Meiji Shrine
The problem with pictures, is they show colour, but don’t convey the height or shear size of most things. The Torii gates here were massive at the entrance into the grounds. You truly felt dwarfed as you walked in, if not by the gates, then by the massive forest surrounding on either side of the path. The path wound around through the forest until finally you come up on the shrine in the center.
Worth Seeing: 4 out of 5. Contrasts nicely with the bright Arakusa Shrine.
Getting There: From Shinjuku station, take a JR Line south to Harajuku station.
At this point we were getting tired, a quick round of Sake Ice Cream, and we were off for our final group stop of the day, Shibuya Crossing.
Shibuya
This is the intersection that is shown so often on commercials about busy commuting in Japan. It was pretty chaotic with the mad scramble of people across the street.
Worth Seeing: 4 out of 5 tourists running into the middle of the road to get a picture as a horde of japanese business men begin to engulf them. Do it once or twice to say you did it.
Getting There: From Shinjuku station, take a JR Line south to Shibuya station.
It was from there where we grabbed a beer. I was heading off to Mt Fuji the next day, they were heading down to Osaka. They gave me some good advice on what to see, what to skip. From there, It was off to the Robot Show I’d seen on an episode of one of Anthony Bourdains shows.
The Robot Show
The Robot Restaurant (Restaurant should be taken lightly here) is located outside of Shinjuku Station in Tokyo’s red light district. Waiting for the show to start, I had gotten a coupon for a free drink. Sure, why not. I sat there sipping away at a Ninja Lager while a band dressed like a cross between Daft Punk and a Cylon played jazz music.
Worth Seeing: 2.5 laser spewing robot aliens out of 5. I was told it was an experience, and of what I saw, it was…well… an expeirence.
Getting There: A quick walk north from Shinjuku station.
Not too long after that, we were seated. Cramped couldn’t quiet describe what it was like in the “restaurant”. It was 3 rows of people on either side of a 40′ x 200′ foot room, 2 floors under ground. They do a test on the front row to show them they’ll need to lean back and points in the show so they don’t get taken out by a platform.
The show starts soon enough. Loud drums, chanting dancing, electric guitars, and bright lights light up the cramped space, it felt like a cross between an 80’s Vegas show and a Japanese Anime from the 90’s, and with that, it fell into the tackiness you’d expect quickly from there. I didn’t end up staying for the entire thing, unfortunately the busy rush of the day caught up with me finally and I left feeling as if I had the flu.
Rough end to a great day. But stuff happens, not everything works out. Naturally I was disappointed that I only saw half of it after spending 50 bucks on it (with a viator deal), but also realizing I was far from okay, it was the right call to peace out. For what I saw, the show was alright, but definitely a bit of a novelty. It was an experience for sure, but slightly too tacky, and not worth the 70-80 dollar normal price.
I laid in my capsule, with my feet laying out, sipping water. It must’ve been dehydration as I came around after a bit. If it wasn’t gone by morning I’d see a doctor so I called it an early night. I had a mountain to climb the next day…hopefully.