Sweaty Summer Shopping in Shibuya

17th August, 2010 - After a sweltering welcome to Tokyo, and an even hotter search for a spare locker at Meguro station, we finally found ourselves a great deal less encumbered, but nonetheless unsure of what to do. We knew we had to wait for H-kun, T-chan's brother to get away from work. But we also knew that in Tokyo, that could be just about any time. We had decided to head to Shibuya, just a couple of stops onwards from Meguro station on the famous Yamanote Line that is the main heart-beat of Tokyo's complex and yet highly efficient transport network. By the way, I've thrown together a bit of a graphic which shows the Yamanote Line with approximate timings... something that's difficult to find on the net... So the good news was that Shibuya was only 5 mins from Meguro station.... so it wasn't too far to go in the hot afternoon.

Yamanote Line Map - Numbers are mins between stations

Shibuya is one of the main districts in Tokyo, and definitely one of the major centres on the Yamanote Line. Anyhow, Shibuya's a bit of a strange amalgam of experiences... firstly, it's still a major business district, and that means salarymen. Lots of them. After about 2005, the government started promoting a energy-efficiency campaign known as "Cool Biz", which in part advocated workers to start to wear short-sleeved shirts so that the air-con could be set to a rather warmish 28 degrees. Hmm - nothing like working in a high-rise building with 1000's of hot, sweaty bodies and no opening windows.

[Note: Post 11-3-11, they introduced "Super Cool Biz" which sought to introduce even more energy conscious casual wear into corporate Japan]

Now way back in our first trip (in 2003) I wrote about the story of Hachikō, the famous story of the Akita dog that was so devoted to his master (whom he awaited everyday to return from work at Shibuya Station) that on his master death, he remained patiently waiting for his master to return. Of course he never would, but night after night, he would return to the station by himself to wait expectantly. For nine years he waited, until his own death in 1935. His story of single-minded loyalty remains an inspiration to the Japanese people. Hachikō is the story of resolute determination in a time of great national change and turmoil... such was the state of Japan in the 1930s. It is, in typical Japanese style of tale of stoic tragedy.

Statue of Hachikō

The statue of Hachikō remains a well-known meeting place outside Shibuya Station, and there's always a crowd of people waiting nearby. And crowds are something that Shibuya is quite famous for.

Indeed, Shibuya is known perhaps most of all as a young person's shopping district.... and there's a lot of shopping centres to visit (if you're so inclined). Just outside of Shibuya Station is one of the busiest and best known pedestrian crossings in the world, just next to statue of Hachikō. It's always a good spectacle to see the multiple avalanches of humanity colliding mid-street. Just down the road (on the left had side of the image below) you see see one of Shibuya's famous shopping buildings, Shibuya 109 ("Shibuya ichi maru kyu"). This is a must visit place for young fashionable people... however, according to my wife, we weren't quite young... or fashionable... enough. So we set our sights on more "age appropriate" shops.

And there's no mistaking that this is a young person's paradise... And there's certainly a wide range of fashions (good and bad) on display. Of course, the real fashion-centre is Harajuku, just up the road (or 2 mins by the Yamanote Line). 

Everyone has somewhere to go in the heart of Shibuya - and they follow that path with incredible determination. Shopping in Japan is like that. Of course, not everyone is shopping, with Shibuya being a place to go (like us) when you've got a spare afternoon. It is a melting pot of lives, criss-crossing in frenetic profusion. Converging momentarily in a nexus of common humanity - but no sooner has that happened and the crowd has moved on to be replaced by a completely new set of actors in this street-theatre.

Shibuya station is fairly large, and because there's many major roads intersecting around there, it can be a little disconcerting at first while you get your bearings. Always advisable to take a map of the area, and Google's StreetView is always an excellent way of familiarising yourself to the surroundings if in doubt. Of course, these days of the smart phone and/or tablet, you have a ready map at hand. And it's a good time to mention one thing that I hadn't actually realised before (being a bit of a noob).... if you travel to many parts of Japan you'll see two major department stores... Tokyu and Seibu (or stores owned by these companies). Both of these chains actually spawned from their respective private railway companies, and Shibuya was Ground Zero for their railway and shopping wars. It's interesting to see just how interconnected the Japanese economy is.

View Tokyo Map in a larger map

Now this was our first day in Tokyo (again) so we were only "window shopping"... plus we were already tired from the high humidity. However, T-chan shows great strength and determination when it comes to shopping. The only problem is that she's out-of-practice. L-kun is there to offer moral support (by which I mean, to be as generally distracting as possible). Some good stores include Gap, Forever 21 and H&M which have a great range at good prices, and aren't geared around annoyingly annoying Japanese kogals.

