Akihabara and Shibuya

Laurel wanted to visit Akihabara to check out the anime and electronic stores. I have read about the area, and while I am not an anime fan, was curious enough to tag along. It was very easy to take the local train to Akihabara. Our first rush hour ride on the local trains; it was super crowded, especially at the transfer stations. The major stations have lower levels with stores and restaurants. Over our stay in Tokyo, I found some delightful restaurants and food markets under the train stations. We arrived in Akihabara before 10 am, and found that many of the stores were not open. Walked around a bit but found nothing of interest to me. The area was probably more interesting at night when it was supposed to be all lighted up and full of shoppers.

Next, we decided to go to Shibuya to check out the famous Shibuya Crossing. I got a few photos of it from the walkway out of the Shibuya station. It was quite difficult to take any photos while in the middle of the crossing, I did not even try it. The crossing at that time was not as crowded as I have seen on videos. We would go to Shibuya again a few more time on the later part of our trip. In the evening, it was shoulder to shoulder crowded as people scrambled to dodge others trying to make it to the other side before the traffic lights change. An interesting experience, and so reflective of how crowded Tokyo was.

We walked around Shibuya quite a bit, looking for the Nintendo store. Google Maps was not very useful, taking us around in circles. I finally asked a traffic guard, he understood enough to tell us that the Nintendo Store was located on the 6th floor of the building next to us. It was a very big store, again quite crowded. Laurel shopped while I waited at the terrace cafe with a nice view. The nice thing about Tokyo is that there are cafes, especially Starbucks, everywhere and they let you sit for hours and use their wifi.

We ended up having a late lunch special at this awesome little restuarant which specialized in matcha desserts. We had to wait about 30 minutes to get a table. We shared a noodle dish, and really splurged on the desserts, so very good!

After returning to the hotel, we did some research for a place nearby for dinner that was also open late. We settled on a izakaya (a pub, with small dishes, like tapas) that had great reviews. The somewhat hidden, hole in the wall Izakaya Shandur (name did not display in Google Maps) took a bit of time and effort to find. We had been warned by reviewers to remove our shoes before entering the restaurant, so we did, except we did not know that we were supposed to put shoes on shelves to the left of the door. We ordered a variety of small dishes cooked fresh by the owner(?) behind the counter, including the highly recommended ribs, steamed eggplant, fried poached eggs and shredded cabbage. Everything tasted very good and was beautifully presented. I thought I had taken photos of the food, but could only find one (below). The reviews on the link above had some photos of the dishes. I had the local beer while Laurel had shochu, a sweet potato liquor. I would have loved to go back to the Izakaya again to try the other dishes but we never made it.