The Subway sounds like a slot machine

The rain cleared and the clouds started to go away leaving Tokyo in a bit of a humid and warm state today...so much so that the men dressed in their suits and ties yesterday left the ties at home today and rocked the one button, unbottoned look. I wonder what the exact temperature is that it's then acceptable to take this trend on.

In one of the narrow alleys in Shinjuku

Today started off with a bit of a scavenger hunt/field study in the area taking us through a local convenience store, a bank, H&M and the government building. We spent part of the morning trying to find H&M which was on the other side of the train station...I'm getting really good with this map reading ability again! We got quite a bit of exposure to every day life of a citizen in Tokyo...after this day wow...overstimulation to the max when it comes to advertising, marketing and vocal safety warnings. I don't understand how they become so numb to it all!

200yen for a capsule containing a toy. I got an angry karaoke singer.

Got to walk around the major train station, the JR Line and stopped into H&M in search of a skirt (I know...way to be original and authentic Japanese for a shop) but it's been so humid and warm that jeans are getting a little sweaty and uncomfortable. And then we went to the ultimate uncomfortable place...the elevator of the government building to take it to the top. 45 stories later, a couple of ear pops as well and a very silent elevator ride to the top it was so nice to have fresh air when the doors opened. There is very little extra air circulation here, things get warm and stuffy quite quickly, I'm sure it has something to do with the high cost of electricity. From the top of the building we were able to get a view of Tokyo...endless buildings and so many sky scrapers, never ending really.

 

The afternoon session took us to another part of Tokyo via a long subway ride to the JR Line which is the above ground monorail that has no driver. Talk about confusing as to the direction you're traveling, it winds back and forth through out the city with multiple stops. Beautiful views of the waterfront where municiple, industrial, residential and entertainment areas are side by side. We headed out to the Toyota Megaweb displaying a huge assortment of cars and technology. Very popular destination, with the ability to drive a real Toyota car! Haha! I guess in a city where not many own cars this is a big deal!

View from the JRLine

Waterbridge!

Then we wandered across the way into one of the most interesting malls yet, the entire interior was designed to feel like a European Plaza in the evening, fascades and fake sky with fountains. This culture relies so heavily on fantasy with faux environments and cartoon characters on everything, I have a hard time grasping how people live in a world of fantasy like this...hard to believe, even for someone who literally works in a place that brings people to fantasy from reality!!

 

The evening is when things got very fun. We navigated the subways to Shibuya in an effort to see the worlds largest intersection. This is even bigger and more lit up than Times Square. While walking to the center of the neighborhood we spotted a sign for a restaurant and what caught our eye was the sign that said "English Menu". We were sold, walked down the alley and through a sliding door and this is when things took us into an amazing evening. We left our shoes in lockers and walked down stairs to a room with a table and a floor below it that was dropped lower...one of the coolest dining experiences ever! We ordered through tablets and the food and drinks were brought to us. The fun part was hearing and seeing how many locals come into this place and have their own rooms and people coming and going, laughter and joking and running all around in their individual rooms. We saw a different side of the locals than we had been exposed to on the subways and in the streets. Amazing food with a variety of sushi, pastas and lots of drinks!

 

After putting together a dining bill of 23,473yen among 9 people (seriously cheap and amazing food, 100 yen is approximately equivalent to $1.00 right now). We headed out down the street to find the center of Shibuya....you could definitely tell as we got closer. This was just jam packed and so much traffic and people running all around. It was like everything we had experienced that was overstimulating all rolled into one gigantic location....but it felt appropriate for the space.

 

Sadly we had to quickly get on the subway to head back since the trains stop running around 11:30pm, one of the guys in the group and I have become quite the navigational duo with our subway maps! Helps in going on new adventures!!