The second installment of last weeks antics…
We met at OmateSando station, after a little confusion about meeting at exit 1 – there are actually a number of exit 1s, A1, B1, C1, but thankfully Damians mind works in the same way as mine so we met at A1 without difficulty (except for my lateness).
First stop, after walking the length of OmateSando, was LaForet, where they were having another Grand Bazaar. We survived the megaphones and dancing hamsters on the way up to the top floor where they’d set up a one way system of some kind, which we thoroughly ignored since there was a queue to get in, we just went the other way around.
After emerging from the chaos we needed to calm down a little so headed over to the Meiji Shrine, a long walk through the forested part of Yoyogi park. The shrine itself is a different layout to those I’ve seen before, with a central courtyard. The drum went while we were there, signifying that some ceremony is about to start, we stood around for a while watching but there didn’t seem to be much happening.
On the way to the park proper we stopped off to get some food from some stalls in the museum courtyard – random meat on sticks plus noodles. The museum itself was small but contained some information about the origin of the temple, it was built in around 1920 to mark the passing emporer Meiji (who was seen as benevolent by the people of Japan, but that might just have been something they were obliged to say). There were some photographs of the opening ceremony for the shrine, and copies of the enshrining poetry.
The park was looking more parched than when I was there before – the fountains weren’t even working, there was a dry mud pit around their spouts.
There were some of the lines-on-the-ground plays going on, but Damian didn’t have any better ideas about what they were about, he was amused by the musicians in the woods though. The Elvises weren’t there either, the must only be about in the summer, shame, its a part of what the park is about.
By the station the beautiful people had crawled out of bed by the time we got back there, so at least some of the sights were present.
We looped back down Takeshita Street, to look at some of the wonderful clothing available, grabbed a crepe by LaForet, then a coffee and sit down for a bit.
More shopping and it was time to find more food – we hit a Mexican restaurant around the back of OmateSando, which was quite pleasant except for being run by the most obviously gay cowboy in Tokyo (who wasn’t unpleasant, just a little disturbing).
Just enough time to grab a quick round of pool and a go on the pinball machine next door in Oh God!, the Irish themed movie cafe with 80s hostess bar decor.
I had to get back since Rob was going to be staying on Sunday night – he had to be at Narita on Monday but had nowhere else to stay. He was running late, true to form, and eventually turned up around midnight having not slept after the overnight bus back from Kyoto the previous night, poor lad looked shattered.
He found my copy of the Bible and told me about his appearance in it…
He was horrified at just how much stuff he’d got to pack down into his two suitcases, I fear I’m going to have the same problem when it comes time for me to leave.
Tuesday night I met Damian in Shibuya to go to the Criston Cafe, I was a little worried that he wouldn’t find Hachiko, our meeting spot (my directions weren’t very good for coming from the line he would have arrived on). I was on the phone trying arrange getting a corset to Kaori when I felt a tap on the shoulder and turned around to find a hugely grinning Daymo, who had just been standing in the middle of the crossing trying to take pictures while the world pushed past him.
The food at Criston was fabulous, and the atmosphere good, I like that place. Half way through our meal a poor confused looking Japanese guy turns up, and says something about Kaori in Japanese. I tell him, in bad Japanese, that I don’t understand, and he says Kaori, corset, give me, in English. I assume this is going to be OK, since the only way he’d know to find me is if she’d told him.
A couple of days later I got a mail saying ‘thank you’ for the corset so everything worked out OK.
This weeks bizarre foodstuff is strawberry crisps….recommended, but they’re a bit more like cornflakes with strawberry icing than real crisps.
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