Japan Day 7 - Shibuya!

Our seventh day away was mostly spent traveling from Sapporo, Hokkaido to Tokyo, Honshu. It involved an early AM walk from our apartment hotel to the station, then a few train rides over to the airport. Because Japan is great about airport prices (gifts, meals) being the exact same as in town (no airport mark ups), we were able to get a few more Shiroi Koibito cookies, and best of all...their ice cream as well! Who knew they even made it? My SIL has been providing our family with Shiroi Koibito for nearly two decades now, and none of us knew they made ice cream! We each got a cone or a cup of their creamy deliciousness before getting on the flight to Tokyo, thanks to my dad.

Once we landed in Tokyo, getting from our airport (Narita) to our apartment was quite a journey- a long ride on the Keisei Line to Ueno station (90 min), then a transfer on the subway from Ueno to Shibuya station (20+ min), before a final transfer to our actual station right next to Shibuya (3 min). From our little station, we had a bit of a walk (12 min), as we were perched up on a little hill, on the grounds of a small temple. The stairs to get up to the our place were no joke. We'd been warned, but man! They were intense. I wish I had taken a picture of the set of stairs leading up to our apartment. A few pics of the temple by our place:

Wishes for the future...

They are supposed to be cleansing their bodies and souls with the cold water, but one of them is only creating drama.

 

The walk to Shibuya's city center (Center gai) was fairly pleasant, although not particularly scenic. But because we're country folk, everything is fun to see...so we're easily pleased.

A view (or two) of our walk into Shibuya

Heading into town to check out the action that evening

Rich successfully navigated us to our first (of two) Hello Kitty stores...this one was in in the heart of Shibuya.

Our also spent some time checking out Hachiko (the legendary loyal dog that faithfully waited at the station daily for ten years when her owner, who had passed away at work, never returned on his usual train), the famed Shibuya Scramble (the famous bustling intersection where up to a few thousand people all cross the street at once), and dinner at Uobei sushi.

I can't say enough positive things about Uobei. I've been to kaiten sushi (conveyor belt, Kona and Japan), train delivery (in Manila), and now 'robot' (they call it that, but it's more like a little train). The ordering was done all by computer screen, and delivered via two different tracks to your seat within 3-4 minutes of ordering. The menu was extensive, prices unbelievably low, and as a result- this place was always packed! We liked it so much we returned a second time, and had plans for a third, but ended up indulging in another delicacy instead.

There were three different sets of stairs leading up to the hilltop temple/our apartment. This doesn't really show the number of stairs (but that building you see in the distance at the top is slightly lower than our apartment). I took this shot more to demonstrate the lanterns hanging from the torii, which was always a pleasant greeting on our walk back home.

A note or two on our Shibuya digs:

• Shibuya is a pretty happening place to stay, so finding an apartment within walking distance that could accommodate our group of five, felt like quite a coup. It looked like a lovely blending of east vs. west, old vs. new. See the listing photos below:

• Very quaint, right? Cozy, immaculate and fairly spacious...the reality was quite, quite different. It looked and smelled quite old, and we could barely fit in each room. I mean, we had suitcases piled on top of suitcases, because once the beds were all spread room, there was barely room to walk.
• And the touted 'modern' bathroom had a few nice amenities (warming seat, bidet, capsule shower that dried overnight), but it was a funky orange floor, and about 15 degrees. 
• The heaters in older Japanese homes rarely extends to the kitchen or bathroom, and this place was no exception. The kitchen and bathroom were somewhat near 'Arctic' temps, and were not places you wished to linger. It was a 'do your business' and get out kind of a situation. So not super pleasant, and it was a first for us to not cook or do anything in the kitchen. I mean, you could have stored a season of your hunting kill hanging from the rafters in there and it'd be fine for years. 
• Additionally, because the building was older, if you ran both heaters (one in each bedroom), and then did something really stupid like use the microwave or turn on a light- you'd short out the whole apartment. I think we reset the electrical 3-4 times in our four nights there. 
• There was absolutely not square inch to sit down and eat a meal (partly why we didn't cook anything) there. We had to eat our morning fruit, yogurt and pastries on our beds. Rich did set up a small table/chair we found left for the purpose of eating for Ryan's nightly journal writing, however, it took up 75% of the kitchen and blocked all access to the only entrance/exit of the place.
• Needless to say, we weren't thrilled with our place, which wasn't cheap, but once we saw another apartment in Shibuya central (more on this later), our place suddenly went up a few points and looked palatial in size! ;-) So what can I say, it's Japan. Everything is four or five times smaller than you're used to, but costs more. :-D And it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't making our list of favorite AirBnb finds.

Blocking the emergency exit with his dining table/student desk/luggage holder/pantry shelf.