Akihabara

Today, I decided to nerd out and visit Akihabara, the famed section of Tokyo that specializes in electronics. But first I had a stop I wanted to make.

First I took the Chuo line to Ochanomizu eki. It was a fairly small station, at least compared to Shinjuku and Shibuya stations. The area around Ochanomizu was very pretty. Along side the train tracks flows a river that I found very pretty.
















From there, I struck north. My destination was Tokyo Daigaku, the most prestigious university in all of Japan (and the world for that matter). Being a college student, I find colleges that aren't mine to be very interesting. I guess I'm just nosey like that.

Anyway, on the way to the university, I made a wrong turn. I quickly realized that and made efforts to correct my mistake. On the way back to the main road I wanted to follow, I came across the first Buddhist temple I've seen here in Japan.














They aren't nearly as common here as I thought they'd be. Not far from the temple was another curious artifact: A Burger "cafe". I considered eatting there, but I had just eatten breakfast, so I moved past it.















Not much further I came to the road I was looking for. I followed it up until I reached Tokyo Daigaku. The campus itself is fairly small, at least compared to my own university(though, to be fair, everything in my university is very spread out). The buildings had a very majestic feel to it.











































Some friends of mine should recognize this next one:
















The campus was very empty, with the exception of elderly people walking their young children through it, and a few joggers. On the way out, I asked a security guard posted at the front gate how many students there are. He said about 25,000. About 10,000 less than my school.

After feeling I had seen enough of Tokyo Daigaku, I left. However, it was quite cold out today (though not as cold as yesterday), so I did what all college students do when we're cold: I went to Starbucks. There was one very close to the campus. It was exactly like an American Starbucks. Practically no differences. Even the cup sizes and names were the same.

After drinking my coffee, I headed to a nearby subway station and rode it back to Ochanomizu. From there, I took the Sobu line to Akihabara.

Now, I had two objectives for going to Akihabara.

1 - To prove that it is overhyped
2 - To find some rare merchandise.

In one of those objectives, I succeeded, in the other, I failed.

When nerds think of Japan, they think of things like anime and video games and that the whole country is dedicated to it. Inevitably Akihabara pops up in conversations with them. I wanted so badly to be able to go there and say "HA, it isn't NEARLY as good as people make it out to be!" but I can't. It is certainly a unique place. It isn't terribly large, no more than a couple blocks in every direction. But I guarentee you that you'll never see as many gaming and anime speciality stores in one place





























Left 4 Dead isn't out here yet :(














Pokemon DS games. The one on the far left, Pokemon Platnium, isn't out in America yet.















Nintendo's latest handheld, the DSi. Its not available in America yet.














I almost bought this statue, but then I realized I don't like Kingdom Hearts.

Now to be fair, not all Akihabara is electronics and anime/manga. There are plenty of non-related stores. But the overwhelming majority are. Even more interesting is the amount of specialization some stores had. One store I saw sold only light switches. Glancing around, it seems that if a person shops around, they can get some good deals. Various parts for computers, in particular, seemed to have some good bargins. I also noticed several stores selling decent laptops for relatively cheap: around 18000 yen. Additionally, many stores advertised that they were duty free.

Now, there are a lot of pornography stores in Akihabara. Porn doesn't seem to have the stigma here as it does back home. It's literally sold everywhere here: Newstands, street corners, 7/11s. And it is NEVER hidden like it is in America. And while I'm not sure if a cashier would sell it to a child, it wasn't uncommon for me to see kids around 6 or 7 years old with their parents or older siblings inside a porn speciality store(which tend to be pink colored, by the way).















Jeez, I wonder what is in there.

So yeah, I walked around, I bought a few things, and I checked out the various arcades. I know I've mentioned arcades in a few updates now, but they are very different from US ones. The games are much more sophisticated. Additionally, some of the more complex games allow the player to save their data to a card they insert into a machine when they start to play. Some of the more interesting games I saw were Lord of Vermillion, a real time strategy game by Square Enix. Basically, there are two screens. One of the screens is flat, like a table. You place cards on this screen, which determine what kinds of troops you have in battle. When you want to move your army around, you move the card on the screen. Another game I saw was a Mobile Suit Gundam game. Basically, the player is in a pod. Each pod has a head set for communicating with other players. All the pods are linked together and are playing the same match, and players are divided into teams.

