Devil's Tongue and Ginger Gelatin, It's What's for Breakfast

aka Marathon Shopping Part Two and our final night

Geek and his Japanese MRE

This will be kind of a sad post, because today was the last full day for us here in Tokyo. Numerous times throughout the day we commented on how we're going to miss numerous aspects of being here. One of which will be the super convenient 7-Eleven that we have come to know and love for fast, energizing, inexpensive, and great tasting meals. Even this morning, after polishing off the blog post for yesterday, I stopped in for some breakfast (it should be clear by now that we've been totally taken by all the crazy random pre-packaged stuff available in there). Usually The Art Girl is ready to blast out the door, and has picked up breakfast a few times, but this morning I took up finding nourishment to power us through our day.

Today's breakfast menu included these pouches we have seen a number of people walking around and sucking on. The Art Girl mentioned them a few times, and I decided we were going to give them a try. There was also an interesting looking ginger gelatin cup with lychee and lemon in it, a kiwi pear and kale drink, a super potent espresso, and two fantastic danish-like pastries. The fruit topped pastry was pear, and the other was topped with a light cream. There were also two more soft-boiled eggs, but no picture of them. 

The pouch was probably the most interesting of everything. The back of the package seemed to have instructions that indicated shaking the pouch, so I did. Then I opened it and drew some of the product into my mouth. Oh! It had chunks. So I let The Art Girl try it next and she was just as surprised by the texture as I was. Then she asked me what color it was and showed me what was in her mouth. Yet another surprise, it was clear! Totally erased the notion of peach chunks being in my mouth. Then I realized the directions on the back were telling you to squeeze the contents of the pouch around to break the product up. Still; it was so unexpected we needed to know more. To the Bat-Computer (Internet) we went! There was a website that explained all about these pouches, in Japanese (remember: nihongo wa hanasemasen), so Google Translate to the rescue! Apparently these things are fast paced, weight loss, meal replacements. They're low calorie, and filling (I suspect due to the indigestible dextrin). Tell me; would you eat this: "(Polysaccharide thickener) fructose glucose liquid sugar, indigestible dextrin, erythritol, peach juice, liquor, fructose, devil's tongue powder, gelling agent, acidulant, lactic acid Ca, flavoring, sweetener (sucralose)"? Well we did!

Haven't seen many bugs, so
here's a spider.

Once feasting time was over, we popped in to concierge to have them help confirm our pickup for transport back to Narita airport tomorrow, then made the trek to Shinjuku station. This time, being old pros at it, we deftly maneuvered to the correct ticketing machines, determined our proper ticket rate, paid, and had our tickets in no time flat. In fact, The Art Girl and I had gotten so comfortable walking around in Tokyo that we now did so very casually, not so constantly concerned about making sure the other was right there, and as such I headed off to the ticket takers. A few moments later I heard a laugh from The Art Girl behind me. I asked what made her laugh, and it turned out that she started walking off following some other guy who's head, from behind, looked like mine. It only took her a few moments to realize it wasn't me, but with so few lighter colored, short haired people around, it's surprising there even was someone else close enough to cause that.

This is a very light load of people waiting

Back with me, The Art Girl and I moved with, against, and across more traffic in each direction than Chicago Union Station ever sees. It was, again, a perfect reminder of how it is here. When in Tokyo, do not try to move Tokyo, let Tokyo move you; you'll get where you're going. We stepped out onto the platform and wondered how packed the train would be. Since there is a train every five minutes or so, our answer came quickly with a fairly empty car. Following procedure (not displayed anywhere that we could understand) we stepped off to one side of the door as the train came to a stop so anyone departing the train could exit through the center of the door unimpeded.

Sleep IN Hello Kitty

Once on the train we found a seat together and saw three young men board the train behind us. As it turns out, one of them was the person The Art Girl almost started to follow. We had to strike up a conversation with them and as it turned out they were from Australia and were headed to Shibuya. They were fairly fresh into their trip and were still trying to figure out everything. Their tickets, for example were for ¥130, but to get to Shibuya from Shinjuku it is ¥150. For future note, if any of you plan on traveling to Tokyo, and find yourself at a station further than your ticket allowed, near the exits that check your ticket you will find Rate Adjustment stations. It's actually pretty smart, that way if once you board the train you realize you need or want to go to a further station instead, you can just stay on the train and fix it when you get there. Do try to be mindful of that during rush hours, though, because the exiting ticket takers will close and block you if your ticket is wrong, and that could cause quite the pile-up behind you.

This time we decided to turn a different direction out of the station and headed North to the famed Takeshita Dori (Street). This is one of the top spots for shopping, especially for the local youth. So much so that this street has become a test bed for large companies to discretely prototype their new products prior to mainstream release. The bulk of the shops are small independents and the styles and goods found cover a broad range. The style that has become one with the Harajuku district really revolves, for the young that live it, around wearing what you like, even if it doesn't all go together. Sprinkled throughout are regular reminders of a very strong Western, especially American, influence on Japan's youth.

