Day 2 in Tokyo.

I woke up this morning at 7.30 local time (that means 6.30 in Hong Kong) completely unassisted. Because of the fact that I didn’t really go out much last night (or more like there wasn’t anything in the vicinity of Akihabara that allowed me to be walking around), I had a fairly early lie-in yesterday night.

My first destination was Mitaka, where the Mitaka Forest Ghibli Museum is located. For the first time since coming into Japan, I wasn’t travelling only on the JR Yamanote Line, instead I was on the JR Chuo Line, of which the trains look like this:

The lady inside the picture actually looked quite pretty. Somehow most of the Japanese ladies that I managed to come across just seem prettier than those in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and Singapore (in no specific order though I can’t help you if you insist I do).

The Ghibli Museum was one of a kind, because it houses all the works done by the world-acclaimed animator, Hayao Miyazaki. If this name doesn’t ring a bell, then titles such as “My Neighbour Totoro”, “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Spirited Away” certainly would. There were many interesting things to see in the museum, including the fim strips of the films, the raw sketches of the characters, etc… it was a fascinating place. Even though today is a Friday, the place was still full of families who came to see all the cute things associated with Miyazaki’s animations.

The bus stop at Mitaka for the bus to the museum.

The bus – it wasn’t a big one, but then the trip wasn’t that long, so it was still fine.

The museum from the outside. The sad thing was that photography wasn’t allowed inside the museum – and the best thing was everyone was all obeying the rules and I really did not see anyone taking a picture inside the museum. Imagine if it’s museums in China or Hong Kong – you would probably see heaps of people doing the paparazzi and snapping picture like nobody’s business.

The “icon” of the museum, and one of the few spots where photography was allowed. See the happy faces on the kids.

After the Ghibli Museum, I took a walk to Kichijoji. The walk from the museum to Kichijoji Town Centre took me through a park where I saw many swans:

Of course when I mean swans I mean those which you pay about 600 yen and ride on the small lake.

Kichijoji.

The main attraction of Kichijoji for me wasn’t all the shops (actually shops everywhere are the same), but my “lunch”:

The first picture was a beef meatball (hot and tasty, something that you can’t get enough of) and the second one is a koroke (or potato pie) which wasn’t as warm, but just as nice. Anyway the shop that sells these great stuffs is called Satou, and it’s well-known in not just Kichijoji, but across Japan. The queue outside the shop was testament to that. And apparently all Hong Kong travel guidebooks would recommend this place. I forgot to take a picture of the shop, but if you need to find out how the place looks like, just Google “吉祥寺 サトウ”.

After Kichijoji, I headed towards Ikebukuro, where my hotel is located.

The thing about Tokyo (so far) is that the streets all look the same to me.

I spent about an hour walking around Ikebukuro, going into shopping centres and big malls just to check out what they sell. With me being a gadget guy, Japan is about the best place that I can ever go to.

One of the stores for Bic Camera, one of the biggest chains in Tokyo – it has 5 stores in Ikebukuro alone. Take that.

After checking into my hotel, I had a quick rest before heading out to Shinjuku. It’s like, I don’t think you can claim that you’ve been to Tokyo if you have not been to Shinjuku. When I was there at about 7pm, the place was really buzzing.

Lumine Est – I’m so glad that I did not come with a female companion.

Downtown Shinjuku. Also full of neon lights, but I don’t think you would even contemplate comparing these neon lights to those in, let say, Shanghai.

And of course, a visit to Shinjuku would not be complete without checking out the famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) Kabukicho!

The signage showing Kabukicho – I think this is about the most easily identifyable sign of the district.

See the pictures of all the guys on the billboards? I think the closest term I have for them would be male PRs, and I’m quite sure one of their job scopes would be to drink with their customers (presumably female).

There’s no escaping the Little Sheep – and I think this outlet must be the most expensive Little Sheep outlet in this world. Just think about the cost of living in Japan and I think that’s clear enough.

I spent close to 2 hours in Shinjuku, basically doing a fair bit of shopping. The highlight of the shopping trip has to be the visit to RECOfan, a second hand CD shop located in the 7th floor of Seibu Shinjuku Pepe – I bought a grand total of 8 CDs for just 6500 yen. The cheapest one I got was at a criminal price of 100 yen! Of course these second hand CDs were not really the newest ones – for example the oldest one I bought, which was Speed’s (anyone remember them?) Starting Over, was actually first released in 1997 – 11 years ago. That piece cost me 380 yen, or HKD27. Amazing.

On my way out of Shinjuku, I came across this:

Hello Kitty. It’s everywhere in Japan, I presume.

Before taking the metro to head back to Ikebukuro, I decided that I want to do something really Japanese – that’s to eat at a noddle kiosk!

First, insert money into this ticket vending machine. Then choose what you want. Whenever you press for an item, a ticket would be dispensed. Pick up the tickets and pass it to the guy behind the counter. And then…

… a bowl of ramen is ready in about a minute! (Though I think what I had was soba instead of ramen – boy I can’t tell the difference!)

And the Tokyo Metro (the private subway company in Tokyo and contributor of the highly messed-up system map but highly efficient subway system) is running a courtesy campaign with very interesting posters:

You can see the whole series at the Tokyo Metro website.

Would be having another packed itinerary tomorrow – and I’m especially looking forward to going to Odaiba!