Day 9 - Tokyo - Japanese Lady Penelope

W: Woke up 6-ish in the musty room - otherwise everything about the room and hotel is fine.

Said our ohayo gozaimasu to the old lady who is still on duty at the front desk from last night, then off for a light breakfast from Natural Lawson which is a healthy version of a 7/11 store - a great concept, sold 'health' foods and natural cosmetics etc... Tony had a rice/vegie/egg combo, but I couldn't face the egg so had a soy yoghurt and a chocolate "scone" - well, a scone-ish thing.

Walked down Dogenzaka to Shibuya which is surprisingly empty and quiet in the morning compared to the frenetic scene we arrived in last night.

Coffee at Starbucks , met Hachiko, the famous statue of the faithful dog.

Everyone meets near Hachiko, and the main exit at Shibuya station is named for him. Since it was early and nothing much was open in Shibuya we took the Yamanote line one stop to Harajuku.

Harajuku is also pretty empty this early. We wandered down Takeshita-dori, then back to Omotesando and found Kiddyland.

Inside Kiddyland - 7 floors, not as vast as I had expected but lots of fun. Discovered cute Polish illustrations, and fantasic Raymond Savignac french travel posters hung on all the stairways, and bought an elephant and dog pencil. The Studio Ghibli stuff is amazing but we're booked in for the Ghibli Museum tomorrow so we'll check what's available there first.

Then went to Snoopyland, across the road from Harajuku station, which is very impressive from the outside and lots of fun inside.

Loads of Peanuts merchandise with jolly music playing ("Mashed potato" was on went we went in - I'm surprised nobody was dancing like in Hairspray). The goods were the regular Snoopy fare but it's fun having it all in one place.

For a change of pace we walked to Yoyogi Park and Meiji shrine.

T: Walking down the wide shaded avenues of Yoyogi Park towards the Meiji shrine was very peaceful. Today is sunny with clear blue skies, unusual for Tokyo. There were only a few people around, although we did happen upon a couple of families with young kiddies in traditional outfits.

After a while we headed back towards Harajuku to catch the train two stops further on to Shinjuku.

W: Shinjuku is similar to Shibuya with its density of stores and people everywhere, but with a different feel. Tony went to the Takashimaya department store while I went to Tower Records (and bought a Maki Nomiya album, Charly by Nomoto Karia and a Billie Davis compilation - Tell Him: The Decca Years). Then we met up and headed for the Kinokuniya book store at Times Square. The one in Sydney is our favourite Australian bookstore (and we think better than the Tokyo store - at least for English language books) although the Shinjuku store is massive, at least 8 floors of books.

Back to Shibuya which by afternoon is rocking. I head to Recofan - cheap Kahimi Kari, more Maki Nomiya and a great Readymade compilation. Tony went to Tokyu Hands - astonishing handcrafts department store.

T: Back to the Fukudaya for a rest. We have some green tea and rice crackers, take a bath, watch some TV, then head back down Dogenzaka to Shibuya where the crowds are getting crazy again.

In Shibuya we find a fab noodle cafe, very stylish but with great prices. I can read a few of the things on the menu and we order kitsune udon although we initially get served something quite different. Minor misunderstanding and we soon have huge steaming bowls of noodles to which we can add from an amazingly cheap selection of dozens of different kinds of tempura. All up, about A$6 each!

W: We both headed to Tokyu Hands after dinner, an amazing 7 or 8 storey department store selling nothing but crafty things. Found some Tezuka Akemi cards and other cute cards, squirrel paper clips, and owl toggles.

Bought some cute biscuits at a discount shop which we ate back at the Fukudaya, along with some goodies picked up at Natural Lawson, while watching crazy game shows (one channel seems to show nothing but).

Possibly the best one ever has four contestants dressed up as the International Rescue characters from Thunderbirds who descend through the floor (just like on the show) only to be wacked on the head by a giant robot hand when they fail a challenge. The hostess was a Japanese lady in a blonde wig dressed up as Lady Penelope. I think this even surpassed the one this morning where the hosts were dressed as creatures from Planet of the Apes.

Planned to write postcards but too tired...

Tomorrow is the Ghibli Museum and the Showa Kinen Koen mist park.

Next > Day 10 - Tokyo - Ghibli Museum and Foggy Woods