Okay, I’m not going to do a blog post for EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR. But these last few days have been so jam-packed; nobody can be bothered reading it all in one go. I certainly can’t. So here’s my attempt at catching up now that’s I’ve settled and slowed down a bit:
新宿 Shinjuku (8/9)
The day after I arrived (after a hearty breakfast of the Jaffa Cakes that I’d hidden in my suitcase #health) I headed into main Shinjuku with some friends. It’s crazy being so close to everything!
After some people got SIM cards from BIC Camera, we had a wonder around and found other groups of people from Waseda who were also exploring Shinjuku. Then we went for dinner. When everyone suggested this, I was terrified. I’m not on the national insurance yet! I’ll be dead and bankrupt all in the space of one meal! I did suggest pizza because I wasn’t emotionally prepared for my first case of anaphylaxis, but obviously everyone wanted to try authentic Japanese cuisine.
Obviously, I didn’t die because I’m writing this (or I could just be a ghost with a special laptop, so my ghostly fingers don’t pass through the keys. That must be really frustrating for ghosts actually). There were 15 of us so it took a while to find somewhere big enough, but eventually we came across a soba place (the name of which I unfortunately do not remember), where we were lead to a small function room in the back; a tatami room where we had to kneel on cushions to sit and eat. We left our shoes at the front door, all squeezed in, and were served small cups of delicious iced tea. (In Japan, I’ve noticed – at least in the restaurants that I’ve visit there is absolutely no expectation that you will purchase a drink with your meal. You will be provided with water or tea on arrival into the restaurant, and they don’t ask you if you want anything to drink; you just ask with the rest of your order.)
Now, I’m a lot better at Japanese in my head and on paper than I am speaking it. I chose something yummy-looking on the menu, and was rehearsing my allergy speech over and over again in my head, where I would basically list every fish ingredient I could think of (fish, seafood, fish broth, bonito flakes, since from what I’ve read sometimes fish derivatives, such as stock, aren’t always necessarily considered if you just say “no fish”), and say I’m allergic so I can’t eat them.
Then it came my turn to order, my jet-lagged ass panicked, and just said: 「これ…魚ダメ？」(This here… Fish not good?). The poor server looked so confused, so I tried again. Then she didn’t know what bonito flakes are (I don’t really know either but Google told me to avoid it so…). I felt so so so sorry for the server, but I also didn’t want to die, so I tried again, asking just about fish this time, getting more and more flustered, and some other people on my table joined in saying 「魚はダメです！！！」(No fish!!). Luckily, she eventually understood and assured me that the meal I had chosen (Tempura vegetable soba) was absolutely fine, as long as I got the cold soba noodles rather than the hot noodles with broth (which I wanted anyway, since it was like 30 degrees out).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYxqaSulUTl/?taken-by=mecchaholiday
It was soooo delicious! We confirmed with the server that the sauce in the small bottle beside the bowl was definitely soy sauce, but I was still too worried to eat it because that’s just the way I am. But I was so excited to have tried proper Japanese food without dying, at least. I’ve come a very long way from going to Yo! Sushi and just having a salad, then touching my lips over and over again because I’m not sure if they’re going numb because I’m dying from cross-contamination or because I’m just cold. (It was the latter, of course.)
To walk off the maaaassive meal (it was a very, very generous portion), we took a trip to the Shinjuku Metropolitan Building. As you walked into the entrance, there was a small stall where you could donate your broken or old mobile phones and they would remove the metal components and put them in a box, so that they can be later melted down to be recycled into medals for the 2020 Olympics! I think that’s not only a really sweet idea to get everyone involved in the Olympic celebrations, but lovely in how sustainable it is, too.
We took the lift to the very top of the building (there were bag checks prior to getting into the lift though, as the building was on “high alert”), where the views were just amazing! You could see all over Shinjuku. Apparently, on a clear day, you can see landmarks such as Mount Fuji and Tokyo Tower, but I don’t remember seeing them. However, that was probably more a case of me not knowing where to look.
At 5pm, my friend suddenly remembered that we needed to be back in our dorm rooms by half 5 for our dormitory’s fire/earthquake evacuation practice/orientation, so we pretty much ran from there to Shinjuku station, where I had my very first experience of the Japanese metro. Luckily, earlier that day I had bought a Suica card (similar to an Oyster card, you just tap it through the barriers), so it was a painless experience. Actually, it’s just the tube but…. Japanese. Although every metro station has its own little jingle that plays when a train stops there, because obviously everything needs to be a spectacle. I don’t think you’d get that in London, somehow.
We sprinted all the way home, but we made it just as other residents started “evacuating” the building. However, seeing us panting, sweating and red-faced must’ve convinced the people running the event that we tried pretty hard to make it there on time, so they said it was totally fine and waved us over to the orientation (which was boring but I guess I know now that if there’s a fire I know how to use a fire extinguisher and I should kick everything around me until I can escape. I’m joking, you’re meant to kick the balcony door open then kick the balcony wall down so you can access the safety ladder. But wouldn’t it be quicker to just use your hands on the balcony door? It’s just a latch keeping it shut. I can’t imagine kicking it would be any quicker, no matter how informative the pictures featured in the PowerPoint presentation of someone putting their foot against the door latch were.
