Takayamafudoson temple in Ikebukuro was a "short walk from the station" (most directions sound like this in guides) and despite this, we actually found it, largely by chance since we seemed to arrive by the side entrance. It was definitely a local shrine, which was nice because there was no admission fee. There were a few locals gathered there - groups of men just hanging out and a couple of mothers with kids. There was also a shack selling snacks and a cat asleep on the counter amidst the goods, which was probably my favorite part. Oh, and an 800 year old gingko tree that was pretty cool.
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| Cats make terrible shop keepers . . . |
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| 800 year old gingko tree |
Then off to an office building! If you go to the super boring part of Shinjuku, you will find the Tokyo Metropolitan Office Building, just a "short walk from the station" (except this one was clearly mistranslated, they meant "super long"). Why would you want to find this office, you ask? Because it is one of the tallest buildings in the area and you can go up to the observation platform and see a beautiful 180 degree view of Tokyo for free. Or you can pay more than 2,000¥ per person to go up the Tokyo Sky Tree or the Tokyo Tower which are approximately the same height (and which you can see from the office building). We chose the office building. Since it was Wednesday, it wasn't very crowded and we were able to take pictures without having to wait. I recommend going on a weekday (check the hours before you trek out there because it's far and there's nothing else there to see). I also recommend going to the south tower. It has a longer line, but it also has a view of the Skytree, Tokyo Tower, and Mt. Fuji, when he isn't hiding behind his ninja screen (which he was).
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| You can see the Tokyo Sky Tree on the left, the tall needly looking one |
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| This was in the bathroom |
Then back to Akihabara. It took us a little time to figure out where the majority of the toy shops and arcades were since the audio tour we had taken before wound around and IB had been leading and we'd had a map. Despite the lack of these aids, going around Akihabara was great fun - Mc found an awesome Tokyo original design Star Wars t-shirt (in American sizes) and a Star Wars blind box, we lost money playing the impossible claw games, and I beat the gacha gacha system. You see, there was a certain Nyanko-sensei charm that I wanted, and even though this machine was apparently very popular and there were many of them around, not one was willing to give that charm up. So, what many of the used/collectible toy shops have done is they have all the charms and toys from the gacha machines for a slightly inflated price. Even then, I didn't find him till the very last toy shop we visited, but he was worth the extra 100¥. So if you find yourself suffering from Chaser Fever (chaser = the one toy that there is a limited number of and so is very hard to get), fear not, there's a way to cheat in Akihabara.
Apparently, we only have train troubles when we have a set meeting time with someone. Those of you who know me might wonder how this can be, since you know me to be a meticulous planner, and there are many reasons even though by this time we were pretty good at the trains. Firstly, the train map is not to scale, and so things that look very close together are actually a 40 min. train ride. Secondly, we ended up smack dab in the middle of rush hour, which, ironically, means we were frequently stuck behind masses of people not rushing. Third, I have no idea why, but sometimes a train will stop at a station for a full 5 min. Usually you have to run up the stairs and hope to leap onto the train without losing a foot or hand in the closing doors. But when you are in a hurry to get somewhere and are already on the train, then it will hang out in the Harajuku station forever. Lastly, we just didn't manage our time well, we got cocky with our train skills and should have left Akihabara earlier. Anyway, we were supposed to meet R's family at 7pm and we got there at about 8:30pm. So, sadly, Mc and I went to Coco's Curry on our own.
If you like Japanese curry, you should definitely try the chain Coco's. The menus are on the table, but you can ask for an English menu. However, if you want to try the current special, you'll have to just look at the pictures in the Japanese menu and be brave. This is what Mc did and he ended up with curry udon noodles, which worked out because Mc loves noodles and curry. Coco's claim to fame is that you can order your curry as spicy as you like it. (Japanese curry is generally pretty mild.) Being a complete idiot, I didn't look at the English menu and ordered a spice level of 1, thinking that on a scale where 10 is the highest, 1 would be the lowest. I know better than to make assumptions like that, so I shouldn't have been surprised when my curry was too spicy for me to eat. Their system goes Mild, then Medium, then you get to Level 1. (Before I scare you away from trying Coco's, I should mention that Mc got a 3 and wished he'd gotten a 4, and R usually gets the 2, so apparently I'm a huge curry weeny.) It was no problem though, I just ate what I could, gave the rest to Mc, and then got conbini ice cream on the way home. Win.
We chatted with R's family until bedtime and then, because I was exhausted and I knew I had a big day of last minute rushing around and packing, I laid awake for hours.
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