Sakura in Japan Cherry Blossom Season 2011 - Tokyo
Once in Tokyo I changed to the local trains and eventually ended up in Asakusa at around 10pm. Fortunately having been there before it didn't take long for me to find my hostel which turned out to be quite nice and in a pretty central area not far from the massive Senso-ji Temple there.
The next morning I headed out to Ueno Park which is only a few stops from Asakusa, on the Ginza line. Ueno Park is one of the most popular Hanami spots in Tokyo and so the place was packed with blossom viewers. One particular area is called the Cherry Tree Tunnel and hundreds of people could be seen having their Hanami picnics underneath the clouds of cherry blossoms that reach out over the wide path and connect with the branches from the other side. At the end of the tunnel I spotted a much denser crowd circled around a low hanging bough of a tree. On the large branch was a tri-colour cat sleeping as flashes popped and scores of cameras and mobile phones were hustling for the best and closest position to take the ultimate 'LOL Cat' photo.
Down a path lined with Irises, I visited the adjacent lake which also had an avenue of food stalls leading up to a small pagoda. There was everything from Okonomiyaki, Octopus Balls, Gizzard Stews, Stuffed Crepes, Teriyaki Sticks and Fried Chicken. I opted for the chicken and this cool potato thing. Basically it was a whole potato cut into a spiral, skewered with a stick, fried and then rolled in seasoning. It was pretty nom. Behind the pagoda I found a beer garden with a games booth next to it which consisted of a giant basin filled with water and tiny orange goldfish. I'm not sure if there actually a point to the game or if it was really just a quickly setup pet shop, but people had small bowls and nets and were trying to catch fish which were then put in a plastic bag with water for them to take home.
Over a small bridge was another smaller cherry blossom tunnel that ran between a path that divided the lake. One side was full of dry reeds and dead lotus flowers and the other was full of brightly painted swan boats that people could hire out and pedal around in. It had been overcast most of the day, fortunately the rain held out till about 4pm when it started to come down. I was pretty far from the subway at this point and by the time I headed back I was quite saturated. Stopped off briefly in a 100 Yen shop (like our $2 shops) and got some space-saver bags which turned out to be really handy!
Headed back to the hostel and had a quick chat with the guy at reception before going upstairs. Potted around in my room when suddenly the room began to shake, AFTERSHOCK!!!! I was so excited I opened the window and looked outside to see the panels on buildings shaking and the powerlines swaying. I grabbed my video camera and clumsily tried to get some footage but I was still pretty excited. After about a minute it stopped and I felt quite exhilerated. Shortly after there was a knock at the door and the reception guy came in, "Shelly-san! Are you ok!?" he asked, all worried. "Yeah!" I replied "I'm fine, that was FUN!" He laughed and went back downstairs.
That night in the dorm one other guy was in the room and two more rocked up in the middle of the night at about 2am. I could smell the booze on them from my top bunk and not long after, one of them started to snore... badly! I likened it to someone having a rabid animal stuck in their throat. His friend quietly apologised on his behalf but after about half an hour I couldn't take it anymore and climbed down to get the ear plugs from my bag. Snorer's mate apologised again and I offered him a tissue to mould and jam in his ears which he was grateful for. I suggested we roll Snorer onto his side as that usually helps. His mate was a bit 'oh I dunno' but I went over anyway to move him. Snorer's mate warned me in case he woke up and saw a stranger over him, but in a quick, swift movement I grabbed one of his belt loops and pulled him up and over onto his side, where I then jammed a pillow into his back to prevent him from rolling back over. Instantly there was silence... rejoice! Snorer's friend was estatic! Unfortunately 5 minutes later the snoring started up again, but at least this time I had the ear plugs which worked enough for me to get to sleep.
Woke up at 6am to the room rumbling again, but this time it wasn't Snorer, it was another aftershock. I laid in bed and was aware that everyone else in the room had the same thought running through their head; 'I hope this doesn't get any worse because I really can't be bothered getting out of bed'. Eventually Snorer and friend got up. While Snorer was in the shower his mate apologised again for him. I mentioned that I'd never heard anyone make those kind of noises before and I shared with him my theory of a rabid animal in his throat. Snorer was filled in on the nights antics and felt pretty bad, but it turned out to be pretty funny in hindsight. Fortunately they left that morning.
