So last night I thrashed out a plan for today. With the aid of 6 maps (all with varying degrees of detail) my guide book, iPad, pen and notebook. So up at 8.30 and over to Kinschico to get my train to Roppongi where the Chinese embassy is to get my visa sorted. I headed in the general direction but still had to ask a policeman for help. The way addresses are done here it's no wonder I struggle. Firstly addresses are given often by district and not street, some streets have no names and finally the numbers are more often than not relating to the order they were built and so not sequential! Even if you ask a local for an address they struggle. Names and pictures that's what I use. Maps are nearly useless because half the streets have no names! How can a country that is so technologically advanced operate such a system?
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I get to the embassy and negotiate security, little English spoken or written anywhere but I eventually climb a couple of floors, join a queue and wait. When I get to the window the woman tells me they don't do tourist visas and that it is only business visas they do.......oh crap, I'm muddling through other potential travel routes in my mind excluding china, nightmare. However I'm told the travel agent next door does. Bit weird, but I head next door, now when you think travel agent; wrong! A table with two women, speak little English, plenty of forms, 8000 yen later and done. Have to phone tomorrow to see If I was successful, provided I am, Tuesday pick up.
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Walked round Roppongi for a few hours, really the first time I've walked anywhere significant since I got here, excluding train stations. Went to a couple of shrines, which were pretty impressive, especially as they are just shoved in the middle of Tokyo, with no signs just guess work!
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Back to the station for another train/metro/magic carpet to Shibuya where I went to the highest grossing Starbucks in the world. It was conveniently just above the crossing I was coming to see. Absolute madness! I mean there were just so many people, you have to see it to believe [luckily there are photos and a video] Then this is typical of what I have found here, it doesn't matter where you are, corner shop, supermarket, train station, there are just so many people. The only time that you get to yourself is in the toilet, even then sometimes the solitude is shattered by the discovery that in the cubical game of roulette you have drawn a squat toilet! Not cool. After my coffee I meander through the crazy shops and monster department stores filled with 1000s of people all talking and using their mobiles. I literally understand nothing. Very strange feeling. After a while my head feels like it is about to explode through over stimulation so I head back over the crossing and to the station. I must say my ability to navigate the train/metro system has improved significantly from yesterday, even with the discovery that the map I have is only metro routes, there is a whole separate one for trains and you get everything from the same place. Yesterday I was overwhelmed, confused and frustrated. Today I was cruising through those locomotives turnstiles like a pro! When you buy a ticket you pick a price, not a destination. Luckily at each station there is a fare adjustment machine that you can put your ticket in, and if you haven't paid enough you can pay the difference before you encounter an embarrassing situation at the turnstile. Which is just as well because people literally run through those things. Don't want to be labeled a stupid tourist now. It gets further complicated if you are using metro and trains on the same route because they use different ticketing systems. I muddle on!
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Let me tell you a bit about these trains/metro. There is no talking. Literally silence. I don't know if this is a rule but it is certainly something people follow. People talk on the platform and then sit in silence on the train. There are priority seats for elderly/pregnant women and no one sits in them, except me when I first got the train from the airport, and I didn't realise! No matter how busy the train gets, people don't sit in them they stand. At rush hour the trains get mega busy and conductors actually push people in to get the doors closed. This lead to extremely packed trains and women were getting groped and not saying anything, as is the Japanese way. Japan's solution - at peak times they put women only carriages on the trains! Can you imagine that happening at home. It would be followed by a swift punch to the mouth then in with the lawyers! Madness!
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Next stop Shinjuku, one of the busiest stations in the world and home to the business district of Japan. Apparently more people change train here daily then use the whole of London underground! So obviously with my improved navigation skills this will be easy, right? Ha. It wasn't too bad. Had to walk for about half an hour, underground, to get to my destination, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. They literally have massive shopping complexes underground at train stations, this is the biggest so far. So the TMGB is one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo, it also happens to be the only one that is free. So up to the observation deck, not for those of a claustrophobic nature as on my lift up to the 45th floor I had an additional 19 people in the lift with me. 18 on the way down. It was behind glass so not the best pictures although I was treated to almost a full 360 view of Tokyo, what a sight. It literally extended as far as I could see, in every direction. A massive sprawling mess of buildings, parks and railways. I was pretty taken aback by the sheer scale when seen from this height. I also got an interactive PDA that told me about all the buildings, and in English. Free also.
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Home and into the onsen! Which got me to thinking. The experience would in no way be lessened by the wearing of trunks/shorts. I mean the last thing I want to see after a long day is a bunch of willys while I'm having a shower. That's another thing, showering while sitting on a stool is most ineffective, especially as you have to hold the shower with one hand! It's no so much a stool as an upturned potty trainer! Tried out the sauna today, again, naked! 120c the hottest sauna ever, you bring a small towel in with you to cover your bits, it's more of a face cloth. I stuck the heat as long as I could, problem was I was at maximum tolerance when I decided to leave. This meant I had to negotiate naked men on the way to the door. I nearly collapsed, got outside feeling light headed and weak. The situation was significantly worse given the fact I was naked! Forgot to mention my faupa the first time I used the onsen. When you look at the bath it looks like the bottom is the same as the floor you're stepping off. It's not! Significantly deeper. I went falling in a cartwheel motion in to the onsen. Graceful I'm sure you can imagine especially when naked! Luckily I was the only one there!