After I felt tired of Akihabara, I decided to go back to my hotel room, rest a little then head out for the night. One of the things I decided I wanted to try was sake. I think I should point out that I don't like alcohol. I don't like the taste. I don't like the texture. I don't like the effects it has on the body. Since I turned 21, I've only had 2 drinks, one of which was with my parents on my birthday (the other I'll mention in a moment). I've heard people say that sake is best served with sushi, so i headed to a sushi bar and ordered some sushi, which was very tasty. I also ordered some hot sake, since it was very cold outside. I have to say, it was very satisfying. Sake, at least hot sake, is much smoother going down than I expected. That said, I drank it wrong. I drank it as I would drink any drink with a meal. Every time my shot glass would empty, I filled it up again. I filled it up about 4 times. While I wasn't drunk, I was quite light headed afterwards. I was feeling pretty good afterwards.

The other drink I had was actually yesterday. One of my favorite drinks here is a soda called Mitsuya Cider. It is very tasty. The company that produces it, Asahi, is also a famous beer brewer. Last night I was thirsty, so I went to the vending machine near my room. One of the drinks in the machine had mellons and other fruit on the label. I saw that it was made by Asahi, but assumed it was related to their soda division. It wasn't. It was fruity beer and was absolutely disgusting.

Yasukuni and the Imperial Palace

Today was a very cold day, but at least it wasn't raining. In fact, it was a very beautiful day. One of the things I most wanted to see during my stay here was the Imperial gardens, and since they were closed yesterday, today was the day I went.

In order to get there, I had to figure out the subway system. I've dealt with trains before, back in America, and while the train system here is much more sophisticated, subways were something entirely new. The entrances from the street seemed humble enough, but they were very misleading. underneath the streets, there is a vast and busy network of tunnels that lead to various platforms.















And all of this is deep underground. At least 100 feet, which I suppose is necessary, in order to avoid the foundations of various buildings. The map of the system is a mess, even more so than the JR rail system. However, it really is quite simple. In fact, after today, I now feel quite confident in my ability to move about the city and am no longer intimidated by both the rail and subway systems.

The train I took was the Toei Shinjuku line, which took me to Kodanshita. The first place I visited today was the Yasukuni Shrine. Originally, I had not planned on visiting this place because it is a very controversal place. The reason being is because it is the place where the soldiers who died during WW2 (or as the Japanese call it the Greater East Asian War), are deified and venerated, including those who were executed with war crimes after the war. The Chinese throw a fit everytime the Prime Minister visits. I am glad I went, as I learned very much regarding the Japanese attitude surrounding the war. More on that later.

The shrine itself is quite basic and very much like other shrines. You enter by walking under a giant torii then passing through to the shrine proper.















Before reaching the main shrine though, you have to walk along a path. Here, vendors have lined up and were selling various handmade goods.
















There were a lot of people visiting the shrine, though not as many as were visiting the Meiji Shrine. I did manage to find a woman dressed in a kimono though.
















I'm not good at describing places, so here are some pictures.












































I stayed at the side of the shrine for a little bit, then headed over to the near by Yoshukan, which is a museum dedicated to the history of Japanese warfare. The museum was absolutely massive. In the entrance area, they had a few relics from WW2: A Japanese plane, a train, and an artillary gun. Luckily I was allowed to take pictures here.












































The plane in particular has an interesting story: Basically it was put together from pieces of other planes, because none of that type of fighter survived the war unscathed. The museum was absolutely fascinating, though I hear it has many critics. The displays were in both English and Japanese, and started from the early feudal era, and worked its way up to WW2. To summarize the musuem's underlying message, Japan was a country who was content to be isolated, but when the west began colonizing Asia, it had to modernize, which cost many lives. When Russia surrendered during the Russo-Japanese war(which they had started), they surrendered part of Manchuria. Japan was happy with just Manchuria, but then Chinese nationalists began attacking, Japan was forced to counter, then invade other parts of China. Eventually the US started bullying Japan(because of China's relations with the US), and cut off their oil supply. Desperate, the Japanese create better relations with the US, though Roosevelt wanted nothing to do with it. Then, the US began threatening military action against Japan. After some more failed peace attempts, the Japanese government felt that the US was going to attack inevitably, so they declared war then launched an attack on Pearl Harbor.

Quite a bit different from what is taught back home. Like I said, the shrine and the museum are quite controversal, with the musuem being considered revisionistic. Regardless of the politics, I still found the museum very interesting. There were many neat things on display, including 1000 year old Samurai armor, swords and bows of all swords, Japanese WW2 uniforms, and other military devices. The uniforms were tiny. The average japanese person I see walking around today is about my height, or a little taller. The uniformers they were showing on display looked like they were designed for someone about 4 foot 10. I don't know what happened in the last two generations to create such a difference, but there must be a reason for it.

