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Day 14: TOKYO: Imperial Palace, Tokyo Station, Tokyo International Forum, Ginza, Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo Tower, Zozogi Temple, Shinjuku, Korean Quarter

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Today we start the day at our hotel in Tokyo at 6.30 in the morning and as soon as we get up we begin to notice that the body is already resentful of these early rises that we are getting into since we started the Free trip to Japan.
We follow in Tokyo and the truth is that as much as we try and as much as we want, the body seems to ask us for a "rest" ... but it is clear that with the days we have left and the things we still have to know, we are not going to give it to him. That break will come when we get home.
We leave at 7.30 in our hotel in Tokyo, the Hotel Horidome Villa, for breakfast and we see that most of the coffee shops open these days of start of the year later or even some are on vacation until January 5.
Our planning today in Tokyo It was going to Asakusa and luckily we asked at the hotel before going, because we have been told that the stores do not open until day 5.
So we change today's plan and take our usual metro line, which enters the 14-day JRP, to go to Tokyo Station, with the idea of having breakfast and then going to the Tokyo Imperial Palace, in which today is a great day: it is one of the two days in which the Japanese royal family comes out to greet from the balconies of the Imperial Palace.

When we leave Tokyo Station, we see the scene a few days ago in, people run down the aisles, but without even touching each other, so as not to lose their trains.
As we have to go out to find something for breakfast, we take the opportunity to walk around the area and take pictures of the Tokyo Station and the surrounding buildings that are impressive both in architecture and height.

Tokyo station

The Tokyo Station was completed in 1914 and is listed as an important cultural heritage.

Tokyo Station Surroundings

We still can't find anything for breakfast, so we decided to approach the area of the Tokyo Imperial Palace, thinking that it would be easy for us to approach the area where the royal family leaves.

Marunouchi neighborhood

But as soon as we get to the surroundings, we understand that it will not be an easy task to do that.
It is bursting with people queuing to move somewhere, which we intuit is seeing the royal family.

Queues around the Imperial Palace

And we who thought that there would be no people and that it would be very easy to access Tokyo Imperial Palace! It is clear that we have been very naive with this subject.

Police in the Imperial Palace

Impossible to approach the Tokyo Imperial Palace without queuing in front of us and on top we are still without breakfast because in this area there is nothing open.

Surroundings of the Imperial Palace

Queues that make us give up visiting the gardens of the Imperial Palace

So we gave up visiting the Tokyo Imperial Palace and we go around the palace to reach the Tokyo Forum that we also see that it is closed today.

Tokyo International Forum

It is clear that the morning of January 2 is not being anything productive in terms of visits and the truth is that this is not a little bit of temper, so we decided to stop going around and go to the Tokyo Station area , to find a place to have breakfast quietly and wait for our luck to change 😉

Marunouchi neighborhood

After a long walk we met a Starbucks and who are we to refuse to enter?
We ordered, as we did in the distant days we visited Kyoto, two hot cinnamon rolls and two coffees for 1240 yen.

Having breakfast!!!

We are having a good time charging energy and after giving several laps to the planning of visits in Tokyo, we decided that the best we can do is go to the area of Ginza.
But our bad orientation makes us wrong about the metro line, something we discovered after a while, so we have to go back and guess where we are going to stop? Inside the Tokyo International Forum!

Tokyo International Forum

If, as we have said on several occasions, in the subsoil of each Japanese city, there is another city.
We make a half-visit to the Tokyo International Forum since we are here, and we get a little lost for its facilities.

Interior of the Tokyo International Forum

The Tokyo International Forum is a cultural complex where exhibitions, concerts ... etc. are held. Its glass atrium, futuristic design is unique.
After this kit-kat, we looked at the GPS and decided to walk to Ginza, since we only have 1.4 km to the area we want to reach.
And notice that sometimes GPS is also wrong and just walk 5 minutes we begin to see cartels of Ginza and we see that we are already in the neighborhood.

Queues at a Shopping Center waiting for the opening time!

Curious coffee in Ginza

Quieter and with renewed spirits, we began to cross the main street, crossing with huge buildings of branded stores, a temple between skyscrapers ...

Ginza neighborhood

Main street of the Barrio de Ginza

Many tourists are attracted to the Ginza neighborhood, a neighborhood full of luxury establishments.

Luxury shops in Ginza

We continue along the main street until we reach the Shimbashi Theater, where we meet a lot of people in the surrounding area.