Today's plan was to head to Akihabara, which is also known as Electric Town due to its proliferation of electronics stores. Akihabara is also well known for its maid cafes where Japanese girls dress up in maid outfits and serve your every whim.. well nearly. I had a few shops I'd researched on the net that I wanted to check out. The first was called M's, a five storey high sex shop. I'd heard there were interesting things to see in here and it turned out to be very close to the subway station, always a bonus. Now 5 storey's seems pretty big, however, the actual depth of the store was only a few metres, only 2m in some areas. Each floor sold different items, so you had the Books & DVD floor, the Costume floor, the Dutch Pillow floor (this included blow up dolls and giant long pillows with the images of girls or anime characters printed on them), the Vibrator floor and the most interesting, the Flesh-light floor. If you don't know what a flesh-light is, you might know it by its other name of 'Pussy-in-a-Can'. Now you'd think there's only so many variations you could have of this, but no, apparently in Japan there are hundreds of different ways! And apparently the label wrapped around it is also a valid variation. The 'one-use-only' can seemed to be popular with nearly half the floor dedicated to plastic can-shaped containers all seemingly with the same fake jelly vagina contents but each with its own label and with different women posing seductively on them. Secretaries, wives, porn stars and of course school girls all featured with their own names and descriptions advertising why they would help you 'achieve fantasy'. I bought one for my friend as a gag, they were actually quite cheap with most of them only between $5-10. The floor below I happened across a Hello Kitty vibrator and really couldn't pass this up, so I bought one for my other friend too. Later on this proved a very entertaining conversation starter in my pub at home and after a few drinks it could be seen in peoples hands as they chased after people to vibe them.
My next stop was teeny tiny, dodgy looking multi-storey plaza type place. Few stores in Tokyo have a street front presence so it always pays to look up! Here I had found on the net that there were a lot of stores here that sold Super Dollfie & Obitsu dolls. I'd come across these online a few years ago and thought they were pretty cool. Basically they're like an awesome Barbie doll for adults. Coming in all sizes, the largest being 70cm tall! You can dress them in just about anything, you can change their eye colour, makeup, hair, anything! They're part of a doll family called Ball-Joint Dolls, so each limb has joints, just like a human and they are all strung together internally, so they're super-posable. Some scarily look so real you'd have a hard time telling if they were real people or at the least, computer generated. Part of me wanted to trash my credit card and buy the big doll and lots of accessories. But the dolls start at $200, so I eventually talked myself out of it and went for a cheap 27cm tall one for $20, but with all the accessories I bought, I'd soon blown $150 anyway. She's so pretty with long dark hair, big violet eyes, haha, knee high socks with a tartan pleated skirt, purple knit shirt and a pearl pendant necklace... you can see how some people spend thousands supporting their doll addiction, or maybe not, but I can. Checked out a few other places around. Picked up some kinky looking, naked anime dolls out of a vending machine.
Had a walk around the area and saw many 'maids' handing out flyers on the corners for people to visit their cafes. Headed back to Asakusa and had dinner in what I will call the Vending Machine restaurant. Basically, you walked in and there was a machine to the right that had photos and prices of all the items on the menu, you chose what you wanted, paid the machine, it spat out a receipt and you gave it to the waitress. I went for Golden Ramen soup and gyoza. Was pretty good. Rest of the night was uneventful.
The next morning my mission was to find a bridge at the Imperial Palace, I'm not sure if I ever found it, but it was still a good day. Caught the train to the massive palace grounds, that are so big they have a freeway running through it. A giant moat surrounds it and along the sides were...of course, cherry blossom trees. When cherry blossoms first open, it takes about a week for them to hit what they call full bloom. Nearly all the trees around Tokyo and further south in Japan had reached full bloom in the past few days. It only lasts about a week, depending on the weather, and then they all start falling. I walked along the pathway that runs adjacent to the large moat and soon enough a Hanafubuki or 'cherry blossom storm' appeared as thousands of petals fell to the ground whenever the wind picked up. It looked beautiful, like large snow flakes with the sun shining through the tree branches.
