The Best of Tokyo

Denisa had a list of things she wanted to see in Tokyo at night, so we started checking them off her list.  One of those was the Tokyo Tower.  Built in 1958 during the time of  massive post-war construction, it is a symbol of the city of Tokyo, and its ability to recover.

It is 333 meters tall, just a little bigger than the Eiffel Tower that it copies.  Perhaps Japan was sending a message to France that anything it could do, they could do taller.  There are elevator rides to the observation decks that look over the city, but their price kept our feet on the ground this evening.

It was fun to walk towards the tower, watching it get larger and larger until we were finally standing underneath.  We rode the Yamanote Line train (also covered by our JR pass) to the closest station and then walked several kilometers to the base of the tower.  We had heard that Japan is very safe, and we had absolutely no qualms about walking its streets after dark.

It looks like Tokyo is getting ready for Christmas, as this is the second huge tree we have seen in a public place today.  With only 2% of its population Christian, it looks they still celebrate Christmas here.

We walked back to the train station, and the Yamanote line.  We had read that this is the most used train line in all of Tokyo, and we got to ride it during rush hour just to experience it.  The picture below was actually taken at a less busy time, because there was no way to get a camera above the crowded mass of people during rush hour.  We got separated shortly after we got on the train, and even though we were only six feet away from each other there were twenty people between us.  At each train stop a few people would get off, and a multitude more would push their way on.  Before we got on, we had agreed that we were getting off at Shibuya station.  Denisa hoped that Mark would recognize that name from the very Asian and very soft announcement that were been made on the train.  She was also hoping that his claustrophobia wouldn't kick in and cause him to spring out of the train at the next stop.  We didn't have a plan for reuniting somehow if we were separated.

After our 30-minute ride, we arrived at the Shibuya station and managed to wriggle our way through the crowd to get off the train.  Even though it was now past rush hour, we felt we had just experienced a very rushed train ride! 

We came here to see the Japanese equivalent of New York City's Time Square with neon lights and huge television screens.  In Tokyo, land is at a premium, so we have learned that there are more stores than just at street level.  The vertical signs will show the stores and restaurants on the 2nd through 9th floors above.

Sometimes the advertisements for each business on upper floors is presented in a grid.  Below, a pedestrian can see what bars, restaurants and other businesses are on floors 1 through 9, and even the basement.

The main reason we came to this area of downtown Tokyo was to witness for ourselves Japan's busiest street crossing.  The picture below was taken as the stop lights for the auto lanes have turned red so that all vehicles have vacated the very wide intersections.  You can see hundreds of pedestrians lined up on each street corner, ready for the walking light turn to green.

It's called the Shibuya shuffle when a thousand pedestrians meet in the middle of that wide intersection and attempt to get to the curb on the other side.  Because all the vehicles are stopped at this time, people can walk in all directions and even diagonally all at the same time, so they meet in the middle in a wild scramble.  With lots of movement and low lighting, getting a good picture is impossible.  We went through the intersection several times just for fun.  Mark can see over most of the heads to map our way through the crowd, and Denisa learned to stay right behind him and use him as a Shibuya shuffle shield.

Another evening stop was the bridge that crosses the Nihombashi-gawa river.  Very ornate and guarded by stone lions and dragons, this granite bridge is the geographic center of Tokyo, and all distances are measured from here.  It looks like the bridge is covered with a roof, but that would actually be the expressway.  We crossed the bridge daily on the way to our hotel, so we were staying very close to the city's center.

But our favorite stop in Tokyo had to be the Tsukiji Fish Market.  This is the world's largest seafood market, moving 2400 tons of sea food each day.

They sell every type of seafood imaginable, some of them so fresh they are still swimming in their styrofoam containers.

It was a little like walking through an aquarium, because we saw octopus,

shellfish,

and containers of squid with their inky mess.

Actually, most of the buying and selling had already been accomplished by the time we got there.  The famous blue fin tuna auctions starts at 5:25 a.m.  Hardy visitors must be registered by 5:00 a.m., and the first 120 tourists are allowed to enter and watch as the tuna sell for up to $10,000 each.  We didn't make it for the auction, as we assumed it would be conducted in Japanese.  But the inner market opens to the public at 9 a.m., and we were allowed to wander among the sea food stalls with the rest of the late morning buyers.

There isn't a barrier between the curious tourists and the hard-working men preparing the fish for sale.  Denisa is standing very close to some sizable sea food as the fish butcher cut off the heads.

He would carefully trim the back bone away, and then began cutting them into more manageable slabs.

Further into the fish market we found the man that must have purchased those fish heads, and was now trimming off the skin to cut off more meat available for sale.

Nothing goes to waste, as we saw this seller even scraping off the ribs with a spoon to collect the last bits of meat from the bones of these big fish.

For land lubbers like us, it was interesting to see all the different cuts and kinds of meat available for sale every morning.  Locals were buying a little of everything, and these nice slabs of fish were selling for $30-40.

There were also fish eggs for sale, out of fish that were swimming in the sea last night.

We have noticed that the Japanese are way ahead of the Americans in their variety of food sold "on-a-stick."  I'm hoping that we will never see these fish-guts-on-a-stick at any state fair near home.

The hardest part of visiting the fish market was dodging the fork lifts and handcarts that were zipping in and out of the aisles.  They were more interested in getting the fish delivered in its freshest state, rather than dodging local shoppers and a few curious tourists.

After gawking at the fish in the inner market, we headed back outside to the outer market.  It was flooded with people and fork lifts, but we no longer had a roof over our heads.  That's when we realized that we had spent all that time in a fish market, and we both agreed that it never smelled like fish.  That was amazing!

Some of the streets in this area were absolutely packed with people.  There were little cafes known for cooking up the freshest catch of the day, with lines that stretched far around the corner.  There were people sitting on bar stools eating fresh fish as this crowd of people brushed right by their back.  This traffic policeman is trying to keep people from getting run over, but it looked like an impossible task.

Compare that crowded street scene to the one below.  Only blocks away is the ritzy neighborhood called Ginza.  This is Tokyo's answer to New York City's Fifth Avenue with designer shops and opulent window shopping.  We are here early in the morning before the shops open, so the streets are virtually empty.

Just as there are mix-masters where multiple freeways come together and and go in differing directions, this above-ground sidewalk is designed to do the same thing.  Below is a freeway, but a pedestrian can enter from several different streets below and change directions without having to cross the busy streets below.  We've never seen anything quite like it.

There are some pricey options for getting a bird's eye view of Tokyo.  Wealthy tourists could go to the top of the new Sky Tree, or Tokyo Tower.  Budget travelers have the great option of riding the elevator of the City Government Building to the 45th floor for this view for free.  The lights go on to the horizon!

We can't believe that it's already getting dark by 5:00, so all the lights in the nearby skyscrapers are lit by the time we are at the observation deck.

We've had full days of walking, and we approximate we walked between ten and fifteen miles each day.  That makes it possible to sleep well even with the rock-hard bed in our hotel.  We have learned that folding the bedspread into quarters gives extra layers of padding that we know to appreciate.  We will never complain about the hard beds in the United States again!