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Day 2 - Ginza
By Kakidai - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72903634
Follow the Crowds
No big plans today. Marlena wanted to spend some more time exploring the neighbourhood, but I wanted to see more of Tokyo, so we split up for the day. (Marlena's day is here)
I didn't have a plan, so I just headed to our local Subway station and got on the busiest train. From there, I just followed the crowd. At one stop, the majority of the crowd got off the train and I followed them onto another train!
Where I eventually got off was at Ginza station, where the majority of the train got off and quickly dispersed into separate directions. So I was on my own.
Where am I?
First order of business was to get onto the ground level. So I went through some doors into "Ginza Six" and went up a few escalators. It looked like a mall, but no shops were open. They all had garage-like doors that were shut.
Eventually I made my way outside and started touring the streets. Taking a quick stop to grab an Iced Mocha.
I bought my coffee from a store on the left. "Excelsior Caffe"
Along the way, I passed by a tourist information center. After sufficient wandering I went back there to grab a map and chat with the guide. She let me know this is more of a shopping district, so not really up my alley. Still, the map had a few locations that I thought I'd check out.
Deciding to Skip #1 because I'm not really a shopping person
Ginza Six Mall
The first 5 floors are for "Fashion & Beauty"
The roof had an interesting art exhibit made out of glass. The artist says that it represents how glass is like life, in that even if it breaks, it can be melted down and reformed into something beautiful
There was also a nice rooftop garden
Nice view of the city from the Rooftop (13th floor)
In the basement someone was giving these out as samples. It's just a Cherry Tomato. Tastes the same as in Canada!
Ginza Yonchome Intersection
Same place as the picture at the start of this page. It's a clock tower. Kinda neat I guess
Along the way, there were some of these misting stations to give some heat relief.
Tsukiji Hongwanji Temple
Large Buddhist Temple. Lots of visitors, and some interesting graves of important figures outside.
Lots of people were heading inside, so I followed them in. Turns out, I was in line to perform a prayer at the temple. Luckily they had some instructions in English for what to do. Bow, walk forward, take some incense and put it in the burner, press hands together and say some words, take a step back and bow. So that's exactly what I did!
Tsukiji Outer Market
During the morning, it is a famous fish market for professionals. I missed that, and instead just walked around the various street food stalls.
Found a fancy knife store, might revisit it later. Knives were a few hundred dollars.
Grabbed some Tamagoyaki (egg) from the market with some spare change I had. Was surprisingly sweet, but tasty!
Finding my way Home
At this point, I was done touring around. I visited the main locations on the map and the heat was starting to get to me (37 Celsius, feels like 45). Rather than use Google, I just made my own way back.
Luckily they have these useful maps on the streets! I made my way to Higashi-ginza Stn.
I ended up at the station circled in Green. There was a similar map in the Subway Station, so I used it to find my way to "Kiba" station. Can you see what route I took?
Back at Home
Eventually I made it back home, where I just relaxed for the rest of the day. Marlena told me about her excellent time visiting the Wood and Plywood museum, and she even got some fresh veneers from a machine they had there!
Also spent some time chatting with the other folks at the share house, there's an interesting collection of cultures. Canada, Norway, France and Germany were represented that evening.
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