For me Tokyo just seemed to be one of those places that I had to visit. Sadly the Winter is not the time of year for novices to hike up Fuji and so we were limited to the city itself. Surely that's not a bad thing?
We arrived into Tokyo station in the early afternoon on NYE with our single suitcase and 2 snowboards. We knew which metro stop we needed, but there is a rabbit warren of shops, restaurants, corridors and platforms underground at Tokyo station. There was a very helpful lady on an information desk who told us the easiest way to get there. The instructions got a little lost in translation sadly and we got highly confused by the simple phrase "you have to go out". To us this meant you have to get out of this rabbit warren. In the information girl's terms this meant to leave Tokyo station and cross into another station via an invisible barrier that only exists on the blue prints. Eventually we made it to the hotel, dropped our bags and hit the city.
We did some research and ruled a few things off the list due to the time if year and holiday closures. So, first stop was the Sensoji temple with the Nakamise shopping street. It is bustling in this area, whatever the day. It was exceptionally busy as many Japanese people visit the temple on the first day of the year. The temple lost some of its beauty and charm with the throng of visitors and cheap street food stalls. It was nice to see some people in traditional clothing visiting the temple and perhaps this was one of the only days where you would see this.
Walking down Nakamise street was really difficult. You were just pushed along by a sea of people. The side streets were much more interesting and easier to walk down. I was lucky to find a Kimono shop with some vintage silk haori for 1,000 Yen. Pulled rickshaws are lined up outside the metro station and can take you on a tour of these little streets and alleys. The price is a little steep and of course you can't just stop to take a photo or browse.
The subway is really quite easy in Tokyo once you realise that there is more than one company providing the service. You can get to most of the main tourist spots via one company and the cost of the ticket can be worked out via an alphabetical list shown in English above the ticket machines. If you are going to make 4 or more trips then it is worth getting the day pass. At some of the subway stations for the main tourist spots they have a simple graphic poster that shows the attractions and stations. Free wifi is also provided for all tourists in all subway stations which really helps.
We visited Tokyo's famous electronics district of Akihabara in the evening as we had heard it was really worth seeing. Animé and Magna are huge in Japan and this is the place to visit to indulge in viewing people dressed as your favourite characters and purchase the lastest merchandise and games. Electronics are reputedly very cheap here and there are also duty free shops for tourist souvenirs. The district is lit up by a plethora of neon signs and the sidewalk is full of locals and tourists alike. Personally I found Akihabara underwhelming. The products did not appear cheap, but I live in China and there were very few people in costume. It was just another shopping area.
Despite the fact that it was New Year's Eve we really weren't interested in standing with the crowds at Tokyo Bay to see the Fireworks that herald the start of 2015. We went for a quiet dinner and chuckled at the 100+ people who had chosen to camp on the street outside a large electronics store for more than 12 hours for a sale that would start in the morning.
New Year's Day in Tokyo was quite busy. We went to the Tokyo character street mall which is located at Tokyo station. Unbelievably certain stores had people queueing around corners waiting for them to open. This was even more confusing when we discovered that they didn't have store wide sales and only had one sealed bag at the front of the store that contained a large number of products for a reduced price. Perhaps queueing is just a fun thing to do in Tokyo. The stores were cute and quirky, but really didn't live up to the hype.
Our second stop of the day was Takeshita dori with a stop at the Meiji Shrine. Amazingly they had implemented a system at the shrine for allowing people to approach. Security guards held signs with a cute cartoon image on either side and the words "go" on one side side and "stop" on the other. I don't think I've ever seen so many people wait so patiently for their turn to throw some money into a shrine. Large numbers also tied prayers and wishes for the year to specially appointed stations outisde the shrine itself. It took probably 20 minutes or more to get to the shrine and everyone waited patiently and happily with no pushing or shoving.
On our way to Takeshita dori we happened upon a line of street food stalls where we found some excellent noodles and were able to view some pretty spectacular robots. There were a lot of high end shops around Takeshita dori and it appears that shopping is the main attraction of Tokyo. We did stop off at Calbee's for the fresh handcut crisps with our choice of toppings. Adam opted for chocolate on his crisps whereas as I chose the slightly more normal cheese. It was really cool to see the crisps being made and it meant you were completely unable to be ignorant of the amount of oil that was used.
Takeshita dori is the place to buy unconventional clothing and there are numerous quirky stores and outfits down this street. We also stumbled upon a room full of photo booths. It was really busy and we were intrigued as to what these machines did. We wandered roudn and watched for a short time. We soon discovered that these photo booths could fix your skin, make up, eye shape and well nearly everything in a few short minutes. For a measly 400 Yen you could select a theme, number of people and follow the posing instructions to shoot some fun and very entertaining photos. After your shoot you are directed to the editing booth where you are given more layout and beautifying options. It was hilarious and so much fun that we did it twice. The only problem is that is really meant for females and so Adam looks like he has some lovely pink lipstick on.
Our final stop was the Shinjuku Golden Gai area with a brief stop at the Zenkokuji temple. The alleys are famous for not being burnt down when developers were after the land and for their bars. The two storey buildings are dwarfed by the surrounding high rises, but they have a certain charm. The bars certainly play on their tourist attraction status with 500 - 1,000 Yen fees just to step inside. Add to this their overpriced drinks and allowance of smoking inside the sardine tin sized interiors it really doesn't seem that great.
Overall Tokyo's main tourist attractions appear to be buildings and shops. Sadly the gardens have little to recommend them in Winter and so you are left with Disney, buildings and shops. I'm glad I've been, but I'm also glad that I didn't have any longer there! Tokyo v's Shanghai... Shanghai wins!
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