Ever wanted to take a bike ride through the central business district of the largest city in the world on the day when nobody is conducting business there? Fantastic! You're gonna be very envious when I tell you that's exactly what we did today.
Bright and early, around 830am, we hopped on the trusty Yamanote Line to head over to Kanda. There, we met up with a tour group from Cycling Holiday Tokyo. Our tour guide Jenny-san showed off their fancy electric assist bicycles, which were a technological marvel for a boy from the sticks like me ("You mean ta say them bikes are actually motorbikes what can help us pedal? What a marvelous country y'all have! Japan's livin' in the future!"). (Angie: I had done an e-bike tour with Jenny-san in 2024 during my solo trip so I was very excited to see her again! I did make them worry because we were 5 minutes late to the meeting time, so I made sure to bow and gomen-nasai profusely. Luckily they didn't seem to mind and were just relieved we weren't lost and everything was okay. I was happy to show off Jeff to her!)
Our group also included two very nice ladies from Seattle, Cassie and Steph. I am guessing at the spelling, as I never saw them written down. It was fun to meet some fellow Americans with a similar outlook on Japan travel (seeing the out-of-the-way spots to make sure to get a better view of the reality of the place, that kinda thing). Jenny-san asked the group about their trips so far, if we knew any Japanese, and then quizzed us on some basics of the language. I, being a dutiful dweeb, did not answer until after giving the ladies with us (who were on their first trip to Japan) a chance to answer. Jenny-san seemed very excited any time I knew correct words or bits of trivia about the country (she was particularly impressed I knew who Hattori Hanzo was, though I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was because I played way too much Samurai Showdown in college) (I was wondering what weeby thing taught you that name! I figured it was some anime with genderbent historical figures like that one with waifu Ieyasu) [We don't talk about Hyakka Ryouran in front of polite company.]. I'm sure I earned a lot of Good At Answering Questions On A Tour points, which are a real thing that I'm certain everyone tracks throughout their day to day life.
The tour started with a roll through of the Otemachi financial district where Jenny-san very thoroughly explained that it was Sunday and that all the Salarymen were off work today. Also that drinks there cost nearly ten times what they do over in Kanda, which is a more working-class neighborhood. (She showed us an office building with a nice brick façade and said that the outer part was new, but inside it is very old (and run down) but it was once the tallest building in the area, until the rich businesses moved in, but they made sure the outside looks nice so they can brag about being The Oldest Building That Was Once The Tallest.)
Then, on to Tokyo Station to see the third busiest station in the world. Most people who use the station never see the outside, as it's primarily a transfer hub for regional transit to local transit. Angie and I have seen it loads of times, though. Because we're cool like that. There was a flower arrangement display, tied to Pokemon's 30th Anniversary (frick, I'm old). (She also showed us that the architect supposedly based Tokyo Station off of Amsterdam Central Station, a place we have never been but Cassie and Steph have. Points for them this time!)
Our next stop was the area around the Imperial Palace. Several gates, of varying historical significance. (I learned that there are two gates that all are at right angles to each other at a short distance so that when they rode in on their horses, the horses couldn't quickly change direction, they would close both gates to trap them, and then shoot them full of arrows. The horses would be perfectly fine and survive, of course, we and CasSteph concluded.) We rode past the Nippon Budokan, famed home of both Sumo and The Beatles. One of them is an ancient performance where 800+ pounds solemnly perform in front of thousands of serious and hidebound fans, and the other is Sumo. (She said "Budou" or all of the sacred, Japanese Martial Arts. She was very intent on making sure the sanctity of this sacred place where traditional sports were played for hundreds of years was forever tarnished starting with the audacious Beatles demanding to perform a concert there. And they weren't even Japanese! She had a list of all the non-Japanese people that went on to also demand they perform their concerts in this martial arts hall, of which Eric Clapton seemed to be a repeat offender.)
