Shinjuku, Tokyo

First published: 21 Apr 2012

Shinjuku by night;

as seen from the Park Hyatt Hotel New York Bar.

Towards the end of March in the school Spring vacation, two companions and I left Takamatsu for one week to head up to Tohoku to do some volunteer work. Travelling with Rainer Wessels and Danny Blackwell, the three of us made our way up to Ishinomaki to work with the volunteer organisation 'It's Not Just Mud' in some of the areas worst affected by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami disaster last year.

It was quite the adventure, full of a range of mixed emotions, which shall be the subject of a few of my next blog posts! However, in transit, our party would be required to take a night bus in Tokyo on the Saturday evening. Seeing as we had all of Saturday free, Rainer and I decided to make the most of the opportunity; to leave Takamatsu early on Saturday morning and spend the day in Shinjuku. After a minor cock-up with my bus timetable, which caused us to arrive around half an hour later than intended, Rainer and I arrived - laden with our gear for a week in Ishinomaki - and proceeded to tour Shinjuku.

Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Skyscrapers aplenty!

Let me get this out of the way first, though; Tokyo is absolutely bloody huge. There is no way you could fit it all into one trip. Shinjuku is only one of the 23 "special wards" - former districts of Tokyo city that actually have their own city status within Tokyo - and there are (according to my old friend, Wikipedia) another 26 cities besides (!) - plus towns and villages. Tokyo is seemingly not classed as an individual city in Japan, but rather as a "metropolitan area" - a collection of many cities back-to-back, and is the largest "metropolitan area" in the world. As such, any tourist would have a heck of a lot of exploring to do - Takamatsu seems incredibly small by comparison!

Shinjuku is one of these central areas in Tokyo; a huge area filled with hotels, restaurants, shopping, administrative centres... and - most strikingly for me - huge skyscrapers.

The monolithic Cocoon Tower.

A unique egg-like structure that stands out from the crowd.

It was the area where we new JETs first stayed when we arrived in Japan (in the Keio Plaza Hotel - see my blog post for details!). Of course, I hadn't been back to Tokyo since those first few days at JET orientation (!) - save for two brief stops in transit when going home to and returning from Scotland at Christmas time. As such, this was a great opportunity to go back and explore the areas around the hotel - to see more (certainly not all!) of what we had missed the first time around, and to soak up some of the Tokyo atmosphere.

Soup time! A starving Rainer and I go for some 'Soup de France'

for sustenance under Shinjuku station. It was absolutely fantastic.

Our initial plan when arriving was to ditch our bags in a station locker and to move swifty on to exploration. However, after wasting approximately half an hour looking for locker space, we concluded that Shinjuku was just too damn busy to actually find any (the station was - of course - packed). Realising the only way forward was to carry our luggage around with us, we decided to stop for respite at a small soup shop hiding under Shinjuku station (where our luggage took up almost all of the interior space!).

Coming from the United Kingdom, the expectations for shops around train stations were naturally quite low, but this was some first-class gourmet-cuisine! Pretty cheap, but absolutely delicious. The 'Soup de France' varieties were quite ambitious - different broths with an obvious French influence (though this might not be too surprising, as Shinjuku has a large French immigrant population and even a 'Little Paris' district - which, regrettably, we wouldn't have time to see on this visit!). I settled on a beef-stroganoff variety with a crusty roll side dish; it felt exactly like I was in Paris again (except, you know, for all the Japanese).

Spring is here! The petals begin to bloom in Shinjuku.

Hobbling along with all of our bags, we headed towards our first destination; the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. This huge structure was promised to offer spectacular views of the Tokyo skyline from it's twin observatories, which are open to the public for viewing. Rainer and I had decided very early on that this would be the best way to see the sheer scale and size of Tokyo from up above - yet finding the building proved to be a challenge in of itself! Shinjuku was so damned large that we were constantly checking our Google Maps references on our iPhones. Struggling along without a shred of grace under the skyscrapers, we navigated our way to the building.

Upon finding it, however, the next challenge presented itself to us; how the hell would we get inside the damn thing!?

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

offers breathtaking views from its twin observatories.

