Romping Round Tokyo: Day One

Since we landed in the afternoon of the 19th, a lot has happened. One of those things, I feel like I shouldn't mention, so that our other author can cover it. So I'll recap the rest.

The first day after we arrived, we left Shinagawa station and took the Yamanote-sen train to Shibuya. There, an intersection right outside the station is basically the Times Square of Tokyo: the most crowded crosswalk you can imagine; twenty-foot TVs hanging from buildings (at least 6 of them); signs of all kinds hanging off the sides of the buildings; shops out the wazoo.

My camera literally could not capture it. Rather, my lens. Still...

Shibuya Crossing.

After a little wandering around (and finding some fun stuff)...

Graffiti in Shibuya

Finders credit goes to Caleb

This photo doesn't quite depict accurately just how tiny this building is.
I would have to duck my head to step up to the window.
The whole building was less than ten feet deep.
It is not connected to the adjacent building.

Another absurdly skinny building. Can't help but wonder how there would fare
in the event of an earthquake...

The pride of a man, and
The readiness of a husband, and
The strength of a father:
Dragonball is what
Taught them all to me.
(Advertisement for JR)

We found out that Caleb was a model!

...After all that, we stopped in a ramen shop that one of Ayumi's friends recommended for us. Tokyo is known for tsukemen, where the noodles are separated from a dipping broth. Their spicy ramen was good (although not particularly, life-changingly spicy), and we were all pretty satisfied.

Quickly snapped this photo before leaving. Didn't want to crowd the entrance.

Then, we hopped back on the train and went to Asakusa, where THUNDER GATE resides. The name is literally THUNDER GATE (雷門), and I'm pretty sure the proper translation includes caps lock. Remember, I have a degree in Japanese.

THUNDER GATE

Shopping street behind THUNDER GATE.

Erin has an awesome selfie cam that does a full 360-degree spherical recording, including video.
Footage from that will be incoming.

Behind the gate is a long aisle of souvenir shopping, which we mostly skipped past, to get to the Buddhist temple Senso-ji. Like last time, it was a wonderful cultural experience, although it was a shame that Gojunoto tower was scaffolded off for renovation.

The view from inside Senso-ji. The smoke coming from the center is a huge incense-burning pit, where you can
purify yourself prior to entering the temple. The building to the left, mid-ground, is a blessed fountain where you
can wash your hands. In the background is Hozomon, which lies on the opposite side of the shopping street
as THUNDER GATE.

Didn't read closely what is on this stone, but nearby was the grave site of an old Tanka poet.

Roads like this pervade the sidestreets of Tokyo. I find them immensely delightful.

Our next stop would be Skytree, which was a bit of a walk and train ride away. But we decided that, in the name of adventure and newness, we should try the rickshaw service. It's basically a pampered mini tour, where the rickshaw driver shows you around town.

Definitely worth it.

Our rickshaw driver (depicted by the blue head, bottom left), described the Asahi headquarters. Note the huge
golden building, with glass on top that looks like bubbles. Asahi.
Also see the golden carrot? That's supposed to be a "Flame of Passion" For Asahi.
But when they went to erect the flame, they realized it couldn't be done safely.
So they put it up on the building, and leaned it over sideways. So now they
have a giant golden carrot.
Asahi.

On one particular street, there were statues of old thieves from some story, on the buildings. A cute little
way to spice up the personality of a street.

Rickshaw drivers taking us to our destination in the background: Tokyo Skytree.
They got us there in about thirty minutes.
Caleb & Erin reported that their driver had passable, if broken, English,
and that they got the gist of the tour. Sasuga Tokyo!

So this was pretty much the view from the rickshaw. What was crazy to me was that the rickshaws don't have handbrakes.
So when we were going down a hill, he maintained speed and control by running backwards. I bet that wears on the knees.

PPAP Cafe actually exists in real life, in the strip mall at the base of Tokyo Skytree.

The wait to go up Skytree was almost literally nonexistent. Erin has all the good photos from the top of Skytree, using her swanky 360-degree camera, so I'll have to bug her about getting those.

After that, we went to the attached aquarium, which was a very special experience, but I can't say why. So here's this instead.

Not sure what is supposed to be going on in this mural, but
I like it.

To close off the evening, Ayumi's friends took us out to a delicious restaurant, where we had nabe. We also did something called nomihoudai, where it's basically "all you can drink." It was great to see Mayuko, Mayu, and Natsuko again. They are Ayumi's friends from UO undergrad, and while they've long since graduated, they still keep in close contact.

Still figuring out how to get these 360-degree photos embedded in a widget where you can change your view.
In the meantime, here's a raw stitched photo from the camera! Wonderful dinner with friends.

And thus concludes our first full day in Tokyo.