Sunday, Crazy Sunday

What a day! Today was a great Sunday in Tokyo -- first having met my former work colleague from NYC, Natasha and her friend Jessica (LA) for a day of tourist adventures in the city.

We met at the famed Tokyo station in the heart of Tokyo and enjoyed a walk through and around the Imperial Palace Gardens. Similar to NYC's Central Park and Belvedere Castle, but perhaps even more stunningly beautiful with the most scenic vistas imaginable. (Side note: Tokyo is all about being clean... but interestingly, there are no garbage cans. I swear to you I carried my empty iced mocha cup for hours today!)

After enjoying the grounds, we hopped the subway to Harajuku where we enjoyed Meiji Jingū, a reconstructed shrine originally dating to 1921. Interestingly, as with many shrines I've seen, they've had to undergo reconstruction after being devastated as part of the Tokyo air raids during WWII. It was a stunning and ironically peaceful world altogether. Fun, I read up on temple rituals and properly cleansed my hands and mouth before entering. Awesome, we purchased prayer votives and wrote personal prayers for friends & loved ones.

We also enjoyed the scene around the famous Harajuku girls at the intersection of teen angst and fashion. It was quite the scene really, with gawkers and photographers from around the world here to capture the look. I'm not sure if I'd enjoy being Harajuku myself, but who doesn't love the 1/2 goth, 1/2 baby doll look?

We strolled Harajuku street and did quite a bit of shopping; we finally ended up in Shibuya where we saw what folks imagine when they think of Japan -- masses of people and technology. I wish I could describe what we saw -- literally thousands of people standing at the craziest intersection you've ever seen. And when it was time for folks to walk, it was as if the floodgates of people were opened on the world. Thousands of people swarmed the entire area, seemlingly out of nowhere. Sadly, it wasn't as busy later in the evening when I tried to capture a video of the scene, but it was something nonetheless.

After a return to our respective hotels and a lower back break, I met Natasha and Jessica in Roppongi at Tsukiji Sushiko for sushi dinner (at 11:30PM, I might add!). We tried to take in IceBar, but it had closed early -- it was Sunday night afterall -- and we instead settled on affiliated & low-key substitute, Bar Keystone where The Captain showed up! I love the Captain so much and had been missing my friend since I was last in the U.S.

Sadly, our evening came to a bit of an end as this 30+ dude needed to crash such that I could work today! I wished Tashi & Jess best wishes on their 2-week adventure in Thailand, and cabbed into the sunrise! Overall, a GREAT day/night altogether and AWESOME to have friends in town with whom to share adventures!