There were quite a few people also enjoying the great weather and blossoms. Many were hiring boats and paddling around the boat. A lot of the blossoms had fallen in the water and in some areas all you could see were boats cutting a swathe through the petals in the water.
After walking around half of the moat I spotted a massive metal tori gate peaking up above some very tall trees. Using a nearby overpass I crossed the highway between us and found a very wide pedestrian avenue with large, tall trees lining each side and the Tori gate situated up the top of an incline. It was huge! I'm not sure what its significance was as it was pretty random yet impressive. At the bottom of the slope was an icecream van. I hadn't eaten anything all day so figured I'd get one. They had pictures of the different types of soft serve flavours. I opted for a green tea one but not knowing if they spoke english well I asked for a 'macha' which I sort of knew, but wasn't 100% sure it was the right term for tea. So when they pulled a small plastic canister out of a freezer and stuck it in a machine that pushed it out and created a soft serve look (never seen that before), and the contents came out green, I was relieved that I got it right. It must've been late as there were a lot of little school girls running around in their cute navy blue and yellow uniforms complete with hat and bright yellow box backpack. Very cute.
I continued on and crossed the moat into the actual grounds trying to find this particularly picturesque bridge I'd seen in tourism photos. While walking over a normal non-descript bridge I came across a mother and son who were painting the scenery in front of them of the boats on the moat and the surrounding cherry blossom trees. Well, the mother was painting that view, sitting next to her, into his art as much as his mother, was a small boy about 5 years old who was drawing a picture of Godzilla. I thought this was pretty hilarious.
Walked about another quarter of the grounds which took about 20 minutes, by this time I had come to a metro station, nearby was an ornate bridge, I don't think it was the one I was looking for but it was good enough, so snapped off some pics and headed back to Asakusa.
Had dinner at a place called Watami, I'd been here a few years ago and they had a picture menu full of little plates, I like to call it Japanese Tapas. I felt like a bit of a tool going by myself as it's really a place you go and share plates with others, but oh well. Ended up getting some spicy fried calamari, spring rolls and an Osakan omlette. I skipped the horse sashimi that came 'four kinds!'
Today was my last day in Japan! Fortunately I had the whole day to fill as I wasn't flying out until 8pm that night. Headed over to Harajuku on the other side of the city. Checked out the bridge but there were no cos-play kids there today. Went down to Takeshita Street (yes, that's its real name) and had a look at all the stuff the cool kids of Japan wear. Checked out a gothic lolita shop and got some jewellery in another. I spotted a large Torii gate and wandered down its path to find a large pond surrounded by pretty cherry blossom trees. I'd earlier seen a mini Hanafubuki fluttering across the narrow Takeshita street and wondered where they had come from. The pond was about 30m from it. It was very pretty and had a boardwalk that went through its middle. There were a lot of large rocks poking out of the water and there were many turtles sunbaking on them while large koi of all different colours swam beneath. Nearby I came across a camelia bush covered with pale pink flowers that were the most perfect flower I'd ever seen. Its perfection resembled a spirograph with its tiny petals layered over each other. They looked so beautiful on the bushes green, glossy leaves.
Took the Ginza line back to Asakusa where I strolled around the many souvenir stalls that line the pedestrian avenue to the Senso-ji Shrine. I personally think this is the best place to get souvenirs in Tokyo. There's a massive range and compared to a lot of other countries, nearly everything is of a pretty high quality. Bought a real woodblock print of a Geisha, a bronze, heavily decorated mini tea-pot for my Mum, some purses made from dyed Japanese fabrics, a beautiful and very cheap, large red and white parasol and a few other things for friends.
Went back to the hostel and packed my things. Everything fitted and I just hope my bag wouldn't be over the weight limit. About 5pm I headed off to catch a train to Narita. It took about an hour to get there and I was soon checking in with Jetstar. Found out we would be going back to Cairns via Osaka as they'd had to make a few flight adjustments do the earthquake/tsunami situation. Found some e-Royce chocolate so I bought a box. It wouldn't last long. Unfortunately I couldn't find any Tokyo Banana products which was a shame.
So, another successful Japan trip! It really is one of those places you can go back to again and again and not get bored. There's so much to see, great shopping, great food, great culture, great entertainment, friendly people and the quality of everything is so high! Can't wait to go back... again!