What "No Pictures" Sign?

Busy, but quiet, and beautiful in the fall; Harajuku

Once we'd finished our tour of Takeshita Dori, we free-navigated (how we usually found our way around) our way towards a store we had previously been at to get a few more things we thought of, but unfortunately they were closed. Who closes every Thursday? Crazy I tell you, crazy! Put off by the primary reason we came back to Harajuku being closed, it was time to venture off the beaten path a bit (in a megalopolis, that just means wandering onto back-streets). There were a few stores here and there, but none that really stuck out as anything we were looking for. It was kind of like stepping around the back side of a stage set building. On Meiji-Dori, for example, there are a lot of people, big shiny buildings, stores, sounds, etc., but step behind them even one block and it is an incredibly quiet residential section.

Tokyo, in general, is a pretty quiet city. Sure there are exceptions, especially in malls where several small stores are packed closely together and each are playing their own music, but even walking along sidewalks with more people than Michigan Avenue could muster on Black Friday it is calm, quiet, and reserved. Everyone talks to each other in a quiet, respectful volume. The roar of the crows is more of a murmur. This contributes to the workers at stores being able to bark their wares without being loud. Not to mention they are almost always young girls who have perfected the pitch and volume of their voice to be present, but not intrusive.

For someone, like me, who has issues with sounds and noises, this city has been a dream. Once we let go and stopped trying to act like we were in Chicago it became so peaceful and calm. Like the active practicing of Zen at all times. That will be one of the things we will miss most; that and the food!

Left to Right: A Tokyo Residence, I think I know who cabled this, and a quiet residential street

From the neighborhoods of Harajuku we journeyed back again to Shibuya and visited Hachikō once more. His scarf was gone this time, though, and we also stopped into a decommissioned JR Line rail car that had been converted into a tourism information center. Inside was an elderly man seated behind a sign which read "Ask Us Anything About Shibuya". My first question to him was where the brass paw prints were that marked the precise location Hachikō waiting, but he knew of no such thing and said that the station has changed and been rebuilt many times since then, and the exact spot is likely inaccessible now. He was, however, impressed with how much about Hachikō I already knew. Most people tend to pop in and ask "What's up with that dog statue?" I also asked him about where to find a certain store type.

Yoyogi 1st Gymnasium

Fresh with advice we headed off to the streets of Shibuya and walked for several blocks ending up, again, off the typical route. After a while we began to suspect that perhaps we were heading in the wrong directly (too many hills and unfamiliar buildings in the area to free-navigate as easily). We did come across the NHK broadcast building, which was a significant landmark. Map time; yes, we were definitely going the wrong way. A course correction and a few minutes later we passed the Yoyogi 1st Gymnasium. This beautiful building was built for the 1964 Olympic games and has continued to house numerous sports and cultural activities.

Just South of Cosplay Bridge

Afterward we found 'Cosplay Bridge' (Jingu Bashi Bridge) but sadly there were no cosplayers. Apparently the youth of Japan are rather strict on their scheduling because they have all pre-coordinated that Sunday is when they don their costumes of their favorite manga characters & other Otaku attire and hang out on that bridge. So here are a few pictures from around the bridge. Sorry; I tried... A quick Google search will yield many example pictures, just not mine.

The bridge can be seen on the far left of the image

This was a mesuem, which was close, just behind the bridge

A view of the bridge itself, devoid of cosplayers

We weren't finding the stores were wanted, the people we hoped, and even tried to get lost. It was as though Tokyo was trying to keep us from leaving to return home in the morning. From Jingu Bashi bridge we walked back into Harajuku some more before dragging ourselves back to Harajuku Station for a return trip to Shinjuku via the JR line. After buying our tickets it occurred to us that we were trying to take the train during rush hour, and we were a little nervous about having to be pressed into the train so the doors could close (it's a thing here on some lines).

Exhausted we sat while waiting for the train, rather than standing behind the green queue line on the ground, and enjoyed a couple minutes rest. Before we could say "my legs hurt" our train arrived so we got in line and moved to the left side of the door. Once the passengers exiting the train were off it was our turn to get on, and this time the car was pretty crowded. I went first and squeezed into a spot leaving just enough room for the Art Girl to stand between me and the door. After us, however, more people packed in and we became, without moving, another layer deeper. On all four sides, people were in contact with me. Not really pressing into, but touching enough to have a foot or two of contact. The interesting part was how the group moved with the train; much like when walking with crowds, while riding the rails in Tokyo, just let the train move you, don't try to anticipate or move the train. Everyone around me all swayed in synchronous with the movement of the train. As my body shifted, so did all those around me. There was no push-back, no resistance or surprise, it just was what they did, and it worked.