Rainer and I approached the building from what felt like every conceivable angle, walking around and getting completely confused. We could see tourits inside on the ground level, but no doorway was open to the public - and was guarded by security personnel. This famous tourist attraction seemed impenetrable! Luckily, this searching around the perimeter gave us amble opportunity to explore the surrounding area around the building - which proved to have plenty of attractions of its own.

Ladybugs at the base of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bldg.

Plenty of amusement to be had whilst we searched for a way inside!

Rainer is perplexed by the unusual scultpures.

I have no idea what this is meant to be.

Looks neat, though.

This also lead to another great discovery - our first viewing of a Sakura (cherry blossom) tree!

Sakura! The first time Rainer and I had seen one in Japan.

Beautiful.

This was quite a surprise! We hadn't anticipated seeing the bloom so early (there hadn't been any indications of it occurring yet in Takamatsu), yet here it was; gorgeous pink leaves on a solitary tree. It was clearly one of the first to begin blossoming, and hadn't fully done so, yet was still a beautiful sight to behold. We stopped for plenty of photographs; far too many than I can share here!

Eventually, we discovered the entrance - a staircase leading underground, to a basement lobby area. Passing through a huge line of tourists (how did we miss them all?), we were processed by security (which involved having our bags checked - quite a feat, considering we were both packed for a week in Tohoku!) and made our way to the top of the South skyscraper observatory.

What we saw was mind-blowing.

  Tokyo, as seen from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

The city extends onto the horizon in every conceivable direction.

I can honestly say I have never seen anything like this view. While Osaka as seen from the Uemeda Sky Building gave a similar impression of expanse into the horizon, even it seemed to pale in comparison to what we saw from up here. Osaka's skyline was broken up by huge bodies of water and mountains just on the horizon; here, there was literally no break for the natural landscape - just complete urbanisation as far as the eye could see. The effect was akin to seeing something like Coruscant from the Star Wars prequels in real life (thankfully, without all of the crappy CGI effects, too!).

Whilst there, I couldn't resist the temptation to test out the full capabilities of my zoom lens...

 

That's a pretty good zoom. Hi, folks!

Unfortunately, unlike the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka, there were no outdoor areas to stare out at the skyline from - which made taking photographs through the glass a little difficult. Regardless, the views themselves have stuck with me - it was incredible to see just how damned big Tokyo actually is. It's inconceivably huge.

World-famous brands; everybody wants a BMW.

Coming down from what felt like the top of the world, we proceeded to our next destination; the Park Hyatt Hotel. You may know this hotel from movies like... oh, I dunno? Something called Lost In Translation?

Yes. That one.

Bill Murray was here!

We headed first for the small cafe area at the base of the hotel, outside of the main building. This was a beautiful coffee-shop style area; a welcoming, classy environment with great food and a variety of delicious coffees and cakes. Slightly overwhelmed by the spectacle of Tokyo's expanse, a well-earned coffee and cake break was required to recuperate.

Classy.

One thing that I had noticed was how surprisingly quiet this area was on the streets; there were people around, of course, but not as many as I'd expected to see around this iconic location, especially in comparison to the other busy areas around Shinjuku. I'm not sure I can account for why this was - the interior of the building was completely mobbed, but outside seemed strangely still - not in a bad way, but rather quite peaceful.

As the sky was beginning to clear, we decided to relax in the outside seating area, which gave us a great view of the courtyard of the building. The lack of pedestrians gave us a pleasant environment to relax, chill, and discuss our forthcoming adventure (and to check our Facebook updates, naturally).

Coffee in the coutryard. That banoffee cake was pretty damn good.

More shots from the cafe interior. This felt like a tourist destination in of itself!

Wisely avoiding souvenirs from the gift shop - a habit I all-too frequently give into! - we proceeded up a nearby staircase towards the entrance of the hotel. Not exactly wearing our Sunday-finest (and carrying heavy suitcases and rucksacks), we expected to be immediately turned away at the door - this was a classy establishment, after all, and we didn't think they would let just any olf riff-raff inside. We assumed it was a gamble, but figured we would go for broke. As we approached the front door, we were spotted by a suited man standing near the doorway who ran towards us - it felt like our fears had been justified.