Whilst in Shibuya, you can also check out other famous Japanese stores like Tokyu (and of course Tokyu Hands), Seibu, Loft, Parco, Tower Records, Marui, or one of my favourites, Don Quijote. It may not be class, but it's always good to get a snapshot of what's happening in Japan... and another great place to pick-up some quintessential Japanese knick-knacks. And of course, you can always find a 100yen shop nearby, if you haven't experienced one before.

Of course, L-kun was also keen to have a look around... though I think he thought his rather wet hair was the result of rain. Hence the umbrella. No L-kun... that's the Sweaty Summer Shopping in Shibuya for you... it may not always be comfortable, but it's always an experience. The crowd just can't be wrong.

Stay tuned for the second Shibuya instalment... 

New Chitose Airport (Hokkaido)

New Chitose Airport is the main entry point into Sapporo and Hokkaido in general. The airport is both a domestic and international airport and is quite busy - it's one of the gateways into Japan from Korea. Check out the shopping on 2F in the central plaza. This is a great place to buy that last minute omiyage (gift) - and it's particularly popular to buy lots of fresh Japanese seafood here. Never actually tried travelling overseas with this however... you can get the food packed in very convenient cooler boxes... but seriously, I'd just look.

By Train
To be honest you'll be surprised just how far away it is from Sapporo. To take the JR Sapporo Rapid Airport Express takes just under 40 mins - which is the best way of getting into the city - and costs just over 1,000 yen. If you're taking a car then there's essentially two options

By Car
If you're hiring a car, the quickest way is the Sasson Expressway, however, this is a tolled road, so my suggestion is just take the normal roads in (takes only 10-15 mins longer).

Non-toll road (43 km - 1hr 11mins)

View Larger Map

Day 16 - Odaiba (Tokyo)

15th February, 2003 - After coming back from Yokohama, we grabbed our bags and re-located to a temporary hotel in Shinagawa... which was a good staging place for departing back to Narita airport. Actually - we had skimped the last night... Here's a word of warning. Don't go the semi-double... which is a novel Japanese invention. Not quite a double bed - but just a little roomier than a single. It was not going to be a pleasant night... but it would be cosy.

Feeling a sudden burst of energy we decided to go out one last evening... to Odaiba. We jumped on the monorail... (we gotta get one of these things... they're the way of the future)... and headed over to Odaiba... over the Rainbow Bridge...

...to where the great Ferris Wheel beckoned.

and beckoned

and beckoned some more...

until it could almost beckon no more...

...and finally we arrived. Actually, there's a really big shopping complex in Odaiba... which we didn't take any photos of. We arrived there fairly late at night, so there wasn't that much open except a few cafes. But at least Tokyo showed us some of those famous lights, on our last night. Just for us.

Goodnight Tokyo. Oyasumi nasai!

Day 15 - Shibuya (Tokyo)

14th February, 2003 - Starting out from Shibuya we went in search of the greatest celebrity of this part of the city.... but it wouldn't be easy, as just about any time of the day (or night) Shibuya is full of people. Sometimes looking very busy - other times looking like they really don't have much to do at all.

So who is this great celebrity? His name is Hachiko - and he's an Akita dog. Actually - what we're really looking for is his statue. Hachiko has gained somewhat of a legend - he came to Tokyo in 1924 and always travelled to the Shibuya train station with his master... where he'd wait for his return of an evening. When one day the owner (a professor at the University of Tokyo) died unexpectedly, Hachiko still waited loyally (in the evening) for his master to return. Indeed he would escape from his new home, to wait for him - though he would never see his master again. For nine years this happened - Hachiko always returning to the station of an evening. Waiting. The statue was erected in 1934 (with Hachiko in attendance), one year before Hachiko finally died. It is perhaps this single-minded loyalty and love that so captured the natural sentimentality of the Japanese psyche - and made Hachiko a Japanese legend.

Taking our own adventure on the Tokyo  train system is easy - though the transit map may look anything but easy. There's a lot of lines - but thankfully there still plenty of signs that are in English. Also the ticket machines are pretty straight forward. Just select if you want 1 or more tickets and the price (as shown in the map) for the destination you want to get to.

If you don't get it right, there's no problem... you can always adjust the fare on the ticket once you go to leave the station at the destination. Just don't lose your ticket! And be careful... as there's some shady looking characters around....

Now... we're off to Yokohama!