The final handful of rooms contained the goods belonging to the fallen soldiers of WW2. The walls of these rooms were covered in the pictures of those who had died in the war. I'm sure not all the soldiers that died were pictured there, but by god it must have been a large chunk. There were literally thousands of pictures.

After leaving the museum, I had a lot on my mind, so i made this video. Again, sorry for the shoddy camera work. Also, it was pretty windy out, so some parts are hard to hear. Sorry in advance.



On the way out, I decided to grab some lunch at a resturant that was at the shrine. I know I haven't really talked too much about Japanese cuisine, and for that I apologize. Anyway I had something called Okonomiyaki. There is no real way to describe it, but imagine something like a pancake, but with all sorts of different veggies and meats packed in. Then bathed in teriyaki sauce. It was quite tasty.















After leaving Yasukuni, I headed south for the Imperial Gardens. To get there, I had to pass something called the Nippon Budoukan, which is a giant martial arts arena. My father seemed particularly intent on me seeing it though, so I did. Nothing was happenning in there though, so I only was able to get shots of the outside.















Past the Budoukan, is a lovely garden which eventually leads to the Kitahanebashimon, which is the gate leading to the east garden. The entire area is surrounded by a giant moat.















When you reach the entrance of Kitahanebashimon, the guards hand you a plastic token, which you are to return when you leave. Speaking of guards, I've never seen so many police in one area in my life. They were constantly driving all through the guards on these little electric cars. I guess since their (ceremonial) head of state is near by, they have to be on guard.

There gardens are absolutely massive, and are divided into sections. The first section is rather bare, but had some beautiful gentle sloping hills.















There are a few things of particular note in this first area. First off, there are the remains of one of the Tokugawa Shogun's castles that burned down in the 1600s. All that remains is the foundation.















Don't be fooled, that thing is absolutely huge, and a pain to climb as well.
Down a little path that I saw while resting, I came across this:















Its an ancient emergancy store house for the emperor. According to a nearby sign, there used to be rumors that there were tunnels connecting it to palace. I didn't see any tunnels, but who knows, maybe they were filled in?

Past this area, I came to a large guard house.















Past it was an area with trees that were gathered from every prefecture. It was a rather neat display.
















While taking pictures, I was approached by an older Japanese woman, who with a very bad english accent, told me that up ahead was a beautiful pond area, and that I would be insulting my family if I did not take more pictures of that than of the prefecture trees. So as per her request, here we go:











































After the pond area, the path loops back to the guard house. Another path leads to a museum housing Imperial art. Again, no pictures were allowed. And not much further than that was an exit. The gardens are the closest you can get to the Imperial Palace, which is off limits to civillians, though there is one last peace of the palace grounds worth seeing after you leave; the Nishibashi bridge.















After leaving the palace grounds, I left and walked around a little bit more before taking the chikatetsu back to Shinjuku. From there, I grabbed something to eat at an udon restaurent, then spent the remainder of the evening hanging out at an arcade in Shinjuku, which is an experience of itself. Arcades in Japan are more like social hotspots than gaming places. You see all sorts of people there: old, young, etc.

All in all, it was a great day.

Shibuya + a whole bunch of other things

Today was a very wet day, which made for some uncomfortable walking, but some beautiful imagery.

As mentioned earlier, I had intended on visiting the Imperial Palace East Gardens today, but they are closed on Fridays, so I had to settle for Shibuya and its surrounding area instead. This involved me having to use the JR Rail system for the first time. My hotel is not very far from the train station at all, maybe a 5 minute walk tops, so that is very convenient.

At first I was very intimidated by the rail system, but really it is quite easy and inexpensive to use. When I first arrived at the train station, I must have spent a good 20+ minutes just staring at the various service maps, as well as watching people buy their tickets. Here is a map of the various lines running throughout the city.














Fares are different depending on the location you're going to. The location I was planning to visit today was Shibuya, which was the next stop from Shinjuku. Fare was 150 yen(though there are fare adjustment machines at every stop if you pay too much or too little).

Shibuya truely is something else. I was expecting it too be very much like Shinjuku, but it isn't. There are so many giant department stores here, it is unbelievable. The two biggest ones are Seibu and Tokyu, though there are countless others as well.















Immediately outside of the train station, there is some statues of a dog named Hachiko. From what I've heard, the dog was a real dog who accompanied his master to the train station every day, and wait for him to return from work. The dog would do this every day, until his master died. It then continued to go to the station and wait for his master, everyday, until he himself died. Now, they even have an exit of the train station named after him.