Yet this was not so. Simply asking if we were staying with the hotel, or just visiting, he recommended a place for us to leave our bags and pointed us in the direction of where we wanted to go (the lobby and the bars). We were welcomed in with open arms - something that was completely unexpected, considering we thought we would essentially be sneaking in! Travelling up to the first floor of the hotel (towards the top of the huge building which houses it), we began to explore this beautiful and iconic film setting.

A sunset from the Park Hyatt Hotel.

Rainer and I pose within the famous corridors.

I took plenty of video footage in these corridors, too; when I get my video blog (vlog!) up and running on YouTube, I'll be putting a little video of our Park Hyatt adventures up there. I actually took far more video than I did photographs!

Mt. Fuji silhouettes the sunset over Shinjuku.

Of course, one location within the hotel was the primary destination; the New York City bar on the 52nd floor.

Everyone knows this bar from Lost in Translation. It's iconic - from the moment when Bill Murray meets Scarlett Johansson, to his later drinking in solitude as the piano is played and he is wooed by the singer, it all took place in this iconic location. We knew, of course, that this was where we had to go. Once again, we were warmly welcomed.

Complimentary snacks in the New York City Bar.

 Kanpai!

Ordering a Scotch whisky (I'm nothing if not enthusiastic for my home nation), whilst Rainer enjoyed a glass of red wine, we relaxed for an hour with the sense that a pilgrimage had been accomplished.

An impressive array of Scotch Whisky on the drinks menu.

Our timing turned out to be perfect; we had arrived in the bar as the sun began to set, giving us an opportunity to watch as the lights dimmed and the night drew in. Not only did the bar now feel exactly like it had in the film, but the sheer quality and atmosphere of the environment really began apparent - this was a classy establishment, and we felt incredibly lucky to be there.

The lights dim at the New York City bar.

It felt like stepping directly inside the movie.

Of course, as the lights faded inside, they lit up brilliantly out. The view from the windows was absolutely incredible; the exact iconography one expects of Tokyo by night. Again, the reflective glass made taking photographs incredibly difficult, but those views were really something (luckily, I managed to get at least one decent shot - the one at the very top of this blog post!). We tried and failed to take plenty of pictures; mostly failing due to the limitations of our equipment. Without a tripod, getting a long exposure proved very difficult to produce stable shots!

At last, we made our way back down onto the city streets, as Danny was arriving from Takamatsu, who would meet us for dinner in the evening. We had only a few hours left before we would be taking our night bus to Ishinomaki (and while the cake and coffee was good, once again, we were ravenous).

Shinjuku by night. If only we had more time!

Catching up with Danny at Shinjuku station, we proceeded to a local izakaya for drinks and dinner (where the cameras were decisively switched off!). We spent our final hours in Shinjuku just relaxing and having fun. It felt good to spend some time just taking it easy - we knew we were going to be in for a week of heavy manual labour, and as such we felt a need to soak up the maximum amount of relaxation time in preparation. After dinner (where Danny's expert command of Japanese came in extremely handy for swift ordering), we headed out in search of a cake shop for dessert - but to no avail! - and so settled on a Starbucks. Where Danny felt a compulsion to plank...

Plank time with Danny Blackwell!

...and I spilled a hot coffee all over myself and the girl sitting at the table next to me. Whoops!

Eventually, around midnight, we made our way onto the night bus around midnight, and began our overnight journey to Ishinomaki. We had a great time in Shinjuku, but it was honestly all-too brief. Even though we'd spent almost a full day there, Rainer and I both felt (like everywhere else I've been in Japan) that were was still so much here that we just didn't have time to do in one trip. Add another one to the list of places I have to return to...

Shinjuku was beautiful, but I can't help but feel a yearning desire to go back and explore it even further. Having said that, I can solace that at least one great thing was accomplished. I went to the hotel where Lost in Translation was filmed.

Needless to say, as a film buff, I feel a rather great deal of pride about this - and I sincerely hope that it's made my friends back home more than a little jealous!

