Tokyo Weekend, Part III

On Sundays, Ginza is made for strolling.

Ginza was the highlight of this trip. I can't wait to bring Laura back with me next time. Harry Winston, LV, Cartier, Bulgari...she'll love it.

Each Sunday the busiest part of Ginza Street is closed off, tables are set up and families casually stroll up and down the wide street in front of some of the most expensive real estate in the world.

A young family taking a look a the carefully chocolate dipped strawberries.

I had the morning and a couple hours of the afternoon to wander around Ginza before heading back to the hotel for the 90 minute bus journey back to the airport.  Tokyo is huge and I still don’t have a good idea about the layout of the city, but Ginza was about a 15 minute subway ride from Shinjuku station.

Just in case you're lost.

It was a cool Sunday, around 10C/50F, so I imagine it gets much busier on warmer days.

Taking a walk down a normally car packed street.

Although I was tempted to browse the 4-story Apple store, the street was much more interesting.

Tokyo Weekend, Part II

Day 2

You are looking at Hachiko Crossing in Shibuya, the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world.  At peak times, as many as 10,000 people cross during each signal change.

This trip was going to be a quick trip; fly in on Friday afternoon and leave on Sunday afternoon.  Knowing that ahead of time, I had to make the best use of my time.  When traveling I don’t like to have a plan that makes me feel like I’m watching the clock but I did have some general goals: go see the electronics and camera section of the city and visit Ginza.  Being Tokyo, there are several areas that are known for finding the geeky stuff.  This wasn’t really much of a cultural visit, that will happen next time around.

Time for a little shopping.

First stop was Akihabara, it is affectionately know as Tokyo’s “Electronics Town.”  Can you think of a better place for a geek like me to visit?  Unfortunately my shopping was limited to window shopping only, because of the very poor exchange rates.  Prices were between 20% and 50% higher than what I would pay in the states or here in Taipei.  I guess that was a blessing, because I saw a few gadgets that are available in Japan and not in Taipei.  I salivated, touched, tried but did not buy a thing with the exception of small camera strap.

For some reason this store really stood out among its neighbors.

No, not every single meal was a Japanese meal.  This gyro really hit the spot.

After nine straight hours on foot this bowl of katsu donburi replenished an empty stomach.

Apparently this is a very good department store.

Tokyo Weekend, Part I

Japan.

Last weekend I cashed in some air miles and grabbed a flight up to Tokyo for the weekend.  Tokyo’s about 3 and a half hours north of Taipei and only one time zone away so it makes for a good weekend get-away spot.  Laura and I have spent some time with my family in southern Japan, but this would be my first trip to Tokyo.

Heading down a side street in Shinjuku

Night view over Tokyo.  The building on the left is the Park Hyatt Tokyo from Lost in Translation.

After making your way into the city from Narita (about 90 minutes via train or bus), everything else is a relatively short train ride away.

Finding a place to stay is hard not because there are a limited number of places, but because there are so many choices.  There are numerous districts to stay in depending on what you are looking for so I chose to stay in Shinjuku for its mix of shopping, entertainment and of course the electronics neighborhood.  From Shinjuku I would make my way to different spots around the city.  Obviously two and half days in Tokyo isn’t enough to really see much, but I did the best my legs could handle.

On average, Shinjuku station handles nearly 3.7 million passengers each day!  After exploring Shinjuku the first day and night, I would end up spending a lot of time passing through that station.  From here you could connect to any spot in Tokyo.

One of the numerous sidestreets to shop and dine

Yodobashi Camera….one of the the best camera stores around

Caffe Latte “Mt. Rainier, the mountain of Seattle”

Tokyo update

I’m going through the photos from the weekend in Tokyo and should have something up shortly.

Until then, enjoy this relatively quiet scene from Ginza Street.  The street is closed each Sunday for families and friends to come out, stroll and have picnics.

Burning money

It was a beautiful winter day today so I headed downtown to see some friends and do a little shopping.  While I was out I saw someone burning money which is a fairly common scene around the streets of Taiwan at certain times of the year.

A money offering to the gods.

Food and incense on the offering table.

An offering table with fruits, alcohol, pork, chicken, fish and lots of paper money.

A view of the Grand Hotel (near our house).