We arrived in Tokyo by midday, so we decided to visit the Imperial Palace after checking into our hotel. Alas, it was shut for the New Year. Bummer. However, this meant we could wholeheartedly devote our entire Tokyo leg to window shopping and atmosphere-soaking.
We tootled off to Asakusa and the Sensoji Temple.
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| The massive paper lantern at Sensoji |
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| The beautiful Dempoin temple gardens, right next to Sensoji, which no one seems to talk about, but is SO much prettier and SO much more tranquil |
The Asakusa area is the very heart of the tourist population, and it comes a very close second to Dadar station at peak hours. The temple itself was beautiful, and we tried to catch a glimpse of the main hall and the Pagoda. This being one of the oldest and the most significant in Tokyo, we knew that it would be near-impossible to get in after the New Year. The Baa-lamb, of course, had had its fill of temples; however, the lure of the best matcha ice cream in Tokyo close to the temple was enough temptation for him to tag along.
Guess what- that was closed too (Matela ice cream), but we didn't realise that until after the Sensoji visit, so while that put a damper on the Baa-Lamb's spirit, we were absolutely fine with it. Towards evening, we headed out to Akihabara - the electronic beat of Tokyo.
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| The army of stormtroopers with Vader |
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| Godzilla! |
While this held little appeal for me, I can understand why Manga and Anime fans could go into sensory overload here. Turns out child 2 wasn't immune to its charms either and ended up picking up a Pokémon plushie for an arm and a leg. We headed back to our hotel for a much-deserved R&R to recharge our batteries for Day 2.
The last day of 2024. Not that it slowed us down. The intrepid Arunkumar family. We were up bright and early to head over to Team Labs Tokyo for an unforgettable experience. I must say, it did not disappoint.
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| the light exhibit |
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This was one of my favourite exhibits
in the water section |
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| The garden exhibit |
The exhibits were divided into the outdoors, garden and water sections, and my favourite by far was the water section. I could easily see myself spending the entire day here, and only the temptation of a hot bowl of Ramen lured me out of there. Next on the agenda -
Takeshita street, which is full of: 1. Tourists 2.Pet cafes 3. Street Fashion 4. Thrift Shops in that order.
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| Crowded, but totally fun! |
The many pet cafes along the street with the cutest little piggies!
On the way there, was the entire row of designer labels at
Omotesandō Dori - fabulous window display and even more fabulous prices. We then headed back to our hotel, all shopped out (at the thrift stores, people, not at the designer stores), just so we could rest up for the night's revelries.
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| The Louis Vuitton x Murakami Cafe |
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I absolutely loved the bit of greenery atop the Dior showroom - and to those of my architecture friends who have in the past accused me of bias against glass facades- this I love!
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In our wisdom, we decided to bring in the New Year at the most crowded place we could think of-
Shibuya Crossing. This, despite newspapers and social media repeatedly informing us that there would be no activities there, except for the police directing traffic. Still, when has the Arunkumar clan done anything that sounds remotely logical on holiday? Optimistically, we arrive at Shibuya crossing at half nine. While we were wondering how we were going to spend 3-odd hours in the biting cold wandering the streets of Shibuya, we spotted a Nightcub still allowing last-minute entries and which looked halfway decent, as far as nightclubs go. Its biggest selling point was the fact that it was out of the cold. Plus, it seemed to have a large-ish dance floor and some fairly decent music.
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| A very disciplined Shibuya crossing- before New Year's |
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| Child 2's first night club experience |
And thus it was, that child 2 had her first taste of a night club - with her mum and dad in tow! The Baa-Lamb and I were by far the oldest folks here by a mile. Not that that stopped us from embarrassing our offspring by taking to the dancefloor with gay abandon. It was close to midnight when we decided to make our way to Shibuya Crossing in the hopes of encountering a raging street party. We didn't account for the fact that we were in Japan. There wasn't. What we got instead was a group of cops determinedly managing the foot and vehicular traffic with enviable efficiency.
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| A bunch of random strangers wishing you a Happy New Year |
The countdown happened sagely along the sidelines and all we got was a Mexican Wave of cheer that ran down the crowds. And an arduous struggle to get back home through closures, crazy crowds, sudden detours and more chilling examples of Japanese efficiency by the cops. We finally got back at half-two, exhausted, but satisfied that we'd had the whole New-Year-in-a-big-city experience. Do I want to do it again? Not in a million years. thanks.
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A series of suggestions left by other
tourists on places to visit |
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| This simple painting of melons... |
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| ... and the poem it's based on. |
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| locations for smoking and toilets |
I'm going to skip straight to the third day of the New Year, where both Child 2 and I decided to stay back in Tokyo while the spouse decided to make a trip to snowier climes by rail. We started our day with a leisurely trip to the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Centre -it affords a great view of the surrounding areas from the observation deck. I loved the exhibition space, which had Child 2 at her goofiest best.  |
| The still-crowded streets leading to Sensoji |
Sumida River (it was a pretty sunny day) for views of the Asahi Flame and the Tokyo Skytree. We ended the day with a trip to our local Shawarma shop that was manned by a desi, where we caught up with Baa Lamb (who was caught in a snowstorm and had to cut his trip short).
Somehow, Tokyo felt like a city where you'd never have enough days, and you would always discover something new with each trip.
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