Golden Week!
6:19 AM
Hey there awesome people!
As promised, I am here to relay the
new experiences I had during Golden Week in the Tokyo area. But first, please let me explain what Golden
Week means. Collectively, it is a period
of nearly consecutive holidays which fall on April 29th (Showa Day)
and May 3rd-5th (Constitution Day, Greenery Day, and
Children’s Day/Boy’s Festival, respectively) annually. Many schools, colleges, and business are
closed on these days. Likewise,
specialty stores, shopping centers, restaurants, and public attractions are
open an increased amount for business.
Thanks to the help of several gracious friends, I was able to arrange
traveling to and from Tokyo by overnight bus, and stay with a friend I met at
Columbia College my freshman year in her family’s home.
During my stay, one can bet I did a
lot of exploring, shopping, and eating! While
in the Tokyo region, I was able to visit the Chiba, Shibuya, Shinjuku, and
Taito areas just to name a few. Despite
visiting some of these areas more than once, I probably did not covered more
than a couple square miles at each location.
The activities were abundant, as was the food. I have learned how (1) matcha parfaits are
by far my greatest weakness, and (2) raw horse meat is rather delicious. It is a good thing the former are not readily
available in my area, and as for the latter, after consuming my first bite I
spoke a quick apology in my head and promised my two horses in Missouri they would
have nothing to fear. Seeing as my trip was not solely based around food, please
keep reading so I may share with you the awesome-sauce that was my holiday.
The actual sequence of events in the
coming days is a little iffy (I am not really good with chronology), but
they are memorable nonetheless. Within the first few hours of arriving, I found
myself with friends walking the roughly 5-kilometer outer sidewalk of Kokyo,
the Japanese Imperial Palace. This one sidewalk
has so much regular foot-traffic, there is a rule saying which direction you
are have to jog. Fast-forwarding the same day, one will find us inside a
Starbucks overlooking an even higher-trafficked area, the famed Shibuya
Crossing. On this trip, I was blinded by the sun when gawking up at the Tokyo
Sky Tree, and calmed by the glow of city nightlife when gazing down from the
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. While the choice of forest over
cityscape is an easy one for me, I have a certain amount of amazement set aside
for indescribably tall buildings. This
being said, there was one other tall building I will mention. It is physically smaller than the others, but
it is larger in my heart. In Shinjuku, I was able to visit the Square Enix HQ along
with their accompanying merchandise store and café, Artnia. I will not bore you
with my deep-seated esteem for this company and its history, but I would have
had no complaints had it been the only place I visited during my holiday.
Actually, my former statement would
be a slight exaggeration. Every place we
visted was worthwhile in its own way. Such an example would be Sensoji temple in
Asakusa. The grounds consist of many divine
buildings and structures, each with their own unique craftsmanship. From what I
was told, Sensoji is Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temple. It is obviously a major tourist destination
as there is an entire street just for shopping which connects the outer and
inner gates. While there, I did a little shopping, drew my fortune and said a
prayer. Seeing as I am a layperson with a smart-phone camera, the photos I took
are unable to give true credit to the beauty which existed all around. My favorite view was looking down the shopping street at the temple.
Since the majority of this post
involves awesome views and sightseeing, one of the last places we visited as a
group was the Tokyo Sea Life Aquarium. Aquariums are obviously not exclusive to
Japan, but here they have an astounding collection of species encompassing all
the oceans, most seas, and a few places in-between. If you are ever in the
Tokyo region, all of the places mentioned here are fairly easy to get to, and are
either free or at minimal cost. The biggest expenses are probably travel and food,
and even then one is able to find good bargains and conveniences. May I someday
be able to return the favor to the awesome people who made my holiday a colossal
success and pleasure.
It seems that is all for now. Thank you for persevering through another one
of my ramblings. Stay safe and well, everyone.
Cheers,
MB
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