Tokyo Wanderings Sunday October 11

Sunday October 11 – having woken up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 I actually saw the sunrise. We still dawdled around the hotel room before grabbing some yogurt for breakfast and our Starbucks. We then went in search of an ATM machine. Shinjuku on a Sunday morning is a stark contrast from the night before, streets quiet and a few souls jogging or getting ready for work. As we looked for the ATM (in Japan on a few banks take international ATM cards – the Post Office is the most reliable choice.

Clothing boutiques seems to be one of the best venues for interesting little moments in modern architecture. This outpost of the Spanish designer Emelia Zegna.

 

 

 

Later in the day, I wandered around Tokyo Station. The entire station is being transformed. Two commercial towers have been built on either side and there is some interesting things being done. At the South – there is an office building with a small entrance to the underground labyrinth of shops, subway and rail connections that make up Tokyo station. I am not sure if this entrance was done by the developer of the office building or by Japan Rail, but it is very nice. Rising out of the ground to create a people and automobile garage entrance. From the other side it looks like a park. The way the canopy transforms itself into landscape is very deft.

The North side of the station is more developed. The Daimaru Department store used to be directly over the station as part of the redevelopment now it is part of a sleek tower on the North Side.

Later in the day I decided to get off at a station that I had seen on the map but never had a reason to get off at. I stopped at Ebisu. I know the name because it is a brand of beer. There is a fancy shopping mall and a beer themed garden here. I took pictures but it was sort of tacky.

The area is very hilly and the station is near 40 feet above street level. This does not seem to bother the Japanese, who have created a mall and a plaza. From the station is a skywalk to get the half- mile to beer garden, but right around the station there were large apartment buildings and a department store. I will take more pictures but everywhere you go in Japan there are cafe’s where people are sitting and talking and drinking. Walking with your drink is a social no-no, so most take a pause and relax in cafe’s. This may be one reason Starbuck’s is so popular because it fits with the cafe culture that exists. Maybe because so many people are on the subways that there is a lively public life.