Osaka Christmas Fun

Osaka: a neon-neo city of vibrancy, colours and crazy costumes.

So... why not head there before Christmas?

(from left to right) Alasdair Adams, Michael Upsher and I
pose for a festive photograph in the Uemeda Sky Building.
Feel the love!

Alasdair Adams and Michael Upsher are good friends of mine who I met back at the London Orientation for JET in July 2011. Alisdair is a fellow Scotsman who actually shares many mutual friends of mine in Scotland (though we didn't meet until JET!), whilst Michael is not Scottish but has ginger hair and thus blends in perfectly. Unfortunately, we hadn't had an opportunity to catch up since the Tokyo Orientation, despite numerous attempts to organise trips around Japan together. As such, we made a decision to catch up before the new year, and the decision was simple; Osaka.

The streets of Osaka prove to be a constant feast for the eyes.

Though I was a novice, Alasdair was an experienced Osaka man and was keen to show me the sights. Due to a last-minute addition to the schedule, however (a surprise enkai from the teachers at Katsuga), I was unable to make our scheduled meeting date of Friday 2nd December. So, Al and Michael headed down on the Friday evening, with me joining them early on the Saturday morning for two days of Osaka magic.

A startling discovery; a PSVITA demo site!

We would have played, but the queue was massive...

First port of call in Osaka was - predictably - Starbucks on Dotonbori. One would suspect we had more cultural pursuits in mind, and normally we would have, but honestly it was fun just to have a chance to finally catch up! We decided not to stress over cramming in the tourism, and instead to focus on just enjoying ourselves at our own pace. In retrospect, it was still a great decision.

After our coffee refreshements, we walked and subway-ed through the incredibly busy streets of Osaka towards the Uemeda Sky Building. This iconic building is famous for it's sky garden, and stands at a cracking 170 metres (!) tall. One of those buildings where your ears will pop on the way up the lift... Of course, it was bloody freezing at the top, but what a view! The height is immediately noticeable on the lift down, too (the ground certainly looks like it's approaching rather fast!). To put things in perspective, we were actually looking down on helipads on the skyscraper buildings beneath us.

The Uemeda Sky Building! 170 metres tall... Pretty chilly.

Michael and Adam survey the amazing skyline.
The spectacular views from the Uemeda Sky Building were
some of the most breathtaking I've experienced in Japan.

As well as getting some incredible views from the open rooftop of the building (which included some surreal / helpful signs asking us not to jump off - no problem!), the interior had been decked out with some festive accessories - including decorations, a stand for photography (see the three of us huddled together in a love heart!), and rows of string hanging against the windows. Visitors were invited to make their wishes for 2012. Of course, you can see what Alasdair and I had on our minds...

Two Scotsmen dream in vain of Scottish Premiere League
glory for their local football teams...

At the base of the Uemeda Sky Building was a pleasant and welcome surprise; a German Christmas Market, just like the ones that are scattered across the UK every year! It was very striking but in no way out of place - a testament of the rapid speed at which Japan has adopted the festive season. We grabbed ourselves some traditional Glühwein (of course) - though the woman that served us was neither German nor Japanese, but actually a (rather attractive) French woman who could speak all those languages in addition to English. Certainly a multicultural experience.

Christmas market fun! A surprisingly European

display in the heart of a Japanese city.

True story: A young Japanese girl was more scared

by us foreigners that she was of this troll.

After a quick stop-off for donuts and onsen, the evening was spent exploring the spectacular sights of night-time Dotonbori - an incredible neon street filled with high buildings and bars, clubs, restaurants and fast-food stands. The costumes on display were incredible - it actually felt like a prelude to Akihabara! Osaka has a reputation of being something of a "party" city - and it didn't disappointed. It's a vastly different experience to Kyoto by night, anyway.

So pretty... the neon lights of the famous and iconic Dotonbori street.

We spent the evening in a rather relaxed fashion, actually! After some lovely Mexican food (not exactly the local speciality, I'll admit), we headed on to a number of bars around the city, where we basically just chilled out!