Day 11 - Train Travel (Hakodate)

10th February, 2003 - One of the great presents that T-chan gave me on this trip was a side holiday to Hakodate (which is in the southern end of Hokkaido) about 4 hours (and about 8,500 yen) by train away from Sapporo. Every one ot T-chans family said that Hakodate would be much more mild, being by the sea... so we took their advice and packed for lightness rather than for the cold. We left early in the morning - a hard task, first catching a train into the city then the line to Hakodate. Looking at the schedule now, it appears to leave around 10:21am arriving just before  2pm. Not all trains in Japan are shinkansen - the train we caught was a stock standard train... hence the long travel time.

Travelling past Tomakomai... this is a fairly industrialised port city - with a large dependence on oil transport. During my stay in Japan, I didn't experience any earthquakes - but just before my second trip to Japan, later in the year, Tomakomai was made famous due to a huge oil storage fire caused by a very large earthquake (8.0 on the Richter scale - which is a VERY BIG quake).

Arriving in Noboribetsu you might be forgiven if you thought you'd suddenly stepped through a tear in the space-time continuum... and found yourself in Europe. Actually - you might find this hard to believe but this replica Dutch castle (Castle Nixe) is also a famous marine park and contains one of the largest acquariums in northern Japan. It's perhaps most famous for it's penguin parade where penguins are marched (perhaps a little unceremoniously) through the crowds. Japan has a number of these tourist attractions that seem to be from a different age...

Noboribetsu Station. Noboribetsu is a Japan-wide famous Onsen-town... and as such the stream of tourists through the small town has lead to the inevitable tourist-cringing moments. Nothing like being welcomed by a cardboard cut-out, and a moth-eaten bear. Maybe this is like some form of totem - warning off all tourists with good taste. We visit Noboribetsu in a later trip - but for now it's full steam ahead... we're half way there.

You see some strange sights on the train - for example, I had not thought to see ice-fishing in Japan (don't ask why not... it just seemed... foreign to Japan to me). Not being a fisher-person, I think this is taking the past-time to new extreme (obsesive) lengths.

The scenery on the way to Hakodate is fairly bleak - the mountains bereft of most of their cover feel like ancient bones uncovered from ground. A hard place to live.

It's an interesting way to see Hokkaido - but if you don't have a JR pass, it's pretty expensive and slow... but much quicker than driving!

Day 1 - Narita to Tokyo (Japan)

31st January, 2003 - We touched down in Japan after an uneventful night. As I was a smoker at the time, the first port of call was the exit and good long smoke. Non-smokers will never know the gnawing pain that is a smoker's curse on long flights. Still the 9.5 hours to Tokyo is easy in comparison to some. Thankfully those days are over.

Narita is surprisingly quiet - for such a large airport - at 6:30-7:00 am. I thought it would be thousands of people (perhaps I had visions of planes being loaded like their trains...all spewing their human cargo out promptly on arrival). Quiet is good.

The one thing I discovered was the vending machines. It's wonderful...they have all manner of drinks (hot and cold)... just imagine it folks... hot coffees from a machine. That's just crazy talk.... until I stepped outside and felt the cold chill go through my inadequate clothes. ?: )  Will need to buy jacket tonight!

We caught the train into Shinjuku - our first stop. It's not the fastest train in Japan... in fact it takes over an hour (depending on whether you go the cheap option - then it's 90mins) just to get into Tokyo Station. Shinjuku's further even still.

The first observation of Japan - certainly back in 2003. No escalators. Seriously - for a country that practically built the innovation industry, they have little or no concern for (a) travel weary tourists, or (b) people with disabilities. It was terrible having to lug our suitcases up and down platforms (as we had to change one line to get to Shinjuku).

We finally made into Shinjuku station, which can be described in one word - labyrinthine. (is that a word?... seems to check out). Ok two words. Busy. You can get yourself into trouble trying to find the right exit. Take your time, and keep your wits about you. We made it out in one piece (and it didn't take too long)... but we needed a coffee before we did anything else. Found Cafe. Second observation. Japanese people don't like filling up coffee cups. That and they have sweet teeth. And there's still a surprising number of traditional Japanese toilets around. I have to say - if you've got bowel problems - this has got to look a little daunting. I'm still not entirely sure how to use (and/or ride) these things...

Well - I guess some culture shock was in store.

It was not long after we arrived that I also had to question my trusty Japanese guide, T-chan. Looking for food we came across a shop which had a number of displays showing what they were selling. Most probably thinking that she'd educate the gaijin about sophisticated plastic food displays... T-chan promptly stuck her finger into one of the "fake" pasta dishes. Only to find that it was perhaps the only REAL food display in all of Japan. I so wish I had that on video!

Well - off to see Japan... and a word of warning - be careful what you stick your finger into!