渋谷 Shibuya (9/9)
I had forgotten to buy a hairdryer from BIC Camera during the SIM party the previous day, so we went to Shibuya instead to explore a bit more (and also buy a hairdryer; my fluff head is never going to air-dry in this humidity).
On leaving the station, I was greeted by scramble crossing and the Hachiko memorial statue.
ハチ公 Hachikou was a dog who is remembered for his undying loyalty to his owner, and now, just as he waited outside Shibuya station every day for his owner’s return, thousands of people from all over the world come to the same station to pay their tributes and get their picture taken with his memorial statue. It is quite different to any other memorial I’ve ever seen in that it’s quite joyful – everybody was really excited to see the statue. There was also a cat sleeping at the statue’s feet, and I think that cat got more love and cuddles than any other cat on the planet that day. Tourist after tourist stroked its little head as it napped in the sunshine.
On a less lovely note, Hachiko’s body was also stuffed and placed on display at the National Science Museum in Ueno. I don’t think I’ll be paying that a visit; taxidermy makes me want to tear my skin off. But I guess everybody pays their respects in their own way.
Shibuya is mostly a place for shopping, I felt – there were so many stores, from Shibuya 109, a tower filled with fashion pop-ups (as well as Etude House! I restrained myself from buying any makeup for now, but obviously I’ll be back), to side streets with… other interesting shops.
In Shibuya I also had my first experience of Donki (ドン・キホーテ Don Quijote), which is basically the B&M of Japan. It sold pretty much everything you could imagine (apart from non-bio laundry detergent, obviously. Sensitive skin apparently doesn’t exist in Japan. I might just buy any old laundry detergent and deal with tearing my skin off when I react to the chemicals later.)
Following that, I went to Daiso, which is the 100 yen shop (108 yen, with tax. The VAT isn’t included in a lot of prices here, and I don’t know how much it is nor when you pay it. So confusing.), so everything there costs 73p according to the current exchange rate. I bought a plate, which I have thus far used exclusively for jam toast as I have yet to make myself an actual meal. The thing is, I don’t have an oven, or a frying pan (There’s been an accident before, so frying is prohibited apparently), plus all the knives appear to have disappeared from my floor’s communal kitchen. I tend to start off the fast majority of my meals at home by cooking down onion and/or garlic in a frying pan (I love me dem onions and garlic yum yum), so I’m going to have to be creative. Or I could just live off of conbini food for a year. Either is fine.
After all this, we got hungry, and I was feeling pretty bold after surviving the soba yesterday, so I agreed to go for kaiten zushi (conveyor belt sushi) at a place called 魚べい Uobei.
We each had our own individual touch screens where we could place food and drink orders, and it would come whizzing down the tracks from the kitchen and stop right at your seat for you to take off, place in front of you, and enjoy.
I was feeling especially excited because this place had an allergen menu on the touchscreens. Then I was less excited because I couldn’t read any of the kanji since the writing was so small, so I avoided my favourite sushi, inari pocket (rice wrapped in sweet tofu). Upon searching the kanji at home, I found out that the allergen it contained was thankfully just wheat, so there’s always next time.
The food was ridiculously cheap too – I got cucumber maki, egg nigiri, a matcha ice cream and a large drink for 642 yen (£4.30). Considering that’s the price of about one plate in Yo! Sushi, I was really impressed.
原宿 Harajuku
As it turns out, Harajuku is just a short walk from Shibuya, so we figured we’d have a quick look. I didn’t see a lot of the area, but we walked through a very westernised street, filled with familiar brands such as All Saints and Burton. I later found out that that evening it was to be one of the locations for Vogue Japan’s Fashion Night Out, which I slightly regret not going to (even though I didn’t know it was happening until I was scrolling through Instagram in bed before I went to sleep). I wasn’t too interested by the discounts the shops were offering but apparently there were lots of festivities and celebrities exploring the area, plus a stamp rally, which sounds pretty fun.
We checked out KIDDY LAND, which is basically a massive character shop – from Snoopy to Totoro, from We Bare Bears to Hello Kitty, from Pusheen to The Simpsons. Everything in there was gorgeous, but also very expensive. I was very taken by a Rilakkuma shoulder bag though, so I may return…
I was going to go on a night out after this, but I got back to my flat and realised I was way too tired for clubbing, so I instead went to a supermarket with a friend to peruse their bentos (where I finally got some inari pockets because Family Mart don’t cook their rice in dashi, unlike the fools and bullies at 7/11).
To get an idea of the neighbourhood we live in, we tried to find our own way home. We failed. We ended up very lost, and were looking at a map when two helpful Japanese men, who we quickly discovered to also be Waseda students, offered to help us find our way. They showed us the way to our flats on Google Maps on their phones (we were walking in literally the opposite direction). People are so kind here!
On the way back, we stumbled upon 穴八幡宮 Anahachimangu, a gorgeous Shinto shrine.
That we could come here completely by chance completely enchanted me. After two days of exploring bustling cities, the tranquillity and traditional beauty of the shrine felt almost cleansing. It’s almost shocking (though in the most pleasant way) to see the stark contrast between the silence of the shrine and the loud, bright city centres filled with skyscrapers glowing with LCD advertisements, but it does remind me of where I am, however much I still struggle to believe I’m here. But, I do feel so very incredibly lucky.
The Great Escape
JUDY AND MARY
ボン・ヴォヤージュ 