We were on our way past Yasukuni Jinja, a shrine that is famed for a yearly remembrance ceremony related to the end of WWII, when we started noticing a *lot* of police. Like, *a lot* a lot. Like, "The President Is About To Announce Something Very Unpopular And Is Worried The People Will Revolt" a lot. Jenny-san tried to talk to a few of the police nearby, who were in the process of putting up barricades, but they all gave her the brush off and an "everything is daijoubu, mind your damn business" type response. Several blocks later, we met up with a bike cop who gave us the skinny. There were two protests happening the same day, at the same place. One, the hyper-conservative ultra-right wing party who wants Japan to go back to 1930s Japan - with the conquest and the violence and the... all that stuff. The other, a moderate group who wants Japan to continue its peaceful ways. The police were putting up barricades because when those types of protests happen, things tend to go sideways. So they were being cautious. (I was sad we had to ride past the Diet building, the seat of both the left and the right wing politicians and official judicial decisions are made. Also central setting to a favorite anime of mine: Yami no Matsuei.)
Then we saw the British Embassy. And the park that *used* to be part of the British Embassy, until they couldn't afford the rent anymore, so they gave it back to the City of Tokyo to manage. So now it's a park. I was a very good lad and didn't deface *any* posters outside the Embassy, despite very much needing to correct it to "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and The North of Ireland". Several more points of me, there.
We rode downhill towards Tokyo Bay, heading for some of the reclaimed/constructed islands there. Riding through Tsukiji Market was a trip, so incredibly full of people. We stopped for a potty break and then rode on to Tsukishima Monja Street (not related to Tsushima, no matter how many times my brain autocorrected the name), famed for being the place that actual Tokyo locals go to get Monjayaki (a sort of make-your-own pancake on a hibachi grill, I promise it's better than I'm making it sound). A nice little area. (It's a soupier, goopier version of okonomiyaki and I would like to try it someday.)
Tsukuda Island was up next, one of the only pieces of natural land in Tokyo Bay. It was where, in the 1600s, Soon-to-be-Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (*ptooo~*) brought a bunch of fishermen and shamans from Kyoto to be the foundation of his new Imperial capital. Because you can't go having a capital in one place for too many consecutive centuries or it's bad luck or something. (Jenny also took us across some really scenic and beautiful bridges to get us to the "reclaimed" little islands. She also showed us a tiny shrine that was built around a large, old tree, and how you don't cut down nature to build in Japan, because that would be disrespectful to the kami, the gods, that are all in all things in Shinto religion. Instead you build a shrine around it to respect it and keep it safe. She also said that all Shinto shrines have the torii gate at the entrance of them and they don't have to just be the ones painted that red-orange color. They can be plain wood or even stone. -100 weeb points for me thinking it was Buddhist if it was all natural colors and materials with no glitzy paint job.)
We swung through Ginza, one of the most expensive places to purchase property in the entire world. Our little convoy of heimin got a lot of glares from rich folks. Okay, just a few. And it was primarily from rich tourists (Europeans, Americans, etc), rather than locals. But I could tell from their eyes. We weren't wanted there. So we rode on through Ginza without kicking a single $200,000+ car. (That was legitimately a concern of mine. I would ride right alongside or behind these expensive cars and be very worried I was going to suddenly run into it and scratch it!)
Our last stop was a lovely temple where they had painstakingly dragged thousands of rocks from Mt Fuji to Tokyo, so that people could venerate the highest mountain god without leaving the comfort of their home. Apparently, there are around 90 or so of these Fuji-Outposts throughout greater Tokyo. Now, with the advent of faster travel (so that it doesn't take a month for a healthy person to walk to Mt Fuji), people can just ride the train there if they wish to do so - even if they're in poor health. Nice! (I loved Jenny's explanation of it. That people's grandparents would get sick and ask their strong, young grandchildren, "Do you love me? Do you want me to get better? Go be a good lad and fetch me a giant rock from Mount Fuji!" Jenny asked Jeff, "If your grandpa asked you to fetch a rock, wouldn't you do it for him?" LOLOL! She also joked that Mount Fuji isn't as tall because all these shrines have their own little Mt. Fujis with all these stolen rocks LOL!) [Neither of my grandfathers would ever request that of me, because until their deathbeds they were both *incredibly* physically active with daily gardening and woodworking, respectively.]
