our london adventure: Our Tokyo and Seoul Adventure: Day Sixteen

In Japan and Korea, you never have to wonder if a home is a "shoes on" or "shoes off" kind of place when you visit--it's always shoes off!! Our hotel room was homey in this regard, as it came with the usual change in flooring that signals a change in footwear, from outside shoes to (hotel-provided) inside slippers.

It wasn't entirely homey though, since it didn't come with the toilet slippers that are found in the bathrooms of private homes (and restaurants that have a shoes-off policy) for use while in that "special" room. Slippers are big business in Japan, and every household has many pairs waiting near the door, for family members as well as guests. It's so nice to go to someone's house and be offered a pair of slippers! This morning we headed back to the Muji flagship store with one thing in mind: glasses. If you're planning on visiting Tokyo and you wear glasses, you absolutely must budget some time for eyeglass shopping while you're here, since there are many chains of eyeglass shops that offer spectacular deals for those of us used to the prices, selection, and turnaround time of Canadian shops. Usually, these chains will offer their range of glasses at three different price points (with perhaps a very small number of frames beyond those prices), somewhere in the range of CAD$50, 75, and 90, all in, for the frame and lenses. Unlike Canadian shops, all the glasses are loosely arranged on tables so you can try on anything you like without needing a salesperson to unlock every case in the shop, and the ample number of staff usually stand around the shop until you approach them for help, so there are also none of the hard sells that often accompany a round of eyeglass shopping in Vancouver. Oh, and while some people may see this as a negative, it's a dream come true for me: all the frames in these Tokyo shops are completely lacking in branding, with no logos anywhere to be seen on the outside of the glasses. (I have a hard time finding frames that fit well in Vancouver, and more than a few times I found ones that fit alright, only to notice some hideous logo emblazoned near the temple, so to walk into a shop already knowing that logos won't be an issue is pretty great.) Anyway, after browsing in a few shops, we decided to go back to Muji to buy some glasses. They have a slightly different take on the standard three tiers of prices, with almost all of their glasses at a single price, 10, 500 Yen (which was about CAD$90 when we bought them, although with recent money market events, is now closer to $100), but since their frames appealed to us the most, we each ended up buying a pair today. When it comes time to preparing the lenses, Muji (and the other shops) can either just read the prescription off your existing lenses, make the lenses from a written prescription, or do a free eye exam on the spot. Since my last prescription was done about a year and a half ago, I opted for the free eye exam, and the man who examined my eyes did a wonderfully thorough job, with very good English that made the whole thing very easy. Partway through the exam, Bob asked me for the camera, and I soon found out what he thought was an unmissable photo opportunity:

(At least I found out my prescription hadn't changed in the last eighteen months.) So, to sum up: great service, great selection, great quality, transparent prices, oh, and did I mention the turnaround time? For some reason, Muji takes twice as long as most of the other shops--but banish that big number from your minds, because our glasses were ready in an hour!

(Yes, this does mean that some shops make their glasses in thirty minutes--something which I experienced firsthand last time we were in Japan.) So, remember, all you glasses-wearing readers, buy glasses in Tokyo! You won't be sorry. Bob and I wandered off in separate directions afterwards to do a bit of shopping (me mainly at Ito-Ya and Bob in a neighbourhood known for being guitar-shopping heaven), and on my way over to Ito-Ya, I spotted this kitty looking very cosy on top of a vending machine.

When I passed the spot some time later, the same kitty and a friend were hanging out close to the vending machines--perhaps in front of their home. This image may seem like a quiet rural scene,

but it's actually only a block away from the tall buildings of Ginza.

This Ginza display was very striking and I had to wait for quite some time until the stream of people posing next to it finally finished with their photos!

After Bob and I met up again, we headed over to Aoyama, and strolled down the main street, Omotesando, taking in the people and the shops. Although most of the shops were definitely too high-end for us, one shop on Omotesando always beckons, if only for a short while. Kiddyland has to be seen to be believed, with its seemingly endless variety of all things cute and cuddly, odd and wonderful.

I must admit having a soft spot for the character that's featured on this table; the capybera practically cries out to be cuddled, and the most popular item on the table was a stuffed version which you could make squeak or jump at the push of a button. Unfortunately, it wouldn't squeak and jump at the same time--I guess the manufacturers figured that would just be far too cute!

After Kiddyland, we walked through Harajuku, with its very young crowd buying up all the latest trends.

Along with eyeglass shops, if you come to Japan, you have to go into at least one Daiso--they're everywhere and they're brilliant. There is one Daiso shop in greater Vancouver where everything is priced at CAD$2, but Daiso in Japan is the ultimate bargain, with everything going for 100 Yen (CAD$0.85 at the time), and with an incredible selection of everything you could want for your home.

Bob's been having terrible luck with corkscrews in London, and although we've owned two since we moved there, the second one broke shortly before we left for Seoul. Well, he found a corkscrew at Daiso that he thought would be worth a 100-Yen gamble, and after we returned to London, he declared it "the best corkscrew ever." Cheap and good--that's Daiso! After our Daiso adventures, we decided to head to another part of town for dinner and more wandering, and chose Shinjuku as our next destination. Here's Bob buying our tickets to get there:

Figuring out how much a particular journey costs sometimes takes longer than buying the tickets themselves, but the Tokyo transportation system is definitely efficient. My one wish would be that there were passes that were more useful for the average tourist--I don't think I've ever been in a city where the daily or weekly passes were so confusing or such poor deals compared to single fares. Anyway, by the time we got over to Shinjuku, dinner was in order and we ended up eating in a pretty ordinary restaurant that served a variety of Japanese and Chinese dishes. Still, here's what "ordinary" will get you in Tokyo: Bob's set of seafood noodles, soup, pickles, and almond tofu for dessert,

and my set of chilled zarusoba noodles (that even came with fresh wasabi for grating into the sauce), an extremely generous piece of simmered eel over rice, pickles, and my favourite dessert of rice cakes and sweet red beans. Mmm!

Shinjuku station is one of my least favourite transportation hubs in Tokyo--considered the busiest such station in the world, it's always crowded, confusing, and frustrating--definitely not for the faint of heart.

There appears to be some development going on in the immediate station area, with an effort being made to transform Shinjuku station into something a bit more user-friendly and inviting. I'll believe that when I see it, but for now, the cute construction billboards had me smiling near a station that always makes me scowl.

Shinjuku is big, bright, and noisy at all times of the day and night.

We didn't wander too far though, because we discovered another large Muji and ended up spending a fair bit of time in there, with Bob cursing the small shoe sizes ("Do you think I could get away with these?" he asked me at one point, holding up a great pair of shoes--on super-sale--in the largest size they came in, which was clearly two sizes too small) and me realising that I'd not yet looked through the substantial packaged-food selection. At one point, when we were searching through a stack of "smalls" looking for the elusive large size that Bob wanted, I noticed that the shop seemed much quieter than before. I walked up to one of three employees standing in the menswear section and asked what time they closed. "Nine," the man said, smiling nervously and continuing to fold. I looked at my watch--it was 9:15! We apologised profusely (to which they said thank you), left all the smalls where they were, and rushed out of the shop. They had been closed for fifteen minutes and hadn't said anything--how long would they have waited before they let us know about our error? We felt guilty about it for the rest of the night. On our way back to the station, we passed many restaurants displays, but only one included the chef along with his creations!