This Wednesday through Friday I went to Tokyo with my host family. We went because my host brother Riku left for the US for his year long exchange. (Also if you haven't heard yet, he will be staying with my family.) However, we had time to be tourists while we weren't at the airport. We visited many famous places such as the Tokyo Tower, the Tokyo Skytree, and the Kaminari Mon (Lightning Gate). In this post, I'll be sharing my time at these places.
Shibuya
Shibuya is a famous shopping district in Tokyo. I did do some shopping there, but I'll get to that later. Pictured above is Shibuya square, where hundreds of people cross at a time. The above picture was taken during a relatively light traffic time. Also pictured is the bronze statue of Hachiko in front of Shibuya station. If you don't know the story of Hachiko it can be found
here.
Tokyo Skytree
Tokyo Skytree is the tallest tower in the world. The tower itself is 634 meters tall, and the observation deck the above pictures were taken from is 450 meters up. For me, a person afraid of heights this was terrifying. At the same time however, it was also breathtaking and amazing.
Tokyo Tower
The Skytree essentially replaced the Tokyo Tower. The tower itself is about 333 meters tall, shorter than Skytree's observation deck. However, I myself preferred Tokyo Tower. Since it isn't as tall, it wasn't as terrifying. It had a nicer atmosphere too. Plus there's another reason I liked it that I'll get to later.
Kaminari Mon
Kaminari Mon is one of two gates leading into a Buddhist temple. While many followers still make pilgrimages here, tourists are far more common. To be honest, it irritated me a bit how many of the tourists had no consideration for the customs. However, the area has become a major hit among tourists most likely because the many shops between Kaminari Mon and the temple.
One Piece
This is going make me look like a giant nerd but oh well. My favorite series of anything is by far the Anime/Manga series "One Piece". So when I heard that we were going to Tokyo I told my host family about a couple place famous among OP fans in Tokyo. They were glad to take me to those places. First off was a store completely devoted to OP in Shibuya.
This store was awesome it had life size statues of characters, a model of the pirate ship, and just so much stuff. Next was the Baratie, a restaurant modeled off of the restaurant within OP of the same name.
The Baratie also had character statues, and all the food was based off of characters and events within OP. It also was very tasty. Finally was One Piece Tower, a temporary event within the Tokyo Tower's lower floors. It was essentially a mini OP theme park. It was fantastic!
Important Thoughts
Tokyo was alot of fun, I really enjoyed my time there. However, I would never want to live there. There are a few reasons for this. A, Tokyo is expensive. Before my exchange many people were telling me, be careful because Japan is an expensive country. However, I can dispel this myth. Japan is not expensive, Japan's tourist attractions are expensive. Since Tokyo is essentially one big tourist attraction, it is expensive. This brings me to B: It's full of tourists. Even as a tourist myself, I felt that there were way too many tourists there. Many of the tourists were quite irritating too. C; Tokyo is crowded. You saw Shibuya square. Imagine all those people crammed into a subway train. My point is proven. While the subway was an interesting experience at first it got to be a hassle within the second day. (It's expensive too) Finally, D: It's hard to sleep. Tokyo is noisy and bright even at night. Like New York, Tokyo is a city that never sleeps. Don't get me wrong, I loved my time in Tokyo. However, I'm truly glad I got to live in Yonago instead.
