A busy weekend in Tokyo

Second last weekend in Tokyo, snif... What to do. Plenty to do, so little time... Friday evening, we decided to not get too ambitious, and sort of randomly decided to go to Ikebukuro after our Japanese class.

Upon arrival, we (again, rather randomly) decided to check out Nekubukero - which is the oldest "cat petting zoo" in Tokyo. What's a cat petting zoo, you ask ? Well, something that probably only exists in Japan. It's basically a kind of "cat house" (located on the top floor of the Tokyu Hands department store), where people (usually teenage girls who don't have cats at home, I suppose) can go and, well, play with cats and watch them live in their "cat kitchen", and so forth. It's all very Japanese, and a bit weird. Oh well, one more experience to tick off the bucket list, eh ;)

The next day, we decided to get a bit more ambitious and visit Odaiba -  a part of Tokyo we've not visited yet. Odaiba is a huge entertainment and shopping district located on an artificial island, in the bay of Tokyo. Construction here started during the economic boom of the 1980's, but alas, slowed down when the bubble burst in the 90's. Since then, construction picked up again, and it's now a pretty cool part of Tokyo to visit, with things to do for everybody.

We started our exploration with the National Museum of Emerging Science (or Miraikan - which means building of future in Japanese). I've wanted to check out this place for a while... The main draw of the place is probably their robots, they have quite a few on display, some of which one can actually interact with. Mathilde had a rather surreal (and one-sided, with the 'bots doing most of the talking) discussion with three robots about the future of healthcare...

The main draw of the museum is no doubt the Asimo humanoid robot. The white plastic chap was indeed rather impressive, walking around the scene in front of everybody, walking forward, backwards, side ways, waving his hands, and even kicking a ball. The movement was, for sure, smooth and almost human-like. But, there is no interaction as such, so I think we are quite some time from having "thinking robots" yet (fortunately!?)

Apart from that, the museum was a bit disappointing, actually. There wasn't all that much informative displays about other technology that will impact our future - this being a museum in Tokyo, Japan, I somehow expected more. There was a pretty coo Ninja exhibition at the bottom floor, though, which I really enjoyed. The architecture of the building itself is really cool though - and it definitely embodies the future, as it should do...

We then carried on to Venus Fort, a big shopping centre. On the way there, we ended up at Toyota Historic Garage (an extension of nearby Tokyo Mega Web, more about that later). It was actually a really cool place, showcasing classic cars throughout the 20th century, in a kind of fake-retro environment. There were not only Japanese cars, but also Chevys, a Mustang, a Ferrari, a Porche, just to mention a few cars... Really cool place, especially as it was free.

Venus Fort reminded us a bit of the Venetian Casino in Macau, with its fake Italian canals. As this place was a bit less-over the top than the Venetian, it was kind of less impressive. But the shops are actually places where us mortals can actually shop too... (the Venetian mostly features fashion shops like Gucci, Versace etc).

I left Mathilde in Venus Fort and headed off to briefly check out Toyota Mega Web, a pretty cool place Toyota uses to showcase their latest car models, as well as their upcoming technologies. These days it's of course all about electric/hybrid cars, improved safety (Toyota, like most car makers, seems confident they can prevent lethal accidents involving their new cars in the next 5-10 years or so...) and autonomous driving. There were plenty of cool simulators to try (unfortunately, with rather long queues, so I abstained...), and even a test track where the brave ones can try out various fancy cars.

We then made our way to the possibly fanciest shopping mall in Odaiba, DiverCity Tokyo Plaza. The coolest thing about the place is NO DOUBT the life-size Gundam robot standing guard over the place. Sugoi desu ne, as the Japanese would say. Believe it or not, we ended up in a Hello Kitty cafe for a bit of coffee & cake break. The place was just unbearably cute. Another one to tick off the bucket list, eh ? ;) I have to say though, there was a hefty price tag for all that Kawaii...

By now, it was getting dark, so it was time to find a place to eat. We had a walk around Odaiba for a bit more before that though, checking out the statue of liberty replica (not full-size, this one only stands at 12 meters), with the rainbow bridge (the bridge that connects Odaiba to the "mainland") and the Tokyo skyline completing the rather beautiful view!

For dinner, we ended up in a Hawaiian restaurant, imagine that! There are actually quite a lot of Hawaiian restaurants in Japan, as it's actually quite close to Japan, and a lot of Japanese go there on holidays. Good choice, in the end, the burgers were excellent!

The next day, we were feeling a bit less energetic, partly due to the fact that the morning was rather rainy (apparently the autumn this year has been one of the rainiest in recent history - bad luck for us!). But, nonetheless, we decided to venture out to check out Shinjuku Gyoen, a big public garden/park located in busy Shinjuku. Historically, the garden dates back to the Edo era, and it was actually used by the Imperial family for recreation and for entertaining guests during the early 20th century. It was completely destroyed during World War II, but was rebuilt afterwards as a public park.

It's a very nice place indeed, and gives nice respite from the hustle and bustle of Shinjuku (one of the busiest neighborhoods in Tokyo). It's not my favorite garden in Tokyo, I prefer for example Koishikawa Korakuen. Shinjuku Gyoen is more of a public park than a traditional Japanese garden, actually, although part of the park is landscaped in typical Japanese fashion. There is also an English garden (basically a lawn!) and a French garden. The highlight, though, is a beautiful Taiwanese pavilion.

After a rather expensive "cake and coffee break" in a cafe, we headed into Shinjuku, Mathilde to do a bit of shopping, and me to visit a museum. And not just any museum either - the samurai museum! It was a great little museum, featuring beautiful samurai armor and weaponry. A very knowledgeable young chap, who also spoke excellent English, took us around the place, explaining about the history of samurais in great detail. The cool bit was of course when we got to try on the armor and a katana (not a real one, though!)

Before heading back to Kitasenju, I had a quick peek at the famous Golden Gai area, which was on the way to the metro station from the museum. The Golden Gai is a small area of winding alleys, full of small bars and restaurants, where the salarymen come and "destress" after a hard day at the office. Most of the bars are tiny, most accommodating less than 10 people. For sure a place to explore night-time one of these days!