Shimbashi Theater in Ginza

The Shimbashi Theater was originally built in 1925 in the Ginza neighborhood, mainly to serve as a stage for the Azuma Odori dance performances of the geisha.

Images we can see in the Shimbashi Theater in Ginza

Currently the theater offers representations of various styles.
From here we are less than 500 meters from the most important fish market in the world, but since it is closed today, we have already marked day 5 first thing to make the visit.
At this time, day 5 is the first day of the year they open.
We return on our steps in Ginza neighborhood and we arrive at the intersection where Seiko is.

Wako Clock Tower

The intersection of Ginza Yonchome is the one between Chuo and Harumi streets. Here we find examples of the representative architecture of the Ginza neighborhood, including the Mitsukoshi department store and the Wako clock tower.

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From here we go to the Sony Center where we make a brief visit, where they give us a guide to the building!
These types of visits, at least for us, are not essential at all, but considering that today we have a slightly weird day, because we are many things closed, we prefer to take it easy and go for a walk and enjoy “seeing life happen”.
And from here, in Ginza, we have to change thirds in visits.
So we go back to the Tokyo subway and go to Yoyogi to see how the environment is today.
But first we went through Takeshita Dori where we were the other day and we found that it is still as crowded as it was the other day.

Takeshita Dori

This is a lot of people ??? Takeshita Dori

Tokyo We are finding it a difficult city to cover because of the distances and although the subway is very effective, the distances are enormous, so that bad planning in visits or encountering closed things, as is happening to us, can become a Little "torture."
The truth is that despite Tokyo It is an "essential" city, which you have to know without hesitation for a moment, for us, at least until now, it is being the most expendable part of the trip, although it may sound a bit strange ...
Could it be that we are not asphalt animals? 😉
We arrived to Yoyogi after 12 in the morning with an excellent temperature and a sun that encourages anyone, including us today that we are a bit discouraged.

Yoyogi Park

It is very clear that if we wanted to cheer up we have hit the spot coming here.

Enjoying Yoyogi Park

There could not be more people than there are in the street, creating a very lively atmosphere.
We go straight to Yoyogi Park and we met a lot of people enjoying their hobbies or just walking ...

Different ways to enjoy Yoyogi Park

Yoyogi Park

Seen as seen, we leave the Yoyogi Park, where we will return on Sunday to mix between the lolitas and the rockabillies that we have read are installed here on weekends.

Yoyogi Park

We are in the Yoyogi Park until after 1 noon and from here we will look for a place to eat in the area.
But being first of the year, the Meiji Jingu Temple is very crowded and Takeshita Street is equally impossible, so the places we find where to eat, have queues that make anyone desperate.
It's a quick decision, so we take the subway and go to Shibuya where we go straight to eat sushi on the same chain where we were yesterday.

Shibuya

Hachiko in Shibuya

Square where we can find the statue of Hachiko in Shibuya

Will this be an addiction? Possibly!!
As we did last night we put on our boots. So much so, that Roger has to leave a piece of what he has asked because he can no longer!
All for 4391 yen. More expensive than we usually spend, but economical if we think of everything we have eaten.

Mmm ... speechless !! Great !!

After this magnificent meal, we return to the Shibuya metro and go to Hamamatsucho with the Yanamote line.
During the meal we have redoed the planning we had for this afternoon in Tokyo and the idea now is to spend the afternoon in the Shiodome neighborhood and at sunset go up to the Tokyo Tower.
We arrived in less than 10 minutes and we already see on the horizon the famous silhouette of the Tokyo Tower, but first we stopped for coffee and a cappuccino for 560 yen.

Tokyo Tower

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Since we arrived at Tokyo the truth is that we are stopping often, something that we are not too accustomed to in our trips since we usually always carry a high travel rate.
But today we are especially very tired. Tokyo it's killing us little by little 😉
After this break we go straight to Zozogi Temple which is next door and shows a curious view with the Tokyo Tower behind.

Zozogi Temple

The Zozogi Temple It is a temple where you pray for the late Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Edo government.

Zozogi Temple and Tokyo Tower

Whatever the time and we are in the place we are, it is very clear that these days in Japan Everyone is on the street.

