Shibuya
Today was our free day to explore. I decided to take the Ginza Line (subway) from the hotel to Shibuya, one of the world's busiest business districts. Tokyo's subway system is the most elaborate of any I've seen anywhere in the world, consisting of 15 lines, not including private railways.
My hotel is very close to the G05 (Akasaka-mitsuke) station at exit D, and Shibuya is "at the end of the line" at G01. The subway was clean, the passages wide. I'm sure my experience would have been considerably different had this been a weekday, but the space was not overly crowded at all on this holiday Saturday, well, not until I got to Shibuya.
The Shibuya station itself was very large, several stories above ground and below. People were teeming about going in every direction. Fortunately, upon arrival, I was able to make sense out of the exit signs to find my way to the street. Outside of the subway station was a sea of people. This area is indeed New York City's Times Square on steroids.
The streets of Tokyo, under the best of circumstances, are, like most of the major cities of the world, tremendously confusing. They frequently "V" off into multiple directions which then "V" off into other directions. One can easily lose your place. However, in this area, all streets seemed to come to one central area: the place where the subway station was. The station was like the center of the bicycle wheel.
Since I didn't have a street map (and doubt it would have done any good to have had one as everything is in Japanese) I had a systematic strategy: never veer to the right when the street splits, always stay to the left; go down each street as far as I wanted and then work my way back. As I headed back to the subway station I would explore each of the "V" splits, going off to the right this time.
My strategy was successful as I never got lost, and I think I explored just about every single block of this enormously compacted area for about a 2 mile radius from the center subway station. Here are some observations:
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- The whole area was very clean. One man was picking up little tiny bits of trash with what appeared to be giant chopsticks both when I went up the street and came back down it at least 15 minutes later
- While there were many cars, I did not hear a single horn or see/hear a single driver yelling at another driver or pedestrian as is so customary in New York City
- American fast food is everywhere: McDonalds, Wendy's , KFC. I even saw an Outback Steakhouse.
- The McDonalds was a WiFi hotspot. The Japanese indicate them with BB (Broadband). A man seated next to me had his textbook in front of him watching his teacher on his laptop through the internet.
- Many people have mp3 players of many different kinds.
- Many people were using their cell phones but no one was talking. They were all text messaging or playing games. I frequently saw the 20 something crowd with the iPod earbuds in the ear listening to their iPod while text messaging or playing games on their cell phone.
- I ran across a handful of Japanese punk rocker types, all girls whose outfits were much more feminine than their US counterparts.
- People all appeared to be busy, very, very busy.
- All around were huge digital video screens with music playing. I didn't hear any rap at all. The music was all very melodic and not what I consider offensive.
- I almost could not fit through the bathroom door at the McDonalds. It was the smallest doorway I've ever seen in my life! I couldn't turn sideways because of the backpack and had to just duck down and force squeeze myself through the door.
I went shopping at Hands, which is like Target on steroids, to purchase a backpack for my trip to Arao. The store was huge. They had hundreds and hundreds of backpacks on floor 1A. I had already gone up 3 floors, including the hardware and woodworking floor, before I arrived at 1A.
As I was leaving, I went back into the subway station. However (big mistake) I didn't go in the same way I had exited. I could not find the Ginza Line anywhere. The subway station was as much like a really nice mall as it was a subway station. Finally, I had to ask someone. I just said "Excuse me" to a young lady who was passing by.
When I asked, "Ginza Line?" she did not understand what I was saying. I was about to point to it on a subway map when an older lady came up to her and said something in Japanese. The young lady then said, "Oh, Ginza Line." (I must have mispronounced it.) She then said, "I will show you." and led me several blocks through this maze of shops and tunnels. After several minutes we arrived at the sign for the Ginza line. She pointed, said "Ginza Line" and bowed as she stepped away.
I was astounded. I had heard that the Japanese will take you where you need to go if you are lost. I thought that was just well crafted public relations folklore. It's actually true! This young Japanese lady went considerably out of her way to help me. I was rather humbled by the experience. Too often I consider myself too busy to give people sufficient attention, let alone stop what I am doing to truly help someone in an inconvenient yet meaningful way. What a difference true kindness makes.
I kept thinking that this area must be astounding at night time. There were literally tens of thousands of neon signs and digital video screens at every glance. I came back after dark to snap some more pictures. It was like daylight outside from all of the lights. Enjoy the photo album, Shibuya by Day & by Night, by clicking on the picture below.
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