Harajuku and Ebisu

Well, I mustered up my courage today and braved the trains alone, and to my surprise, it was a piece of cake. I only got turned around once, and the worst that happened was that i went up some stairs, down some stairs and ended right back where I started. Today, after I dropped in on the neighbors, as they decorated the portable shrine for next weekends festival, I made my way to Harajuku and was stunned. As soon as you get off the train, there is a street stretching out in front of you that harbors tons upon tons of people, clothing stores and crepe shops. It was certainly an experience, and though I went to find the cosplayers at the bridge, I ended up going down that street and a few others before arriving at my destination. The place was full of people, mostly tourists, as the bridge where they hang out leads to the entrance to the Meiji Shrine, I was disappointed to see that I was too early for my cosplayers. There were only a handful there at noon, but more were on the way as I left. I also strolled down to the shrine, but didn't go all the way in, as I didn't want to battle the tourists. It was a beautiful walk though, and you're surrounded by forests (Pics can be seen in my new Harajuku Ebisu folder on Photobucket). Btw, to get to either the shrine or the bridge where they cosplay, make an immediate right when you exit the station and just keep following the road, never crossing the street.

It was a nice bit of exercise, but I finally gave up and got back on the train and went back to Ebisu, which I can imagine being my favorite place here in Japan. It is elegant and so beautiful and I love it. This time I managed to take some pictures, but it was busy with families with little kids, so I didn't get many good ones. I meandered around there for a while, noting that on the left of Ebisu Garden Place is a department store/mall that has VERY expensive stuff inside. Maybe for another day when I'm less sweaty. Word to the wise, when you get off at Ebisu, take the East Exit. If you take the west exit it'll drop you onto the street outside, whereas you need to get to the Skybridge which will take you to Ebisu Garden Place. Good peice of advice.

Also, another few bits of advice. If you've ever entertained the idea of driving here, perish the thought. If you don't get completely run over by speedy drivers, you'll get irrevocably lost (Tokyo's streets aren't numbered consistently and aren't on a grid system like us, thus they all have GPS in their cars). If you're European, you'll be used to driving on the left side of the road in the right side of the car, but many streets are just barely big enough for a car and are one way, and if you get lost, there are no parking spaces to park and go in to ask for directions. Another piece of advice is, if you go to Harajuku to see the cosplayers, remember to ask if you can have their picture, as some of them don't want their pictures taken. (How to ask is: "Shashin wo totte mo ii desu ka?")

I also went to an electronics store, which was amazing, but sells the same stuff that we have at home, at a slightly higher cost (Laptop is $1300). And I did battle with my microwave. It would appear that our microwaves in the US are stronger than here, as it took 3 min. to heat one pancake thing. It kept making a scary noise for a while after that, but it's stopped now, so that's good right? Well, anyway, if I can think of anything else, I'll post it, and until then, see you later!

Trains and People Everywhere!!

Today's word of the day: Eki (pronounced eh-ki) n. (駅) meaning station (as in train station).

Well, I managed the train system today with the caring guidance of my host parents. I did not have the experience of having to figure out my fare and what not, because we went ahead and just bought a Pasmo card. Pasmo is a rechargeable card that you buy at the ticket purchasing machines (also works on buses and in some stores as cash). I don't know about the other stations, but at the Ikejiri Ohashi, there is an English button you can press to proceed through purchasing it. There is a $5 fee when you buy the card, which I believe you can get back if you turn the card back in to some desk at a later date. The card has various amounts you can charge onto it, and it is in fact rechargeable. From what I saw today, about 95% of the people use these rather than the regular ticket, and often just keep them in their wallet or datebook and place that on the sensor. With a regular ticket, you stick it in the slot, but with the Pasmo (or the Suica, which is basically the same thing), there is a sensor on the turnstyles and you just slide your card over that. You slide your card both on the way in and on the way out of the station to allow the machines to calculate your fee from how far you went. The trains were a bit confusing, and where I am has express trains as well as the regular train, which is different, and to switch lines there's numerous escalators and walkways and millions of people, but I can see that, with time, I'll figure it out easily enough. If tourists can do it, so can I. When we got on the train to go to Shibuya station (one of the major stations), the lovely men with white gloves were waiting, lest they need to help pack people into the train cars. And they were dangerously close to needing to. In America, if a train was that packed, no one would attempt to get on, but we managed somehow. At Shibuya we switched to the JR line's Yamamote Line, which was somewhat less crowded, and had the added bonus of making all their announcements in both Japanese and English, as well as having digital screens with both telling you where you're going.

Today we went to Ebisu/Ebisu Garden Place. From the exit, all we had to do was cross the street to enter the area and immediately on the left was the famous statue from the Hana Yori Dango series. Being an absolute retard, I of course forgot to put the card back in my camera and don't have the cord, so the pictures I took today will remain a secret to you, and for that, I'm sorry. It was, in a word though, amazing. Ebisu is a very rich looking area with snazzy shops smacking with European influence and design. There was an Armani jeans store, a McCafe without the McDonalds, and a towering, three story Chateau looking structure in the distance that I'm told is a VERY expensive restaurant. I believe it. Once you go down the walkway to the middle circle (where at Xmas they have a large Xmas tree), to your right is the Ebisu Garden building, and to your right, through a walkway is the Yebisu beer museum. We went to both. The beer museum was interesting, especially if you're a beer fan, and though they have a brochure in English, all the writing and video is in Japanese. At the end of the journey, there is a vending machine where you choose a Yebisu/Sapporo beer type you'd like to try, pay for it and recieve a ticket which you give to the man over at a bar to your left. The tower is huge and I honestly have no clue what's inside it except for that there are restaurants on the 39th floor, as well as windows where you can overlook the entire city. Of course I took unviewable pictures of that too. These restaurants are fancy and expensive, but they weren't open when we went, so I didn't get a peek inside.

After that, we went back onto the train (less crowded this time), and got off at Shibuya, crossing that famously congested crosswalk and entering the 109 building, which is a famous fashion building packed with stores. It was like the mother of all malls. And on the bottom floor to the right is a store that sells some overseas goods like Pringles and American candybars and things, so if you're hankering for something from home, this is perfect for you. So, that concludes the festivities for now, and I'll bring you more of the story as it happens!