Parker Family Adventure: Exploring Tokyo

For day two in Tokyo, we jumped on the metro and local trains to venture out of Shinjuku, first to Shibuya and then Yanaka.

Signs in English as well as Japanese make the metro straightforward to use and it wasn’t as busy as I’d imagined (or seen on TV!). We did find a few full trains, with people crammed in and the final few really squeezing in around the edge. If you’re not in a hurry it’s easy enough to step out of the neatly formed queue to board the train and wait 3-4 minutes for the next one, which is often half empty (in our experience anyway!).

Shibuya crossing is the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, so we thought ‘when in Shibuya’ and went to check it out. To be honest, while there were plenty of people, it wasn’t completely crazy. I wondered if maybe the afternoon is optimal busy. Things do seem to ramp up as the day goes on here. We had fun taking photos in the middle of the road all the same and I’m still marvelling at how people can be walking at different angles towards each other, maintain their pace and not bump into anyone else or take a side step when they need to cross paths. I have so much to learn from the Japanese about moving around in a densely populated city - I’ll be practicing my efficient walking over the next few days.

Nearby, Leo was keen to see the statue of Hachiko, one of those loyal dogs that wait in a particular spot every day, even after their owners pass away. I wonder if Thistle and Kōwhai would do that for us? And where they’d wait. By the back door maybe? Or somewhere I often stop to chat with people when we’re out walking?

From there we stopped into a cat cafe, much to Eleanor’s excitement. Those cats definitely live a life of luxury, with a comfortable snoozing location to suit any mood, lots of natural light and leather couches to claw. We got the feeling human visitors are the price they have to pay for the high-life - they were beautiful and not enormously friendly. They did line up in a perfect line for breakfast though. Just like the manatees!

The Shibuya Sky Observation Deck, on the 46th floor of the Shibuya Scramble Square building, gives panoramic views of Tokyo. We’d decided it was a better choice for us than the Tokyo SkyTree because it is outdoors, and has couches and hammocks to recline on while admiring the view. It was sunny, clear and much warmer than the day before. Luckily for us - the wind would have been freezing up there! A city of 35 million people extends as far as your eyes can see in every direction, even on a clear day! We could see some things we recognised; the Gardens, the National Stadium, SkyTree, out towards our accommodation, and Mt Fuji (a teaser for our next stop!). And many we didn’t.

After delicious Italian for lunch (I’m becoming convinced there’s nothing the Japanese don’t do well!) we spent a fruitless 90 minutes hunting down vintage clothing stores (one was very hard to find and had a sign on the door saying “Closed today, sorry”; the other we eventually located, it was still referred to on the floor directory of the building but no longer present in reality). We were a little disappointed but resolved to try again in Osaka.

Next we jumped on local trains to Yanaka, a historic suburb that was largely spared the impact of bombing during WW2, unlike much of the rest of Tokyo. Immediately on stepping out of the station it was peaceful and quiet. It felt like a lovely little secret spot hidden away from all the madness of the city. Probably helped by the fact that the first place we explored was the cemetery, where we visited the grave site of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last Shogun of Japan who retired in the late 1800s. One of Adrian’s favourite books is “Shogun” by James Clavell, that tells a story loosely based on the adventures of the original Tokugawa Shogun, so he very much enjoyed paying his respects at the family tomb. More Tokugawa to come!

We wandered through cute little lanes of houses to a little shopping street nearby, Yanaka Ginza, which had Eleanor’s purse out in a flash. Leo tasted his first ever Japanese style strawberry yoghurt drink, which set the benchmark for all strawberry drinks to come. And there will be many! Fresh strawberries mmmmm.