My first week ever in Japan is over now and I gotta say I’m pretty impressed. The food is absolutely delicious. The people are really friendly. The sheer amount of people in places like Shinjuku and Shibuya (especially the Shibuya crossing) is mind-blowing. The fact that the public transportation always works and is on time is incredible. Especially, because in my hometown there is a problem with the subways every fucking day of the week. Tokyo is an incredible city and there is so much I have to visit and try.
Shinjuku
My first trip in Tokyo took me to Shinjuku. It is exactly as full of people here, as you would expect it in inner Tokyo. You can barely walk straight ahead of you because of all the people. You often see these streets with their unending number of neon lights in movies. This place is big, colorful and really impressive. Shinjuku should be ideally visited in the late evening or night, as the bright signs of every store illuminate the night and create a really beautiful scenery.
A lot of the large streets in Shinjuku have alleyways with a lot of shops in them. Normally, they are not as crowded as the main street, but offer a lot more to see and visit. You can find small restaurants, bars and shops side-by-side in these alleyways and often only a handful of people can enter these places before they are full. These alleyways are, in my opinion, the real attraction in Shinjuku and far more enjoyable then the busy main streets.
Meiji Shrine
One of the must visits in Tokyo is the Meiji Shrine. It is located near Harajuku and is surrounded by a large park. The only thing more common here then tourists are the cicadas. During summer time they loudly and proudly sing the hymn of their people. A bit too loud for my taste, but they can do whatever they want as they are definitely in the majority inside the Meiji Shrine park. Halfway through the park towards the shrine is a wall of sake barrels on one side and wine barrels on the other side. The wine barrels were donated by other countries or people to the shrine.
The shrine itself is beautiful and, at least when I was there, not as crowded as the rest of the park. When standing inside the temple you cannot see any skyscrapers and the sound of the cicadas drown out the noise of the outside world. As a result you don’t feel like you are in one of the largest cities of the world, but rather in an idyllic place somewhere in the countryside of Japan.
The Fucking Weather
One negative thing I can say about Japan with certainty is: The summers here are absolutely disgusting. It’s September, still 35°C outside and the most humid air I’ve ever fucking experienced in my life. And this isn’t even the worst time of summer. Apparently in June/July its up to 42°C… wtf. Also, it takes no more than 5 minutes of wandering around outside before your clothes are drenched in sweat. The only upside to all this is the fact that in nearly every closed environment, like stores, trains, apartments, etc., there is air-conditioning. Oh well…
And to end my first week ever in Japan with a bang, I experienced a typhoon for the first time in my life. In Ota, the ward I live in, wind gusts of around 150km/h and about 70mm of rainfall per hour were measured. And I gotta say, it was pretty cool.
Despite the shitty weather, I’m excited for the coming weeks and all the new places I will visit and all the delicious food I will eat, so stay tuned</p>
Thank you for reading :)
Ash