Our Tokyo and Seoul Adventure: Day Fifteen

Our hotel breakfast gave us four sets to choose from (including pancakes; scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast; and a boiled egg and toast), and while Bob alternated between breakfasts during our stay, I stuck to my favourite, the salmon set:

Knowing we would have access to a washer and dryer in Tokyo, we left Seoul with our suitcases full of laundry, so before we went downstairs for breakfast, we put in a load of wash after I studied the English instruction booklet to remember how to use this extremely hi-tech machine in which there seemed to be a setting for every possible laundry-related variable.

We left the hotel

and took the train a quick few stops over to Shibuya, one of our favourite wandering places in Tokyo for over-the-top crowds, consumerism, and general energy. I must admit that I also enjoy the fact that the most popular exit out of the station is named after a dog--not just any dog, but Hachiko, an Akita who is celebrated on this wall near the exit that bears his name:

The most well-known monument to Hachiko is the statue you can see in the background of the photo below:

Why is Hachiko so loved, you ask? Well, the short answer is: loyalty. Here's the longer version: starting in 1924, when his owner moved to Tokyo, Hachiko would walk every worknight to Shibuya station to meet his master for the walk home. Sadly, in 1925 Hachiko's owner died while at work, and for the next ten years until his own death, Hachiko made the evening trek to the station to wait for his owner. The Hachiko statue stands as a reminder of his loyalty, and it has long been a popular meeting spot--one that Bob and I have used several times ourselves--because in an urban landscape that is often confusing, "Meet me at Hachiko" needs no explanation. (As an aside, it appears that a film about Hachiko is in the works, and while the director attached to the project gives me some hope that the film will be nice to look at, the lead actor makes me shudder.) We wandered around Shibuya for a while, and every time I come here, I seem to forget just how crazy (in the best of ways) it is, with an endless variety of shops, restaurants, and people lining the busy streets--and you need to look up to make sure you don't miss anything!

These strings of new year's decorations adorned the entrance to Loft, one of my favourite department stores.

As with all department stores at this time of year, Loft had a substantial new year's section near the entrance to the store, filled with beautiful cards, trinkets, and gifts. Loft even had a bonsai tree!

Another favourite department store of mine is Tokyu Hands--DIY heaven with a Japanese twist, Tokyu Hands is the sort of place that makes you realise how much you didn't know you needed. The Shibuya store is always packed and slightly confusing, with storey names that include A, B, and C along with numbers, and staircases that sometimes lead from floor 3A to 3C, while skipping the 3B for which you were aiming. Oh, but one way to look at it is that it all adds to the fun, because Tokyu Hands is definitely the sort of place to browse at random.

Shibuya's not just about everything bigger and better though--there are still little bits of quirky decor to be found, like this face gazing out at pedestrians on a busy street.

The crossing in front of the JR Hachiko exit is supposed to be the busiest in the world, with all directions of traffic stopping and pedestrians flooding the entire intersection, and I've been there on days when I wouldn't doubt that superlative, but today was very quiet compared to its usual mayhem. Still, "quiet" is relative . . .

We spent so much time wandering around that we almost forgot about lunch. Almost. In keeping with our goal to eat ourselves sushi silly while we were here, we had a pretty divine lunch today. Bob's sushi combo came with the most incredible piece of eel we've ever seen (amazingly, he didn't even offer me a taste!),

and my chirashi sushi was intoxicatingly fresh.

After our late lunch, we decided to leave Shibuya for another nearby neighbourhood, Shimokitazawa, just a short train ride west. Its rambling streets are full of lively shops and restaurants, but in a very different way than Shibuya. Crossing the tracks at street level kind of sets the tone for this low-rise neighbourhood's understated charm.

At first, I was a bit disappointed when I realised that many of the shops were still closed for their new year's holidays, but since there were still enough open businesses to keep things lively, I ended up being happy that so many places were closed, since it gave me the chance to see some of the diverse roll-shutter art that I wouldn't otherwise have had the chance to see!

One of the first things we noticed on this visit to Tokyo were the traditional new year's decorations that seem to grace the exteriors of all sorts of businesses and residences. I found them so beautiful that I had to stop myself from photographing every one I saw! There appear to be two types of decorations: the first is a combination of rope, straw, and paper strips that is hung over an entrance to ward away evil spirits,

and the second consists of simple pine branches, sometimes with a few additional decorations, placed outside a building to bring in good luck.

Apparently these decorations are put up on new year's eve and then traditionally taken down two weeks later (with the resulting period being known as being "inside the pine") before being ceremonially burned. Another common sight, no matter the season or the region, are streetside shines, like this one in Shimokitazawa, decorated for the new year:

Such shrines are just considered part of the normal streetscape,

and in some parts of the country, if you keep your eyes open for them, you'll start spotting the tiny shrines almost everywhere. One easy way to tell that Shimokitazawa is a residential neighbourhood is that dogs join people in the streets--you'd have to be a bit crazy to bring a dog into Shibuya's crowds.

(I didn't even notice the second dog in the basket until I looked at our photos back in London!)

We saw some other neighbourhood "wildlife" in Shimokitazawa:

Back in Shibuya, we thought we'd try this great-looking sushi place for dinner, but soon realised that too many people had the same idea!

After some more wandering, we ended up going into a department-store foodhall and choosing bits and pieces for dinner to have back at our hotel. The toughest part of any such foodhall in Japan isn't finding something that looks good--it's not buying everything you see, because everything looks fantastic! Our dinner may not have been in five-star surroundings, but it was delicious, and with some complimentary green tea from the hotel front desk, our meal was complete. Of course, we had some sushi, including our new favourite, scallop,

as well as a tangy hijiki seaweed salad, some roasted Japanese pumpkin,

and some lovely potato-based croquettes.

We even had dessert, thanks to my parents, who sent us off with a culinary going-away present of sweet Korean rice cakes, including these ones, studded with fruit.

All that food meant we an after-dinner walk was in order, so we headed out to see what we could see. The best mailbox ever was just one of the gems of our walk,

but today's walking had definitely taken its toll on our feet, and we ended up returning to the hotel room sooner than we thought we would, to relax in our own ways--Bob on the computer and me in up-to-my-chin super-hot water, with some lovely bath salts courtesy of Tokyu Hands.