I walked heading for a museum called the Electric Energy Museum. When I arrived at where my map said it should be, I couldn't find it. I must have looked very silly circling around looking for it, because a young Tokyoite approached me and asked if I was ok. I told him I what I was looking for, and he pointed right behind me. I was standing right next to the museum. I thanked him, and he walked me over to the door. The museum was pretty nice, though unfortunately pictures were not allowed. Of special interest was that they were doing cooking demonstrations on the 4th floor. They also had an exhibit and demonstration on robot dogs.

After I left the museum, I continued north. I ended up walking by the NHK broadcasting center. It was quite an impressive building.















I continued north, past the studio. Not much further, I began seeing a strange looking building. Once I got closer, I stopped an elderly Japanese building and asked her what that building was. She proudly told me it was the Yoyogi Kyogijo, which was a stadium built for the 1964 olympics.














The destination I was heading for was the Meiji jingu, a shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji, whom single-handedly ended the feudal era of Japan. The area surrounding the shrine is basically a forest. At the enterence to the forest is a large torii.















Beyond that gate, there is a large wooded area. The path to the shrine is very long. It took me about 30 minutes to walk. There is a lot to see, however. For example, about 300 feet along the path, I came across a large rack of barrels. They are barrels of wine that were sent from around the world to Emperor Meiji.















Continuing along the path, I eventually came across a garden that had been a favorite of Emperor Meiji and his wife. Unfortunately none of the flowers (of which the irises were suppose to be the most popular) were in bloom, but there was a pond there that was very pretty.














There was also a tea house inside the garden. The tea house had been constructed under orders from Meiji. Unfortunately the one there today is just a replica, because it had been destroyed during WW2.















As I got closer to the shrine, I found myself face to face with an absolutely gigantic torii, called the ootorii. According to a sign nearby, it is the biggest torii in the world, and was made out of 1500 year old trees.















Not much further, is the Shrine. There were a lot of people there today, paying their respects. A large gate surrounds the shrine proper.















This is what the inside of the shrine looked like. I asked a nearby guard if it would be ok if I could film. He said I could, though I could sense some frustration.
$


After leaving the shrine, I made north for the nearby Imperial Treasures museum. Unfortunately it was closed, though, so I couldn't see it. After that, I headed northwest for the Japanese Sword museum. It was pretty far away, and buried deep within small, one lane roads.















Eventually I found the museum, however. The museum. was composed of two floors. The first floor served as an enterence, but also had a few displays. Most notable was a chart showing Japanese swords at different eras, as well as a display of what a sword looks like at different points during its forging.















The second floor was the main exhibit, and cost about 350 yen to enter (The attendant gave me the student rate). Unfortunately no pictures were allowed, but it was an amazing gallary. Around 40-50 swords were on display, 6 of which were classified as national treasures, the rest classified as "Important Cultural artifacts". The swords were dated between 11th century and 18th century, and many of them were without handles(the wood has long since rotted). However, a few of the swords had retained their handles. One sword in particular's handle was made of pearls, and had a gold hand guard (that one was a national treasure). Other notable facts is that the collection had swords that were created by legendary sword smiths Murasame and Masamune, who are considered the greatest swordsmiths to ever live on this planet.

After leaving the sword museum, I decided to head back to Shibuya propper, since I had blown past it in order to get to the Shrine and museums before they closed. It was now the late afternoon, and the streets were flooded with people. I went into a few of the department stores, but the store I spent the most time in was Tower Records.














Tower Records Shibuya consists of 7 floors, each one having a different specialty. The first floor was for new releases, both Japanese and Western. The second floor was for domestic releases, third floor was for international releases. 4th floor was for movies and soundtracks, 5th floor was for country, 6th floor was classical, and the 7th floor was a bookstore. Western CDs cost about 1000 yen less then their Japanese counterparts, which I have no idea why. I nearly bought a few CDs. Curiously enough, in the soundtrack section, there was an entire section dedicated to just video game music. And while there were many expected soundtracks, such as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc, I was shocked to find the soundtracks to some obscure games such as the entire Romancing SaGa series and Professor Layton.

After checking out a few more department stores, it was now quite late, so I decided to head back to my hotel room for some rest. I had heard horror stories about how crowded the trains are in the evening, and while the train was certainly crowded, it wasn't so bad that we had to be shoved in.

Here are some miscellaneous pictures of Shibuya!
























































Tomorrow I may visit the Imperial Palace and surrounding area, but it depends on a few factors. Tomorrow MIGHT be a National Holiday here, so if it is, that won't be an option, as the area around the palace will be closed.