This will by far be my shortest entry relating to Tokyo. Anyone who knows me would quickly tell you I’m really not a big city person. Yes, I love the energy of many large cities, but the sheer amount of people who live in large cities tends to put me off immediately. I only spent 2 days in Tokyo, and most of my time honestly was spent trying to find a cheap last minute ticket to my next destination: Hawaii!
I will say that the hostel I stayed at, while quiet and affordable, left me with a bad taste in my mouth. It was primarily because of the front desk attendant. I’m not sure if he was the owner or not, but he was rather pushy in trying to get information out of me, which I considered to be personal. He also constantly tried to get me to take a picture with him. Maybe it was his excitement of having people from all over and he was trying to do some sort of collage with customers, but his approach to it all was just unsettling. And I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, as several others at the hostel voiced their concerns as well.
In any event, while I did not explore much of Tokyo at all, I did google ‘Top things to do in Tokyo’ and settled on going to see the World’s busiest street crossing: Shibuya Street. I know, its ironic that of all places, having just written that I hate crowds, that I would pick the most congested part of the city to visit. I didn’t expect to like it at all, but regardless made my way one evening to see what it was all about.
Shibuya crossing is the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. According to one site (Worldatlas.com) approximately 2,500 pedestrians cross at a time from every direction. If memory serves, 5 streets joined at a central point in front of Shibuya station and all lights turn red at the same time, allowing for pedestrians to cross from every direction. Again, I didn’t expect to like it, but my mind definitely changed when there. Just watching people cross, and participating myself in the middle of dozens of buildings lit up to the hilt with every possible advertisement… I don’t know, I became mesmerized by it all. While being incredibly busy, somehow it just didn’t have that feel to it. It was organized chaos in a strange way, and all the lights at night made it feel so beautiful.
As I’m reading on Worldatlas.com about the crossing, I realized I absolutely missed out on a statue that I would have loved to have noticed… Apparently the Hachiko Statue is there!! Reading that now I’m so bummed I didn’t notice it as I am an avid dog lover!! Ah, well, guess I have to go back, lol!!
On to The Big Island
Ramblintraveler 