Back to Tokyo: Chiba, Shinjuku, and Harujuku

Night life in Shinjuku.

We just got back from Tokyo on Sunday, and boy was it fun!  It was our second journey to the magical city since living in Japan.  This time we stayed with our friend Preston (from our CO days) and his girlfriend Junko.  They are both really fun people and they showed us a lot of night life along with cool museums and one of the most famous shrines in Japan.

We bought really cheap nori-hodai (all you can ride) tickets from the main train company and made a nearly 12,000-yen trip (or 7,000 yen, if you can get Economy tickets) in 2,300 yen.  It took us 7 hours by local and rapid trains, but we got to stop in the city of Shizuoka for lunch where we met a Japanese man who trained in Thai cooking in Thailand.  So cool!  When we arrived at Tokyo Station we had a few hours to fill before meeting Preston after work, so we walked through some haute couture shopping districts until we found ourselves in Shinbashi, at dozens of restaurants and shops housed under the train tracks.  It was unbelievable and wonderful.  We ate at a great little burger joint while trains passed above us and classic American rock played.  Surreal.

Vending machines!

The next day we made it out to Ueno, a district with a large grouping of museums.  We decided to go to the Western Art Museum because Preston and Junko hadn't been to that one yet.  Their main exhibit started with some beautiful Rodin sculptures, transitioned into a gallery of Christian-themed paintings (very old), flowed into impressionism, post-impressionism, and modern expressionism.  Art scholars, I apologize for my lack of understanding of art terminology.  The exhibit was thorough and well-organized, altogether quite enjoyable. 

After dinner, we went to a district in Shinjuku called Golden Gai.  It's made up of dozens of bars, all tiny, all themed.  Most have exorbitant cover charges, but we found a few without, and made those our stomping grounds for the evening.  The first one we visited was a Spain-themed bar named for flamenco dance.  It had a lovely white cat outside on a chair that drew me in, and the lack of cover charge drew the rest of the party.  Inside it was small, dark, and beautifully painted with a mural depicting Spain.  The painter had never been to Spain, but he painted the vision of Spain he saw through the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca and flamenco songs.  It was quite beautiful.  The owner allowed me to take a picture but requested it not be displayed on the web, so you'll all have to visit to see it.  Next, we visited a bar called "Ace's" with an American West/Southwest theme.  A giant Georgia O'Keeffe poster hung on one wall and the bartender spun real vinyl.   Before going in, Preston noted that he and Junko had gone to Ace's before and talked with the bartender about CO, and said he doubted the bartender would remember them.  Not only did he remember them, he regaled us with stories of his time in the Boulder-Denver corridor from the early '90s when he studied as a college exchange student, and of his recent family vacation to CO, AZ, and NM.  We sat, sipping our drinks, looking at pictures of Taos and Acoma Pueblo.

L-R: A street in Golden Gai; A punk-themed bar; An inside joke; Petting a cat at the Spain-themed bar.

The following day we went to Disney Sea because it's only about a half-hour away from Chiba, and why not?  We bought half-price tickets and went at 5, which was still crazy crowded.  In four hours we rode four rides, which is a pretty good record, although of course I'd have liked to ride more.  Junko suggested going to a park in Fuji that's a coaster park for more rides.  We might try that someday....

Disney Sea: a unique experience.  We met some of Matt's old students there!

Falling in the well...

Preston and Junko took three days off from work to hang with us, so our final day together we went to Harujuku, the renowned fashion district of Tokyo.  We visited Meiji Shrine (which apparently is technically in Shibuya, but it's very close to Harujuku Station) and walked through the outlying gardens before visiting the Shrine itself.  To the left, we're playing around and pretending to fall into a famous well.  Built by Kiyomasa in the Edo period, once new-age and Native American lore crossed over to Japan, they decided this was a "power spot" that has healing properties.  The well's popularity then exploded.  You can read a great account from a Japanese person here.  Be sure to read the comments, too!   

Meiji Shrine.  I loved the woodwork of the doors and the torii.

After the Shrine, we walked around Harujuku and found a very fancy French restaurant.  Everything was so fancy!  Preston said he was definitely dressed for the occasion in his t-shirt and cowboy hat, so we went in.  I cobbled together a small meal of a garden salad and chilled potato soup, both of which were amazing and visually stunning.  Matt ordered salmon with citrus vinaigrette dressing.  Preston ordered a roast chicken meal with potatoes and Junko got a beautiful mushroom and spinach quiche with sides of salad and potato soup.

The wait staff were incredibly helpful and polite the entire time, even though we looked like sweaty riff-raff.  Everything looked so French!  There was a grand piano for no reason, stained glass pictures of holy lambs, and more.  Since Matt and I had dressed up a little for the day (a rather stupid idea since it was really hot), we took a two-part series of pictures depicting our experience at the restaurant.  In the first one, Preston and Junko play up just how hot, sweaty, and under-dressed they feel.  In the second one, Matt and I play up our aristocratic dress.

   
Our final day in Chiba, Matt and I went to the Edo Museum in Edo.  It was a really large permanent collection dedicated to portraying life in Edo/Tokyo through the ages.  It started with the Edo period, which is 1600-1868, and continued through WWII era.  It was informative and interesting, because it was very interactive.  We were able to touch things, climb in and on things, lift things, etc.  Also, a main part of the exhibit is tiny life-like models of Edo city as it was.
   
To the left is a picture of a small section of daily life from a larger, elaborate model of the town.  Here, some men admire a sculpted tree, and a crow perches on the roof.  Pictured above is a festival scene from another model of the same town.  It shows the open-air stores in a festival bazaar, decorations, and there may even be a fist-fight in there somewhere.

Playing around is fun!  Here we explore some of the old ways of commuting.  Below, we each try our hand (shoulders) at lifting barrels that fishermen used to carry water and fish.  Matt's better at keeping them even than I am, but I was able to walk (in place, of course) while carrying them due to my sideways stance.  I laugh at the picture because it looks like I am going to start dancing contact improvisation with the buckets.

We finished out our day by having a convenience store lunch in a lovely park where we listened to a gaggle of girls in yukata play koto.  It was a nice surprise, stumbling into a chance performance at a lantern-strewn garden festival like that.  This was a wonderfully fun trip, and we hope to show these places off to other friends and family someday!

The idyllic park.