Zozogi Temple and Tokyo Tower

Yes, it is true that everything is very lively and it is a great opportunity to see the city like that, but we are not going to deny that, after 2 days crossing with hundreds of people wherever we go, we have a little “altered”.
And here, excited to visit the Zozogi Temple, without realizing the minutes they fly by and it's almost sunset time, so now it's our turn to run until Tokyo Tower in which how could it be otherwise ... there is a tremendous tail! 😉

Tokyo Tower

Queue to climb the Tokyo Tower

We pay 820 yen each and have a good time queuing, so watch the sunset from the Tokyo Tower We already take it for granted, so we will have to settle for the dusk.
After 20 minutes of queue we went up the elevator and laugh at the queues below. Everyone is up and it seems that nobody has come down yet.
Of course, it is worth the queue and the multitude of people there. The views from the Tokyo Tower they are incredible.

City views with the Fuji in the background from the Tokyo Tower

Amazing sunset from the Tokyo Tower

The Tokyo Tower It was built in 1958 and is 333 meters high.
You can enjoy a view of the entire city of Tokyo from the 150-meter observatory and from the highest special 250-meter observatory.

Views from the Tokyo Tower

Amazing views from the Tokyo Tower

After a good while enjoying some Tokyo views incredible, we return to Zozogi Temple, where you can enjoy exceptional views at nightfall.

Tokyo Tower with the year 2014 reflected!

Drum Show at Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower

Another of the visits we had planned for today was the Shinjuku neighborhood and seeing that it is still early, we decided to go to Shin-okubo station, from where we will begin to travel the Tokyo Korean neighborhood.

Korean Subway Station in Tokyo

Korean neighborhood in Tokyo

We walk for more than half an hour and see the big difference there is with the rest of Tokyo.

Shops in the Korean Quarter in Tokyo

Korean Quarter restaurant in Tokyo

Korean restaurant in Tokyo

From here we go down until we reach Kabukicho, where we begin to visit the famous area of the love hotels in Tokyo.

Example of a hotel in Tokyo of love

Price details at the Hotels of Love in Tokyo

Do not ask us why but since we enter its streets, it reminds us of Las Vegas, saving all distances. The truth is that looking at the prices they have, we thought it would not be a bad idea to think about this type of hotel in Tokyo to stay a few days.

Hotels of Love in Tokyo

Curious name of a Love Hotel in Tokyo

Hotels of Love in Tokyo

We continue down until we reach the Red Light District, where we already find business for people over 18.

Tokyo Red Light District

Tokyo Red Light Premises

In this area, the truth is that we are not very long, since it does not attract too much attention and our body also begins to ask us for a rest.
So we walk around the area and pass directly, almost without realizing it, to the entertainment area of the Shinjuku neighborhood, the Japanese Times Square, where we continue walking and getting lost in the multitude of streets and businesses in the area.
In Tokyo One of the mandatory subjects is to walk and get lost in the streets.

Shinjuku neighborhood

Shinjuku Neighborhood Streets

Lights and more lights in Shinjuku Neighborhood

From here we approach the Barrio de la Electrónica, where we take the opportunity to make some small purchases.

Electronics neighborhood in Shinjuku

Shinjuku

Cartels in the Electronics District in Shinjuku

On the way we pass through Mosaic Street with spectacular Christmas lighting and shops that seem a success.

Christmas Lighting on Mosaic Street

We took the opportunity to buy a case for the mobile (our consumer vein came out) and being more than 9 at night we entered one of the many Shopping Centers in the area, where on the eighth floor we entered an okonomiyaki store.

Shinjuku Shopping Center

What we eat Shinjuku

We ask for some gyozas and a tuna okonomiyaki to share, more water for 2300 yen.
What we liked very much, apart from the food, is that you can prepare them yourself, something we see many people are doing on the plates of their tables.
Luckily they have seen us as a rookie face and have helped us a little, at least with the first steps of realization.

Okonomiyaki dinner in Tokyo

One of the things that we are most like to travel at this time is the very little western tourism that we are encountering.

Okonomiyaki dinner in Tokyo

Today, we can say that we have practically not met anyone and the restaurants we have gone to, let alone.
After more than an hour eating and enjoying a good desktop, we decided that the time has come to return to our hotel in Tokyo.

Touch back to our hotel in Tokyo

Touch again to take the subway and travel those meters that will take us back to “our house” here, the Hotel Horidome Villa.
Today we will dream of one day "so rare", which has finally left us a good taste ...