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Neo-Tokyo Tour, Intermixi - Spring in Japan, Day 4

Sunday, Day 4, opened up cloudy and cold which was a marked difference from the sun and warmth on the previous day. Of course, this meant I had to wear shorts. :-)

There were only two events that we had planned. The first was fairly mundane, and really involved no effort on our part. We were switching hotels, moving from Sun Members Tokyo Shinjuku to the Sunshine City Prince Hotel.

The real event for the day was our attendance to the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008. Those of you that know me know I got hooked into this hobby long ago, which makes it all the more fun to attend an exhibition showcasing one of my interests.

Going through my older posts I have noticed that I never really talked about my trip to Japan with Pop Japan Travel back in 2005. This is only relevant because last time I also attended the Tokyo International Anime Fair, and I was curious if I described the scene. Since I didn't, I will attempt to do so now.

TAF is held in Odaiba, a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan. Specifically, it is held at Tokyo Big Sight, which is the nickname for the Tokyo International Exhibition Center. One of the interesting distinctions of Tokyo Big Sight is its construction. It appears as a set of four, inverted pyramids seated upon large supports. You can imagine what a sight this is, and it is among a few sights that are placed around the island.

TAF is essentially a trade show and convention, probably similar to events like E3, San Diego Comic-con and the like. The first couple of days are closed to the public and are usually during the week. The last few days fall on the weekend and the doors are thrown wide open to all who want to attend. I don't remember what the cost for tickets was last time, but this time the cost for a day pass was ¥1000 (roughly $10).

We got to Tokyo Big Sight at about 10:00 local time and there was already a huge crowd lined up and waiting to get in. We had to wait about an hour, but then they opened the doors and everyone filed in.

I don't really think any of my pictures (click on the first picture in this post to go to the whole set) do it justice, but this convention was really crowded. We went on the last day, so that might have been part of it. It took all of my Gaijin Powers (Smash, Perimeter, Optic Blast) to fight through the mobs and make it around in some places. About four of us from the tour stayed together while wandering through the fair, and luckily my jacket was easily distinguishable through the crowd. So when someone got lost, they always looked for me. (Of course, two of us had rented Japanese phones for the trip so we could always call each other just in case.)

So, most of my day was spent walking the floor and taking a look at all the various anime, merchandise and related materials that were going to be coming out this year. Various booths lined every possible area of the floor, displaying videos, figures, manga, merchandise, and pretty much anything you can think of. For someone with my interests, it was a lot of fun to walk around, gawk at all the sites (and booth babes, woohoo!), and get as much free swag as I could.

Sometime in the middle of it all, my group of four took a break for lunch. After some more walking, we decided to pack up and head back to our new hotel. For most of us, that was pretty much the end of the day. After a long flight, adjusting to a huge time difference, and two full days of walking, many of the group decided to take it easy that night.

Neo-Tokyo Tour, Intermixi - Spring in Japan, Day 3

My first, full day in Tokyo started nicely at 10:30 local time. The plan was to tour a bunch of various cultural spots around the entire city, walking and using the train system to get everywhere we needed to. The main attractions for today included the following: Asakusa, Sensō-ji, Tokyo Imperial Palace, Harajuku, Meiji Shrine, and Samurai Training.

Asakusa: A district in the Taitō Ward of Tokyo; home to Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon.

Honestly, I wish I had not waited so long to post about my trip since my memories of the early days are fading. I did try to write down things that happened or things I did in a mini-diary that I carried with me, but for most of Day 3 I didn't write too much since we were on the go all day. I will say that Asakusa was pretty crowded, but I never really felt like the crowds pressed in on me. Walking towards the Sensō-ji, we went through a long corridor lined with various merchant stalls selling all kinds of trinkets, foods, charms, etc. I wish I had spent more time going through the various stalls and picking up some souvenirs. In total, we spent probably about 30 minutes to an hour here. I might have liked more time, but other areas were calling.

Tokyo Imperial Palace: The second stop of the day was at the grounds immediately outside the gates to the Tokyo Imperial Palace. The palace is not open to visitors except for two times of the year, on New Year's Day and on the Emperor's birthday. So the group took some pictures from the courtyard and then we continued on.

Harajuku: Next we stopped in Harajuku, an area in the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo. The area is known for its youth style and fashion (at least that is what Wikipedia tells me). It's an interesting place to walk through, although there isn't too much for me. I would probably have enjoyed it more if I had a gf to walk through it with. Anyway, we were given 30 minutes to ourselves to explore and shop and then we met up to have some lunch. I wish I could remember the name of the place where we ate, as I had probably the *best bowl of ramen* I have ever had there. After stuffing myself with the above dish, we moved onward.

Meiji Shrine: Located almost across the street from Harajuku is the forest that encompasses the Meiji Shrine. It was a very serene area and I found it interesting how peaceful it felt compared to the bustle and crowds of Harajuku next door. As we walked around we managed to witness three different wedding ceremonies. We could not stay long, however, as we had lessons to take.

Samurai Training: We ended our cultural tour with a 60 - 90 minute lesson in kenjutsu. I may be wrong in identifying the exact martial art, but I know we did not learn kendo and I did study iaidō for a time, so I am sticking with kenjutsu. I honestly wish I had written down names because I cannot tell you anything about our sensei, his assistant, the name of the school, the name of the style, etc. The lessons consisted of teaching us how to hold a sword properly; how to un/sheath the sword; proper stances and ways of cutting (swinging the sword). We put this all together and used it to perform a kata with two of us as the participants. Two "samurai" would be approaching each other from opposite ends of the room, and one of them would initiate an attack at the other. The defending "samurai" would avoid and ultimately block the attacker's strikes, and eventually the defender would manage to land two strikes on the attacker, ultimately killing the attacker. Somehow, I ended up being the attacker for everyone ... and so I was killed multiple times that afternoon.

Now, one of the nice things about walking throughout all of Tokyo was getting to see all of the cherry blossoms, or sakura, that were in bloom at that time. To see an example of this, just look at the first picture of this blog entry. The last time I was in Japan I was not able to see any sakura in bloom, so this was one of the main reasons why I decided I needed to go back.