Despite waking up a little early I think we mostly got through the jet lag by day two. Did some basic weight training and physical therapy so my hip keeps working. We learned that Tokyo opens later than we are used to and delayed our departure from the hotel out on adventure accordingly.
We walked quite a bit and decided to see the marvel that is Tokyo Station. It’s an immense feature of the city but difficult to get a view of, especially once inside. There are so many food options and stores in the station. The above image was across the street from the station on the East side.
We ended up exiting the north end of the station and missed the central entrance. The north had a nice entrance of its own.
Nearby the Tokyo Station Hotel on the West side of the station also shines as a notable piece of architecture amidst this continually growing city.
To the west we found our way to the Imperial Palace which has impressive walls and sizable moats, but lacks in interpretive materials or opportunities to wander around the grounds. We didn’t spend a lot of time there as we had an important part of the trip planned for today.
Another good distance covered brought us to the Jimbocho city of books. Boasting over 150 bookstores the street scene on the main thoroughfare was packed with book buyers searching through the stacks. Toward the edge of the madness the crowd thinned a bit and I was able to get my picture taken for documentation.
We went to Isseido Booksellers and found a very traditional antiquarian set up upstairs with many old tomes, prints, and ephemera. I secured a modern high quality print of a map of Meiji era Japan for my geography studying daughter.
Being in an area with so many books but being unable to read them was an odd feeling. I didn’t have much to do as I couldn’t really communicate well with the booksellers and I found myself wondering what it must be like to be illiterate.
A quick cab ride brought us to lunch at the delightful little gluten free spot in the next neighborhood over named Oh Nana! that provided a pleasant break from walking and set us up for the next leg.
Refreshed, we rode the subway over to the Ginza District which is all about fashion and major brands. The interesting thing about the subway is that there are multiple companies that run independent subway systems and there is a public transit line as well. However, all of these different system use interoperable payment methods to get paid so you have a choice of what payment method you would like and any of them work on all the trains. I’m definitely not knowledgeable enough about it to explain much more, but I know one needs to pay attention in order to get to where one needs to go.
In Ginza Six a huge mall takes up multiple floors of a tall building with high quality everything. My lady got some lotions and such and we spoke to a very helpful young man at the Adidas store who assisted us in my attempt to purchase a memorable gift for my soccer loving son who is now 6 feet tall. Once we explained that he is 183 cm tall our clerk’s eyes got big and he brought out a 3XL jersey for our consideration. We suggested that an XL or 2XL would do and he directed us to a store across town. We’ll see if we make it tomorrow.
I had been thinking about how tall I have been feeling at my 175 cm, though just barely.
Toward the top of this building is a bookstore and cafe. It was so overwhelming that I forgot to take too many pictures. I again felt a bit confused, surrounded by books I mostly could not read. We found a bilingual book about Japanese architecture so I picked that up for my son who is also going to be studying architecture.
By this time we were rather tired and returned to the hotel to recharge before dinner plans. We caught a good portion of the sky walk that is a quite pleasant way to walk through the very congested part of streets near the hotel. It’s smart design.
Similarly, the fare from a nearby Family Mart, which made the majority of our dinner, also exhibited the hallmarks of quality design. The conbini (convenience store) culture is well known and we took advantage of the many products dialed in such as onigiri (rice wrapped in nori) and salad bowls (both legitimately healthy and delicious) along with some treats. Such a deal as well!
Hopefully we will have the remaining jet lag shaken off as the rain arrives tomorrow.
