Tokyo Explorer

The BELL brand in cycling helmets is synonymous with quality, care of workmanship and affordability.

Since their debut on the outdoor and cycling scene in 1954, the company has gone from strength to strength – not bad for a company that started out 31-years earlier as a small parts auto shop in Los Angeles.

Fortunately today, BELL is well represented in Japan, with many stockists of cycling and outdoor equipment – often the same place – carrying their 21 types of mens, womens’s and kids helmets which retail for around 8-15,000 yen apiece; a venerable snip.

www.bellbikehelmets.com

One of the biggest dangers riders face is the night run.

It’s dark, or the light is poor, its harder than normal for drivers to see you with their minds focused on all the signs and traffic signals out there, and so, whilst not a guarantee of safety, you WILL be a lot more visible if you use any form of reflective light strip currently on the market.

The standard ‘yellow’ strips in retracting form permit themselves to be stretched to their maximum length (there are several on the market) and will almost automatically wind themselves back up when not prevented from doing so.

100 yen shops the length and breadth of Japan sell these strips in various sizes (length and width) making them the perfect wraparound on a dark rucksack, arm or ankle band and even ideal to fit round the seat stem to offer that little extra bit of protection when being approached from the rear by car drivers more interested in their navigation systems or in-car TV!

Get reflective and get safe!

Japanese golfer Jumbo Ozaki is nicknamed the ‘Yen Collector’ due to his preference to play solely on the Japanese tour?

 

Japan’s first prime minister – Ito Hirobumi – once attempted to burn down the early British Legation buildings? He failed.

Van Gogh once considered becoming an ukiyo-e (woodblock print) dealer?

On the lookout for antiques in the heart of ultra-modern Tokyo? Perhaps a nice Japanese souvenir for the folks back home who might not appreciate one of Condomania’s offerings?

Then look no further than Oriental Bazaar – Omotesando’s very best gift shop for souvenirs Japanese bar none.

Sat on the left of Omotesando when walking towards Meiji Jingu from the Aoyama-dori crossing above Omotesando Subway Station (Chiyoda, Ginza, Hanzomon lines), Oriental Bazaar(OB) with its bright red façade is hard to miss.

A literal stone’s throw from the famous Shakey’s Pizza, and across the wide, tree-lined avenue from Omotesando Hills, OB caters to all tastes, has multilingual staff ready to help explain any item and is open 10:00-19:00, six days a week – closed Thursdays.

Essentially a two floored affair with a huge range of genuine 1868-1912 Meiji-era antiques sat alongside some of the more interesting, if slightly kitsch offerings such as T-shirts of Tokyo Tower, decorated fans and chopsticks and even samurai related regalia, OB is one of the shops along Omotesando that should not be missed by those here for a limited time.

Much of the rest along Japan’s answer to the Champs D’Elysees can be visually enjoyed, the prices gaped at and the lack of customers pondered over, but OB is the true one stop shop for anyone after a souvenir to remind them of their time in Japan – and can accommodate any size of wallet!

Get there, get shopping, get sorted.

then

If one Buddhist temple in Tokyo is worth a visit it is Senso-ji in Asakusa. If that ‘worth a visit’ mantra is extended to include a prominent shrine, then Meiji Jingu near Omotesando and Harajuku has no equals.

Perhaps the nation’s best example of all things Shinto, Meiji Jingu has more than its share of wide, gravel filled tree lined approaches, a sense of sublime serenity that keeps out the hustle and bustle of the outside world, and even provides the odd glimpse of white robed priests shuffling about the cloisters or leading the faithful in chanting sutras.

All this – bizarrely it may seem, just across the street from the ultra-modern, teen filled Takeshita-dori in Harajuku and the high class Omotesando shopping district in which a pair of shoes can set you back a week’s wages!

And oddly enough, it was not initially built to house the body of the Meiji Emperor (1852-1912) himself, but rather to house his spirit – along with that of his wife, Haruko (1850-1914) – in death named Empress Shoken*.

