Day 3 of waking up to the smell of breakfast and the soft giggles of my coursemates in charge that day. Today we will be exploring the Imperial Palace, Tsukiji Outer Market, then Ginza, Shinjuku and Kabukicho.
As we took our daily walk to the nearest station - Minowa, we continued observing the human scene of Tokyo. By today, we’ve come to understand that Tokyo is quiet not because it is working hours and no one is home, but rather because of the culture and brought up of the locals. They are taught to respect one another and minimize any form of disruption. The only places that would be noisy in Tokyo would be the bar and any other touristy places.
After a transit and few stations later, we arrived at the nearest station to Tsukiji Outer Market. On our way there we saw an buddhist temple and decided to stop by for a quick look. It had an accompanying modern looking cafe, information center and souvenir shop on the side with yet again a rather contrasting pairing. Tokyo seems to have this uniform language of the traditional and the modern.
At Tsukiji Outer Market, there was a sea of people as it was - a tourist hot spot and, to make things worse, we were there during Japan’s Golden Week, which in other words, its holiday season for the locals. Tsukiji Inner Market used to be the place where they auctioned the Tuna’s they caught and the source for the freshest seafood. Today it is just the outer market left, left behind for the tourists.
After having our (rather expensive) lunch at Tsukiji Outer Market, we were on our way to Ginza. In Ginza, we looked at the various forms and facades on the buildings here. They are a mix of international brands, some of which we’ve seen here in Kuala Lumpur too, while there were other local brands that sold different things from fashion to stationery items. We were there during noon but the night scene of Ginza is another one to be amazed at.
Next stop was Shinjuku and Kabukicho. Shinjuku was a street that shouted “TOKYO” no doubt. The images of this street is fairly recognisable and very symbolic of Tokyo, it was the stereotyped Tokyo. And for Kabukicho, it was the 18+ version of the stereotyped Tokyo.
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