Exploring Shimbashi, Kagurazaka and Shibuya

Our stay in Tokyo continued, as we settled into life in the Japanese capital. We were rather happy with our school schedule, as the fact that we had classes in the afternoon allowed us to do sports (it's still very hot in Japan, so running in the afternoon does not seem like such a good idea) and prepare our homework in the morning, before class, and it still leaves the evening for exploring Tokyo (of course, nothing prevents us from exploring Tokyo in the morning either!)

On Monday evening, the plan was to have a night out with Matsuoka, who was organizing for us to meet a fellow Finn (who used to work for Nokia Tokyo) in Shimbashi. Shimbashi is a part of Tokyo we're not very familiar with. It's more of a salaryman district with plenty of companies and accompanying bars and restaurants (to feed and quench the thirst of all those hard-working salarymen), not such a touristy part of Tokyo. However, it is quite an attractive place, with all those bars and restaurants. We also checked out Shiodome, an attractive and modern district of impressive skyscrapers. There are a couple of interesting museums here, as well as (of course) plenty of restaurants and bars. There is also an interesting historic site - a replica of Tokyo's first train station is located here (it contains a museum these days).

Our quick tour of the area done, we met up with Matsuoka and headed down to the restaurant, an Izakaya (of course, what else?) owned by a friend of Matsuoka's apparently. What followed was a typically interesting night out in Tokyo, that is to say, plenty of good food accompanied by quite a few drinks. Great to meet a fellow Finn as well, Timo has spent nearly 15 years in Japan now so had plenty of funny stories and hints about Gaijin life in Japan to share...

On Tuesday, we had nothing in particular planned, so we decided to explore the Kagurazaka district, located just on the other side of Iidabashi train station from our school. Kagurazaka is one of the few remaining geisha districts of Tokyo (geisha are very much a vanishing phenomenon in Japan). These days, it's more a busy shopping street than a geisha district, but there are some nice small streets tucked away off the main drag, with traditional Japanese houses, where it's not hard to imagine geisha performances taking place. Actually, we did see quite a few very elegant ladies dressed in traditional kimonos - perhaps some geisha...?

On Wednesday, we were planning to meet up for dinner at Shibuya. Shibuya, of course, is one of the most famous neighborhoods of Tokyo, famous for THE pedestrian crossing featured in the sublime film Lost in Translation. Shibuya is also home of the famous Hatchiko statue (Hatchiko was a loyal dog - the story very much resembles that of Greyfriar Bobby's of Edinburgh) - these days one of the most famous meeting points in Shibuya. 

Before dinner, we took a bit of time to walk around Shibuya and check out the shops. After all, Shibuya is one of THE major shopping districts in Tokyo (which I suppose is to say it's shopping heaven for some...). For dinner, we were meeting up with Hiromi, a friend whom I met in London a loooong time ago (something like 14 years ago). Long time no see, to say in the least! Hiromi's friend Wang joined us as well, a nice Chinese lady who's lived in Japan for 15 years or so. She was able to give me some good advice for my upcoming trip to China.