And with that, we arrived back at the base for our tour group. Jenny-san took some photos and we went our separate ways. Angie and I took the train back to Ikebukuro to have a quick respite before heading out for some more shopping.
And that is where Jeff ended his half of writing the blog as it was 10pm when he started it and we were tired. Now that it's my turn, it's the next morning and uh.... what in the heck did we do next? We came back to the hotel and made a game plan. Ah yes! Since it was Sunday, that means any place we were going to go was going to be crazy hopping (except the business district, apparently), so we were going to go to the last couple of shops in Ikebukuro we didn't get to the other day. First up: a card store in a mall on the other side of the station. It was small and didn't have much or affordable in the ways of Magic cards for Jeff. They DID have a Tower Records on the top floor, and you know I can't resist a tower records! Jeff bought a soundtrack to Persona 4 Golden. I bought a soundtrack to Jet Set Radio Future and a Malice Miser CD (the money for which we hope goes to Mana), and we both yearned to buy the vinyl for Twin Peaks and Blade Runner, but decided we can more easily buy those in the states for about just as much moneys.
Next stop: Super Potato (there's a popular one in Akihabara but there's also one in Ikebukuro). A great place to go for used games, especially for older consoles. We bought nothing but had fun looking around.
Tsugi wa: Book Off. There we DID find a used copy of Fire Emblem for Nintendo DS (which is the last of the Nintendo handhelds to not be region-locked).
Then: Big Magic, a teeny tiny store jam packed with people so that I just waited outside downstairs, while Jeff didn't find any Magic cards for sale but DID find a blind-buy Magic Deck gashapon vending machine, where he got a random deck of MtG cards for 500 yen that DEFINITELY had a great return on investment for him! I'm proud of him for only buying 4 boxes. [Foil, full art, JPN Meathook Massacre for only 500 yen is a *steal*. The other packs weren't that much of a steal, but they were all worth well over 500 yen. I may go back tonight...] [Also, Angie makes a big deal about it taking forever, but I was inside for a total of 8 minutes.]
84 years later: I decided to get my refills of Japanese beauty products shopping done now while were were near a Matsumoto Kiyoshi and found everything on my list but one thing that I tried last time and loved and had used up. I bought 2 of everything which will hopefully hold me over until next trip to Japan.
Despite our feet starting to hurt we couldn't resist taking a little LookSee into the nearby GiGO arcade but only went up two of the floors and wasted 400 yen to realize all the machines had the weakest claws in existence. We left.
And then we plodded along for the remaining 8 blocks back to our hotel, dropping off our stuff and deciding on the nearby Ootoya for dinner. Like a Cafe Gusto setup but with traditional Japanese foods at not expensive but higher than Saizeriya prices, I had the shrimp tempura on rice and a pumpkin croquette (best part) and Jeff had sweet and sour chicken and a creamed corn croquette. Their sweet and sour is only sour and a strange taste that neither of us really liked. The creamed corn croquette was pretty good though!
It was now about 8pm and we could hear the sounds of cheering and singing from a concert going on nearby. It was either Idol Cream Soda at the Municipal Building, or performers at the Curry Festival at the park. Either way, it sounded fun, but it was time for us to turn in. It was a little early, so I made the decision to start packing, decanting, and unboxing our souvenirs now rather than the night before we leave. That took an hour or two, but I'm glad we did it. Now we know how big of a second suitcase we need to buy. Jeff hopped on the Discord to say hi to his Sunday morning game group and I washed my face and went to sleep.
Today is our last day in Japan! T-T The worst part of any trip is leaving! I do miss our kitties though.
Our next blog post might not be until much later, so we'll report back with a conclusion when we can!
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