Tokyo」タグアーカイブ

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year, everyone!  A little late, but better late than never, as they say.  I had a lovely New Years spent with some guest house friends.  We went to Izu, a prefecture that is a bit of drive from Tokyo.  The nearest part of Izu is not that far away but getting to the tip of the peninsula takes some time.  We stayed at a place close to Shimoda on the tip of Izu.  The owner was a crazy old lady with many stories to tell, very memorable.  We ate delicious food including very fresh raw fish, fish burgers, soba and mochi.  It was a really nice trip.  The view from the place we stayed was awesome as well.  I really liked Izu.  It is the perfect mix of mountains and ocean.  I highly recommend it.  I hope everyone had a nice New Years!  Ready to start the new year off right?!

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Let’s Take a Walk

Tokyo is a metropolis full of various places all jam packed in a small area.  The boundaries of all these cities are vague but due to and depending on the main roads and train stations in Tokyo and the sort of isolation they create, each city seems to be able to establish it’s own special characteristic or style.

Walking south along the Yamanote line from Shinjuku station, a station which connects Tokyo to various other prefectures, you can see an assortment of very different people and their respective “cities”. Within one hour you will pass the prep school and central park-esque city of Yoyogi, to the fashion capital of Harajuku to the young people mecca of Shibuya to the slightly high-class city of Ebisu.  Not only does the atmosphere of these “villages” change quite a bit but so do the people.  Even moving away from the previously mentioned area and thinking about the second hand bookstore hub of Kanda to the techie/maid cafe enthusiast town of Akihabara, it becomes clear that each place in the heart of Tokyo makes a very different impression on the people who live there to the people who visit.

For tourists, Tokyo has one of the best train systems in the world.  Amazingly punctual (to the point where is it scary!), it makes such a hugely packed place easy to navigate.  However, I recommend you throw that train ticket away and put on your walking shoes because watching the places and the people change as you make your way from station to station is far more interesting.