the first, shinjuku is well known because "lost in translation," was filmed here. it's massive, with lots of tall buildings, is the heart of the business districts, crazy, neon, dangerous. the red light district is here. live houses (music clubs), the worlds busiest train station, and more people than anywhere else. it's where i stayed first, and kind of freaked me out.
let's look at a most unusual popular department store, tokyu hands , which got its start as a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) store, hence the logo with 2 hands. it's massive, easy to get lost in, and carries stuff you never knew existed.
such as these
this is a chain, but the biggest one is here in takashimaya times square.
and the biggest depachika in japan-indoor food court-is underneath times square.
yuka is looking for the perfect holiday meal for her in-laws. this place is a hardcore food court with hundreds of food stalls selling everything from dried exotic fruits, sweets, fish, gyoza, salads, and this holiday bento box supreme-an extremely expensive home delivered feast served only for the new year.
yuka takes a very long time to decide-"it's easier to choose a husband than to choose this"
all of those boxes are known as sampuru-the popular plastic food used in most restaurants in japan.
sampuru comes from kappabashi dori , or restaurant town. i went here and it was so much fun. it's in old tokyo-near asakusa. you can find anything you need for your restaurant in this town. but the biggest thrill to me was these crazy buildings. check these out
coffee cup porches!
and the big one where the sampuru is
the guide says look for the chef head, it's massive & easy to spot. my friend who grew up over there said this about him-
"This guy head was a BIG mystery when I was a little kid. We (all of my friends) believed that this guy got out of the building and walked around at night. It scared us so much."
some kind of roach god
badger
ninja thief.
the place feels pretty spooky, maybe because of the legend of the kappa -a shinto water spirit.
here's one doing the scorpian posture
"Kappa are mischievous troublemakers. Their pranks range from the relatively innocent, such as loudly passing gas or looking up women's kimonos, to the more troublesome, such as stealing crops, kidnapping children, or raping women. In fact, small children are one of the gluttonous kappa's favorite meals, though they will eat adults as well. They feed on these hapless victims by sucking out the shirikodama (or entrails, blood, liver, or "life force", depending on the legend) through the anus. Even today, signs warning about kappa appear by bodies of water in some Japanese towns and villages. Kappa are also said to be afraid of fire, and some villages hold fireworks festivals each year to scare the spirits away."-wiki-
they love cucumbers more then chidren, which is where kappa maki got it's name from-cucumber roll.
these guys are everywhere
even at their own sushi parties
i will leave you today with a most unusal building, the asahi brewery. it's offical name is golden flame, because the gold sculpture on top is meant to be foam on a beer, but it's referred to by locals as the turd building
you can drink asahi beer, eat, or try the official golden flame "turd" cheesecake
shinjuku & kappabashi. and these are just 2 places in tokyo. no wonder i never had to leave the city proper.
more to come.