Our party made it's way around several bars, a few late-night food stalls, and an evening stroll around Dotonbori before retiring to the hotel. Perhaps our age was catching up with us, but as I said; this trip wasn't so much about living it up, it was more about just about catching up with good friends. And this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Fun in the Osaka nightlife! A busy izikaya
with plenty of food and drink.

The next day was spent in a similar fashion; just exploring the scenery... and there was plenty to see!

After a speedy retreat from the capsule hotel (waking up ten minutes before the checkout time - which sadly led to Michael being overchaged for a late exit!), and we were picking up another excellent Starbucks breakfast (clearly - we are truly Westeners). Walking around town in the early morning, it became apparent that Osaka was just as bustling and busy at this time as at night. While Takamatsu is often quiet and peaceful in the early hours of the morning, Osaka proved to be a complete contrast - definitely a city with it's own culture.

Not quite sure what's happening here.
What's up with the bird?

A trip to the (*huge!*) Don Quiote just off Dotonbori offered a unique opportunity both to buy some excellent Japanese-style Christmas presents and to discover some rather provocative and explicit t-shirts (the likes of which certainly will not be posted here!).

Perhaps not what you'd think of when you consider Osaka (or indeed, Japan in general), but we happened upon an excellent Turkish ice-cream stall that specialised in it's unique take on ice cream. As well as being suitably delicious, it stood right next to a competitor with a typically Japanese icon flaunting his recognised associated wares.

...actually; scratch that. I have no idea what Spider-Man is doing selling ice cream.

Ice Cream in December.
You know it makes Spidey-sense.

After getting our Christmas shopping in the bag, there was only one thing left to do; grab some lunch, and head on back home.

Finally, at last, we did something "cultural" and sampled the local delicacies - the takoyaki.

Takoyaki!

Along with okinomiyaki (a dish I sadly never sampled myself), takoyaki is one of the iconic Osaka dishes and common all around Japan. I was going to talk about it in my earlier post regarding Japanese foods, but decided to save it for this entry instead, as it's so heavily associated with the city of Osaka.

So, what is it? Basically, these are small dough balls that are cooked until lightly crispy (with a doughy centre), filled with various vegetable fillings and - the core of the dish - diced octopus. The process involves cooking the dough mix on a specially shaped tray before adding the fillings as the dough begins to set, before covering with more mix and rotating to form the distinct ball shape. As the dough is typically flipped and moulded using very small sticks, actually just watching the way in which takoyaki is prepared can be an experience in itself (luckily, I was lucky enough to try making them myself when my friend Hiroko and her husband invited me to their house for dinner)!

 Takoyaki is prepared at one of the street stalls.

The entire cooking process is fascinating to watch.

The name becomes quite obvious in Japanese - tako (octopus) and yaki (cooked). Let this be a word of warning to you; if you ever try to order a "taco" in Japan, just make sure you're getting the right one, or else you may end up with a meal with more legs than you imagined.

However, if you're like me and you enjoy trying new foods, you'll discover that both octopus (of which I've been a fan for a long time) and takoyaki are delicious. Usually served with a meaty or soy-sauce based dipping sauce (as seen above), they're a perfect street snack that feels both distinctly Japanese and perfect for either a quick bite or a full meal (depending on the number you order).

Yet the one thing we hadn't anticipated was just how high the demand actually was...

 The lunch-time queues for Osaka's famous takoyaki.
Well worth waiting for.

We were waiting quite a while, but our patience was rewarded. For my money, takoyaki is one of the best snacks you can buy on the street across Japan - and if you haven't tried it yet, you're really missing out.

Finally, we were done. One fast sprint back to the train station for Alasdair to catch his train later, and it was man-hugs all round. These guys are cool. I hope I'll be able to see a whole lot more of them this year.

And, there's Osaka! Well, a whirlwind tour of it. Honestly, this barely counts as a visit. Osaka is an amazing city, and definitely left both a good impression and a thirst to go back and explore more of what it has to offer, but we didn't go out of our way to explore or seek out cultural expeditions. Certainly, there was so much more that I wanted to see, and intend to do so next time, but I've no regrets about that weekend.

This trip was just about spending quality time with friends and having some fun. Sometimes, even in Japan, that's all you really need.