Entrance to the food floor

Arrival at Shinjuku station was a little more hectic because so many were trying to depart the train at the same time, but not having a swathe of people waiting to get on standing right in front of the door was greatly helpful. We, again, moved with the flow and were soon down and out of the main JR line area. From here we attempted to locate one more store we had been looking for and realized it was really a train ride away. That was more than we could do, but we found a department store nearby in the train station we hadn't hit yet so we decided to check it out. The bulk of the store was like most places here. Full of stuff you could find back home in Chicago. They like our culture so much, it seems, that they reflect it in all the goods geared towards local shoppers. Whether it be American phrases and logos on the edgy clothing for the Japanese youth, high-end brand names like Ralph Lauren, Tiffany & Co, Chanel, etc. for the more affluent, and everything in-between, it truly was just like shopping in the states. What we would call food courts, however, are markedly different. The basement of the last department store we visited had an incredible array of foods and other consumables. So blown away were we that we had to wander through it a second time.

People and food everywhere, tightly packed yet easy to move through

A couple more views of the bazaar of foods

After all the walking and shopping, even The Art Girl was done. We had walked 10km (6.2 miles) today, which by itself isn't too bad until you consider we'd walked the same every day since Sunday (50km / 31 miles) and that doesn't include the walking in stores and barely ever sitting. Our entire stay, the only mode of travel we used was by foot, and by light rail. That really felt easiest. There was a bus that would take you to Shinjuku Station from the hotel, but that walk was only 1km (0.62 miles) one way and seemed like waiting for a bus was just unnecessary. Each morning we wake up more stiff and sore, but it's all been worth it. Oh how we will miss Tokyo gently moving us from place to place amid the quiet din of its denizens.

We never actually buy this much, but keep winning extra stuff because of our combined purchasing

Realizing we were hungry, it was time for one last sampling of interesting looking convenient food. This time we included some Japanese beer and some chips that I think were coated with a soy fish sauce. As always, were not disappointed with the variety of flavor and surprise. The biggest came in a bottle of "Royal Milk Tea" we had won. It was warm, and we never saw them heat it up, so they must have kept it warm somewhere. It was pretty tasty, as was the tiramisu and custard-like pie slice.

 It was clear to us, as we were going over all the brochures, maps and pamphlets we had collected that we saw so little of what Tokyo has to offer. You could easily come here for a fifteen day vacation, and spend all of it in one district, and still not fully explore all that district has to offer. It would really take living here for an extended period of time to feel like you have truly seen all of Tokyo. Perhaps that would make for less stiff and sore mornings because you wouldn't feel the need to get to as much as possible in one day.

Some of my final thoughts on our trip are:

• We know very little (as a whole) about Japan and its culture and people, but they know so much about us and other 'western' nations. Many of them are in love with the western sense of individuality, as opposed to the strong sense of group here. Much of what makes Tokyo great is a result of their societal togetherness and respect for one another. I hope in their quest for individuality they do not go too far and become the social isolationists we have.
• Everything they eat is incredible, either because it is bizarre and still tasty or because it is so outright delicious. Almost everything is something other than what you expect, especially not being able to read the language. Even things we thought difficult, we managed to eat all of and never got sick. A couple times our bodies protested the extreme differences, but never was it bad or problematic. It really was just a result of so much different stuff, nothing bad or dangerous.
• Tokyo is a model of efficiency and design. Everything appears confusing and labyrinth like, but it all really does work when you let it. The trains operate very smoothly, and while there are thousands people moving in every direction at at once they do so seamlessly without every bumping into each other. Plus, if you ever truly are lost or can't figure out what to do, it won't take long for someone who speaks decent English to spot you and ask if you need help.
• They really enjoy when we put forth the effort to communicate. Much of people's lives seem very routine, like they're just going through the motions and following the pattern of the day. Then along we come; at first they greet us the same way every time (they actually have scripts to follow in retail stores), but since our reactions tend to be off-script, when I say something to them in Japanese, they light up. Big smiles are easy to come by, and even if it's just to say "sorry, I don't speak Japanese," they do everything they can to work with us and figure it out.

There will probably be more thoughts on our 9 hour flight to LAX, and I may post additional follow-ups or even thoughts on experiences once we return home, but this is my final post from Tokyo. We're sad to leave, we're sad to end such a miraculous experience, and we're sad to stop sharing all this with you. Because of how well this all went, and how much we enjoyed making this blog for you (not to mention the great reception we received) we have started discussing the idea of taking more trips (even domestic) and blogging about them. Maybe not to the extent of an international trip, like if we go to see family in Michigan, but at least parts that are stand out.

敬具 (Keigu) / Best regards,

Geek