Shinjuku and Shibuya

The Government Building.

Yesterday for a while I couldn’t decide what to do. One reason was because it’s weekend and I knew everything would be crowded.

I decided to go to Shinjuku and Shibuya. I am such a genius to visit the most crowded places of Tokyo. Well, at least I think so.

It all started with Shinjuku. There wasn’t that much on my list for this day but everything was a highlight.

First I decided to go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The building consists of two towers which are connected. You can go up to the 45th floor where an observation floor is. Well, the 44th floor in german because the ground floor isn’t called first floor in Germany but the 2nd floor is.

If the weather is nice you have an awesome 360 degree view from the observation floor on the city. And you can even see Mount Fuji.

Unfortunately the weather was bad this morning.

After I got down the next stop is the Japanese Sword Museum. This building is somewehre in a residential area and the signage was that good and I got lost for a bit. I done an extra round around the neighbourhood and found an very interesting store. So it wasn’t that bad.

But one is not allowed to take pictures of the inside.

A black mage Chocobo with 15cm in height for 3,000 Yen. I think I will pass on this one.

Inside the Museum, which I finally found, one is not allowed to take pictures either. So you have to go there by yourself if you ever visit Tokyo. It is awesome to see japanese craftsmanship from over 600 years ago.

They rearrange the swords they display every now and then so its even worth a second visit.

After that I wanted to go to Shinjuku Gyoen Park and do that kind of stuff every japanese is doing at this kind of year. Hanami.

Hanami simply means flower watching. And thats what the japanese do. They watch the cherry blossoms ind one of the countless parks.

There are hundreds of people and they celebrate this time of year with one or two sake or beer.

And like all the japanese I ate my lunch in the parkt too. Bought a “bento” beforehand.

But let the pictures do the talking now.

Nature and busy metropole life.

The weather got really gorgeous after a while and I bet, if I would have gone to the government building now I could have seen the Fuji.

No hanami without taking pictures of cherry blossoms. I think every single blossom was photographed this day.

This is hanami too. Hobby photographers with equipment even a pro could be jealous of.

At this time my feet already hurt like hell. But I decided to go to Shibuya. And it is only 6 minutes by train.

The first thing come to mind when thinking about Shibuya is the big crossing. Which I heard is the most photohraphed crossing in the world. Well it is a spectacle to see the masses of people walking in evry direction of this crossing. Even diagonal.

Somehow you can imagine just how many people are crossing here with every single green period. Lots of people.

Even the clock has its own system in Japan. I heard 25:00 means 1:00 in the night. They do have a different counting system for open for business times.

Then there is the Tower Record store, too. The biggest music store in the world if I remember correctly.

Three out of four CDs I wanted to buy I got there. But somehow I couldn’t find the Album Parade from singer/voice actress Chihara Minori. I could have asked someone but I can save this purchase for Akihabara.

Of course I stayed until late in Shibuya so see the masses of neon lights live and in colour with my own eyes.

Shibuya Crossing at night looks very impressive. This is one of my favourite pictures so far. I just love being here.

I finally arrive at the hotel and I crawl on the floor rather than walking and I discover two blisters onf my right and one on my left foot. Nice loot for beeing here for three days only. Now I have to buy a needle to open these things.

And like always you can finde more pictures if you follow this link.