What a day!!
Saf and I kept our plans for the first day in Japan minimal. And when I say minimal, I mean we had no plans whatsoever. So after a few attempts to (unsuccessfully) sleep off the jet lag, we left for Ueno Park. Having been awake for most of the early hours of the morning, we accidentally slept in until around 10am, although this did give us the benefit of missing rush hour on the Tokyo Metro – not something I’m desperate to experience. A brief train journey took us to the park which opened up into a beautiful backdrop for the main event – the cherry blossoms. Most of the trees were dusted with these pink-tinged canopies and everyone was stopping to take in the view.
The park at lunchtime is particularly lovely because the paths gradually become filled with hundreds of picnics. Everyone, from families with young children, to businessmen in suits, to pairs of elderly women sit cross-legged on mats bringing out the most elaborate picnic lunches I’ve ever seen, and enjoy the sun.
A little further on down the main pathway, a man was crouched on the ground surrounded by colourful little creatures scurrying around his feet. These turned out to be meerkats dressed up as Disney characters – how and why being not the only unanswered questions here. I can only assume they are residents of the park’s zoo, but I didn’t want to ask. Either way, they were terribly cute.
We then wandered to the park’s pond areas. Happily, we quickly found a bridge packed full of food stalls, and made the most of perusing what was on offer. This ranged from noodles, to fried chicken, to eggs and squid, to literally just a fish on a stick. Amazing. These stalls led up to a shrine and were surrounded by a seating area so we were able to enjoy our snacks in the sun.
We then took another subway to Harajuku and meandered through the Meiji gates to the shrine. I say meandered. I meandered. Saf complained that I was meandering. I mean, how fast can one walk over gravel in sandals?? Anyway. The park surrounding the paths to the shrine was beautiful – full of tall cypress trees and always something to see on the way. We passed through the gates (Saf informed me that we ought to bow once before the gate and walk through to either side of the centre, not directly down the middle, although he couldn’t remember why), and followed the path past walls of barrels of wine and saké, presented by different societies as a gift to the emperor Meiji and his wife whom the park are devoted to.
From Harajuku, we decided to try our luck walking down Takeshita. It’s very much like walking through Camden market if a unicorn threw up on it. There was a LOT of pink. The relatively narrow road was packed full of people dropping into shops selling wacky outfits or queueing outside stalls for crépes and other sweet treats. Once we’d battled through to the other end, Saf pointed out a food court, up a flight of, again, very pink stairs. The food court was small and vibrant and Saf and I brought up the average age of the clientele dramatically. It’s the first time in my life where someone (Saf, obviously) has suggested I might be too old to be somewhere. I would have been more bothered by this, however Saf quickly found some “Long Fries” and these managed to distract me.
We eventually made the 20 minute walk from Takeshita to the iconic Shibuya crossing. This was mercifully quiet, as it was around 4.30ish at this point so not yet the commuter packed hellscape it might have been two hours later. In fact, we crossed with absolute ease, with Saf casually remarking that Oxford Street is worse. Once across, we spotted the statue of Hachikō, the dog who met his owner from work there every day, and continued to wait there every day for years after his owner’s death.
We finally admitted defeat, and took the metro home to Ōimachi in Shinagawa, in need of a well earned nap.
Claudia Bow 