanese have a lot of rules. I was discussing this with Kyoko when we were in Nagoya a couple days earlier, and I mentioned that when I lived in Switzerland, it was one of the more challenging things to adjust to. Given that she had briefly lived in Switzerland as well, she was well-positioned to observe the differences between the two contexts. She said that one big difference is that in Japan, these are normally not codified as they are in Switzerland. In Japanese culture, there is a deep-seeded mutual respect and a recognition of the common good. It's wired into you from the time you are a child. You adhere to these societal norms not because you are legally required to. You do it because that it was expected of you and it's the right thing to do. 

I found that super interesting. In Switzerland they would say that they're no different from Japanese as far as it being wired into you from a young age. The difference they would highlight, rightly so, is that there are far more foreigners in Switzerland (one in five in the country, one in three in Geneva) who are wired differently. Thus the need for more explicit written code. Except for tourists, there are comparatively few non-Japanese in Japan. 

One example is eating in public. You don't see people walking around munching on snacks. It's just not done. Even walking around with a to-go coffee mug is rare. At places where there are food stands, such as the above market, you can eat as you are standing there. If you plan to take it with you, it goes in your bag. It makes sense in that there are also no bins anywhere. Once you finish, there is no where to toss your rubbish. The people at the food stand will, however, cheerfully take your food wrapping, napkins, empty bottles, etc. when you are finished.

Another example is crossing the street. People in Japan strictly adhere to pedestrian street crossing lights. It can be 7am on a Saturday morning, no cars in sight, and Japanese will patiently stand on the sidewalk and wait for the light to turn green.  

The list goes on. Standing in marked lines to board the train. No loud talking. Keeping to one side on an escalator so that walkers can move past you. It can be a bit much in the beginning. Once you're used to it, it's actually quite nice. 

* * * 

the hole in the table is artistic (but not very practical)

Late afternoon was uneventful and we took advantage of the rainy weather for some much-needed downtime. We went for four-o’clock tea at a place near our hotel that was playing American 60-70s music and then continued on to get groceries and my fantasyland grocery store for dinner and breakfast. We spent way too much time there.