I honestly feel that Tokyo is a frantic place. Everyone moves fast, some people run. There is no stopping, no breathing, just doing. Zig left, zag right. Up stairs, down stairs. Shuffle in, shuffle out. Why wait for the next train when you can just squeeze in. Push a little more and you'll fit in just fine. Push your way back out two stops later.
I like fast. I like busy. But this is something completely different. This is frantic.
So it seems fitting that I honestly can't remember anything we did today. It's a blur.
After our kebabs last night, we literally passed out. I could hardly upload photos. We talked about going to Tokyo Fish Market at 5am to watch the giant tuna auctions. Thankfully they closed those off from the public due to too many tourists. Thankfully? Because we didn't have to get up at 3am. But we still weren't sure if we should go anyways just to see the market.
We passed out with a game plan to get up when we got up and head over there. When we woke up about 6:30am, neither of us was very motivated to go there. Morgan read a few more things about fish guts and a huge mess and wearing your worst shoes and pants. Yeah, sorry Fish Market, but we packed light and can't afford to lose a pair of pants or shoes.
So, skipping that, we decided to head to
Sensō-ji, an ancient Buddhist temple located in Asakusa. Getting there involved taking the JR Yamanote Line to Kanda station, then transferring to the Tokyo Metro Ginza line. Seems that the JR and Tokyo Metro lines don't share the same station, so we had to walk about 5 blocks from one to the other stopping for morning set (breakfast) at St. Marc Cafe Choco Cro. The ham and cheese croissant was delicious, but the black ice coffee was bitter.
After a 30 minute train ride, we hit the main vain of tourism and Sensō-ji. A small percentage of Western tourists, mixed with a greater proportion of Japanese and Asian tourists exited the train with us and walked fifty feet to the start of the temple. Joined with several Japanese and Asian tour groups, we walked with a thousand of our closest strangers down the ended row of chachki stalls selling everything from fans to wigs to pastries to the temple.
First we got our fortunes, then we washed our hands and mouths before entering the temple. The actual temple was closed to tourists, but even just standing in the "lobby" it was one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had. I'm normally not one to put a lot of thought into faith, but it was hard not to think about it. This wasn't a Buddhist thing, or even a religious thing, it was just a feeling, a sensation.
We left the temple and picked up some free wi-fi, so of course we uploaded a photo to Flickr. Duh! What else would you do?
The sun was getting hot, so we got some water and Morgan's shoes where killing her, so we went shopping for some socks. Luckily every train station seems to be connected to, or directly across from a shopping mall. Unfortunately the sock didn't help much. Next we were off to the Yebisa Beer Museum in Ebisu. Back on the Ginza line to Ueno, then to the JR Yamanote line to Ebisa. The Yamanote line is basically a big circle, we wanted to go the short way, but got on the wrong side of the platform and went the other, longer way. Luckily it took us right passed our hotel, so we got off and Morgan changed shoes. I did too, actually. my new Bape's are comfortable, but just not made for walking long distances.
Back on the train, we hit Ebisu in less than fifteen minutes. The Yebisu Beer Museum is located at Yebisu Garden Place, a beautiful area similar to Easton in Columbus, with higher buildings and fewer stores. Less a shopping area and more of a live/work neighborhood I think. It took us a few minutes to get to the beer museum by foot.
Morgan told me the Yebisu Beer Museum only open about a year ago, and it certainly looks brand new. The building is huge and really nice inside, with an incredible tasting bar for tour groups. The free walking museum tour is reasonably short, a u-shaped pathway maybe 300 feet long start to finish. I read every description, photographed a number of things and the whole tour took about 20 minutes, although I might have been less. I enjoyed it and there was some good historical information that I didn't know about Japanese beer, but if it was a paid for it, I would have been disappointed.
After the tour we hit the tasting salon, where after getting tokens from a vending machine, we ordered one each of the four beers they had on tap and the snack sampler. The Yebisu is a basic German-style Lager, think Bud. The Kahoku is an Amber, which I think tasted like a Pilsner. The Cream Top Stout is true to it's name with a creamy three-finger head and a hint of smoke. The Black is robust stout, with a decent backbone and a hint of black tea instead of the usual coffee. The snack sampler included crackers, dried peas, prawn crackers and dried fish jerky. Morgan and I both agreed The Black was our favorite brew, with the Cram Top and Kahoku tying for second and the Yebisu a distant fourth. Morgan liked the prawn crackers best, while I liked the dried peas and the fish jerky was better than you'd expect.
Even though this only like 2 in the afternoon, we need to get moving and looking back, this entry is pretty long as it is. I honestly feel like I'm rushing to say the next thing, perhaps part of the Tokyo syndrome. We'll pick up the rest of Tuesday soon and here's out Top Threes...
Morgan's Top Three Things:
- Fortunes at Sensō-ji Temple
- Sitting on the park benches at Yebisu Garden Place (there's a story there)
- The hilariousness of walking through Shinjuku with a 3 ton bag of McDonalds
Jeff's Top Three Things:
- Sensō-ji Temple
- Yebisu beer tasting
- Korean BBQ and Hite
I'd definitely like to drink another Hite and even a Yebisu The Black again and Morgan would like to do more beer tastings.
As tasty as that Bacon Lettuce Burger was, I really don't want to do another walk of shame with a McDonald's bag. Ah, that's something you'l read about in part two!
Morgan does not want to experience the sheer pain and torture of crushed toes in ballet flats again.
