Crazy Tokyo - not as crazy as we expected

Hello again! I hope you are all having a wonderful pre-Christmas time :) I must admit that I'm not in the best "christmasy"mood but I'm making the most of it! Luckily I got some really nice presents and packages from Germany that allow me to actually feel like Christmas is coming up. Otherwise I would probably just miss it this year... It's still autumn outside: leaves are red, orange and yellow, a strong wind is blowing, the sun sets earlier (around 5.30pm) and in the night it can be really cold. But still not comparable to our wintertime in Germany. I can't say I miss it, it's just...different. What I really miss on the other hand is the Christmas market, Glühwein, Lebkuchen and my family of course! Now, before I'm off to Thailand where I spend my winter vacation, I would like to show you some more pictures and let you be part of the other travel experiences I've made so far. Starting with Tokyo:

In the end of November our usual travel group (consisting of 4 Paderborner girls) plus a friend of Vera was ready to explore the big city - finally! We were really excited because we had many expectations of this well known cosmopolitan metropolis: jammed subways, crowded streets, rushing business men, stress, vibrant, pulsating life. Well, none of that were entirely true.

Our first day started early in the morning because we wanted to visit the famous fish market. Unfortunately there was a public holiday that nobody of us knew about, so the market was closed. What now? We decided to go to a park which was nearby and happened to be a fantastic choice. The beautiful colors of fall in the trees were simply stunning! I enjoyed the tranquility and peace the park offered in the middle of such a vibrant city.

Afterwards we went to the famous shopping district called Ginza where we just strolled around doing window shopping. There were not many people which might have been due to the fact that shops open quite late (around 11am) and we were there just before that. My wallet thanked me for it. 

We had lunch in a backstreet where we supposed it would be cheaper and it was: we had some Japanese noodles with soup and a side dish consisting of rice with meat (which was actually more delicious than the main dish) for only 5-6 €. Surprising fact about this food: the noodles were cold! And I don't mean cooked and cooled, I mean fridge temperature cold! It was served with hot soup and we had to watch the other customers to find out that you dip the noodles into the hot soup to make them warm...interesting. But maybe first and last time for me to have this dish ;)

After Ginza we went to the Metropolitan Government Building where you can take an elevator to the 45th floor and have a great view of the city - for free! Although we could not see Mt Fuji in the distance because the horizon was too hazy it was an incredible panorama of all the skysrapers and made us realize the population density.                  

Lucky me my good friend Junko contacted a friend of hers and made it possible for us to meet locals! Kaori came with a friend from her German language class (yes, Japanese people are learning German! I was so impressed!). They showed us around and we had a great time exploring the streets of Shinjuku in the light of massive screens and neon advertisement. We went into crazy stores where you can buy everything from Spiderman-costumes to makeup to electronic devices and groceries. We saw kitten in cages being sold on the streets and Otaku (geeks or nerds who are either fascinated by/addicted to manga/anime or just play computer games the whole day) in the game stores when we took a picture in the Pulikula (photo booth where you can decorate the picture with "cute" designs). If you want to see such an Otaku go crazy on the drums click here. All in all this was the first time of the day when we actually felt like being in Tokyo!

Our next day started with a visit of the Tokyo Skytree tower, 634 m high symbol and eyecatcher in the cityscape. There, we found a tiny christmas market which would open in the evening. The signs promised hot wine, hot chocolate, sausages, beer and many more tempting things. So we decided to come back in the evening. We didn't want to miss at least one Glühwein (mulled wine) or a German Bratwurst because we knew we would't find that anywhere else anytime soon!



Next on the plan was Ueno Park, where we enjoyed a walk through the beautiful autumn trees again.

From there we went on to Akihabara - a district known for its game stores, Otaku people, crazy shops and computer centers. We saw disturbing things like the Maid Cafe (where you pay entry fee to have pretty girls dressed like maids serving you - the Master) and stores where they sell every possible item (fans, calenders, candy, pens, etc) with anime or manga characters.

Next on our list after a decent lunch was the Meiji-Shingu shrine where we were lucky enough to see children attending the "festival of 3 year olds" (there are festivals for 3,5 and 7 year old kids). Sooo cute in their kimonos!!

The shopping street Omote-sando was just around the corner but very crowded! Here we actually feared for the first time to get lost in the mass of people.
















In the evening we went back to the christmas market at the skytree where we enjoyed overpriced hot wine and chocolate and enjoyed the illumination before we were going to dinner in Shibuya where we met some friends that we know from our language class in Germany (Bochum) last march.

 

Scene district Shibuya

LSI Bochum group reunion (+Jakob)

On our last day we finally went to the famous Tsukiji fishmarket where we were more of an obstacle than a welcomed guest because the fishermen had to sell their catch of the day and didn't want to have tourists taking pictures blocking their stall. We had to be careful not to get knocked down by one of the transport scooters.

As the stalls were closing up anyways we decided to move on to Asakusa to visit the Sensoji-temple.

And then a great, satisfying, but yet exhausting weekend came to an end! TOKYO I will come back!