Japan - Day 2 (Part 2)

Japan – Day 2 (Part 2)

Thursday, 23 May 2024

After lunch we went to the last destination of the day, which was the Arakurayama Sengen Park Area, in particular to see the Kawaguchi Sengen Shrine and the Chureito Pagoda. This required a short (15 min altogether) trek uphill, either by stairs or by trail. I took the trail and in 5 minutes we reached the shrine.

However, it took us another 10 minutes to reach another point which had the Chureito Pagoda, with breathtaking views of Mount Fuji. Luckily it was still doable, albeit slower now for me as I am older and heavier. The official name of the Chureito Pagoda is the Fujiyoshida Cenotaph Monument, and it was built in 1958 to enshrine the 960 citizens from Fujiyoshida who died in the wars which occurred after 1868 (the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, WW1 and WW2).

After this we headed back to the city, to a place called Shibuya to be exact. I asked the guide if she could recommend some shops where I could buy souvenirs, and she mentioned a shop called Don Quixote (I promise she pronounced it donkey-hotey which caused a bit of confusion on my part) which sold all sorts of souvenirs and there were two outlets nearby.

They were not nearby. Or maybe they were and I just got lost. Earlier while chatting with some of the other tourists, I began to realise that the place where I was staying (Hanzomon), which is near to where the conference takes place, was a business district, so lesser people. The real touristy areas are Shibuya, Shinjuku, Shinagawa. Again, there was this feeling of failure in doing proper research (just like the JR pass) but anyway it was too late to do anything about it now. One of the tourists told me about the Shibuya Scramble Crossing which is a large squarish area, and when the light turns green people from four different corners meet in the middle in a sort of organised chaos and then disperse.

I thought this was something cool and maybe I could get to see it. I didn’t only see it; I became one of the scramblers, by complete accident thanks to my insufferable navigational skills. Anyway, finally, with a lot of false steps and pestering of locals, I found the store and bought some stuff. Shibuya is CROWDED. And I mean CROWDED. Nothing like Kuala Lumpur. In fact, the Shibuya Scramble Crossing is said to be the busiest intersection in the world. Lucky me. There are about 14 million people in Tokyo, and I felt like I met every one of them in Shibuya today. So then, this is Tokyo. Thanks, but no thanks. There and then I changed my mind and decided that I am actually quite happy in Hanzomon where there is a bit of peace and quiet.

Then I retraced my steps as I wanted to do the adventurous thing and take the subway which according to Google maps is the only train I need to take to get back to the hotel, which is about a 12- minute walk from the station I get off at. But of course, I got lost finding the station, and when I finally found it there was another nightmare trying to buy tickets because the station had various different lines, each operated separately. I found this out the hard way when I lined up at the first counter I saw and was told (through a translation app) that I was in the wrong counter and to go the counter with my subway name.

When I finally found the train line I was looking for, I lined up at the counter only to be told when it was my turn that I had to purchase tickets from the ticket booth. So I had to line up again. And finally, FINALLY! I got my tickets and rode the subway to my destination. Everything is very neat and tidy here, everyone is so polite and respectful and quiet. I didn’t hear people talking loudly or hanging on their mobiles like they do in Malaysia. Well mannered and efficient, if a bit too serious. Not sure how I feel about that.

Then I got off and of course, I got lost again. I dunno what it is with me and google maps this time around. The last time I used it in 2019, I distinctively remember it having a ‘start’ function when I am walking so that if I am walking in the wrong direction, it will show me that I am walking in the wrong direction. This time around, the ‘start’ function has mysteriously disappeared. I have no doubts whatsoever that I am a technological dinosaur and I must be missing some function that I should turn on. But I swear that sometimes, for no reason, my devices like to go berserk, for example the roaming function which I had activated for 7 days, but it chooses to come on and off as it so pleases.

So again, I had to ask for directions and I asked a couple of security guards, one of whom was an African and could speak English without any translation app thankfully (he could also speak Japanese plus his own native language whatever that is, how cool is that?) and finally I got back to the hotel dead tired but in one piece.

But my day wasn’t done yet as tomorrow I plan to take the Shinkansen for which I can use my JR pass but I still need to reserve my seats which I did, and which was not the end of the matter because the website duly informed me that I still needed to pick up my reserve seat tickets at the station tomorrow. Which means I have to be there extra early as my first bullet train leaves at 6.21 sharp.