Thursday, June 16th, second day in Tokyo, first full day. After a more complicated than normal wake up, due to the jet lag, a quiet breakfast, we went to explore the Shinjuku City area south of the apartment. We are in the Okubo district, a Korean district with a lot of bars, cafés, and other K-Pop themed places (and a lot of K-pop crazy teenagers on weekends, as we discovered since). The streets are always full of people. Going a bit south, we arrive at Kabikucho, which is a district known for its night activities. During the day, it is also full of people. And at one of the exits of the Shinjuku station, there is a screen on which we can see a famous 3D cat, and other 3D animations, interspersed with commercials of course. There are several screens and there are even animations that start on one screen and end on another one: an anime that pushes another one, this last one ending on the backside on the other screen, for example.
After that, we entered the Shinjuku guard to go out in Shibuya, where there is a famous crossroad. Indeed, three crosswalks intersect and the world crosses in many directions. Impressive on a Thursday, but, it seems, even more on a Saturday. Indeed, Shibuya is a shopping district. We walked a little in the neighborhood, eating sushi in a restaurant with a conveyor belt. The cook prepares the sushi, each diner helps himself to the plates that pass in front of him, plates of different colors, and at the end of the meal, we count the plates of each color, each one indicating a price.
After a stop for a dessert in the Starbucks of Shibuya, not because we were craving for Starbucks, but because the place is endowed with a view on the famous Shubaya crossroad, the children and Samuel returned to the apartment while Noe went to the uni. For the first three, it was time for a little work (for one) and rest (for the two others). After that we went out for a little walk in the neighborhood, then a walked to Waseda to meet Noe and Robert and to go and eat in a very nice Japanese curry place. After a Tayaki for dessert, and the visit of a temple close to Waseda (and meeting a small frog and a big toad), it was back to home.
PS: we’ll manage to post some pictures soon, just be patient!
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