One of the most magnificent worship related structures in Tokyo in the early 20th Century, the shrine was destroyed in US air raids in the closing days of the Second World War.

Rebuilding started soon after in an area almost completely flattened but, ironically perhaps, home then to the upper echelons of the occupying US military brass.

When reconstruction work was finished in 1958 – the same year Tokyo Tower opened – many could not, initially differentiate between the original and the ‘replacement’ approach to the shrine; a graveled path around 10 metres wide, lined with trees and passing beneath huge torii gates made of enormous Taiwanese cypress trees.

The shrine itself, arguably the most splendid in the capital, if not the nation in terms of scale, was built using homegrown cypress and in the half century since has seen many hundreds of millions of Japanese visit; some daily, many annually, and many more from up and down the country as part of a trip to the big smoke.

and now

In modern times, post 1958 reconstruction, however, the true religious or dedicatory role of Meiji Jingu has lost some if its sheen and deeper meaning for most visitors.

Today, on and soon after January 1st each year, several million individuals make the trek up the gravel paths at snail’s pace; their shuffle only made bearable in the cold of winter by the body heat generated by thousands and thousands of other fellow pilgrims making the journey to offer a brief prayer, primarily for personal well being at the start of another calendar year.

Several days after the New Year crowds that make the area almost unbearable have dispersed, sumo comes to the shrine – or at least in the shape of ceremonial renditions of the yokozuna dohyo-iri ring entering ceremony, by the active grand champions in the de-facto national sport.

Crowds gather around 12 o’clock on around the 5th of January each year to see the sport’s tops dogs perform the brief but semi-spiritual event held in the presence of all the top sumo wrestlers of years past.

In addition to sumo, throughout the year, weddings are also a staple of the shrine creating much of its income, and providing a beautiful backdrop to any casual visit by tourists and locals alike.

Coupled to annual festivities held throughout the year, the presence of a special park – Meiji Jingu Gyoen (fee) with one of the best iris gardens in the capital, and a treasure museum (fee) related to the lives of the Emperor and Empress after which the shrine is named, and an afternoon – at the very least two or three hours spent in this quiet corner of Tokyo is the perfect way to both recharge the batteries, and learn a little about the single most important Imperial reign in modern Japanese history - the reign of Mutsuhito – the Meiji Emperor.

Link: http://www.meijijingu.or.jp/english/

* - as was common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Empress – married wife of the Emperor – was not herself the mother of the next generation of princes and princesses. This was a ‘job’ left to official concubines. In this case, Haruko herself gave birth to no children, but rather adopted her husband’s children with two official concubines, five and seventeen years her junior.

Omotesando is not generally thought of as one of the cheapest places to shop. Its tree-lined boulevards house some of the swankiest designer boutiques in Tokyo designed to pull in the big time spenders.

However, if you don’t feel like parting with three months salary in a single afternoon, don’t despair, Omotesando has something for you too! Just a few buildings down from the huge ‘Gap’ store on Meiji Street, near the intersection with Omotesando, you will come across YM square, where a much more wallet-friendly shopping experience can be found. Here two of the biggest and best second-hand clothes stores in Tokyo co-exist. In the basement, you can find ‘Kinji’ and on the 3^rd and 4^th floors ‘Hanjiro.’

When I first visited Tokyo, 18-years ago, at the end of the bubble, the idea of a second-hand clothing store in trendy Omotesando would have been laughed at.

If you wore something back then, it had to be new, preferably designer-made and most likely expensive. With the bubble era now only the subject matter of late night drinking stories, Tokyoites too have to count the pennies. This frugalness combined with today’s emphasis on all things environmentally friendly has meant that second hand clothes stores have had an image make over. As a matter of fact, they’re cool! Why else would they be in the heart of Harajuku?

Being Japan, things are not done in half-measures and the two stores in the YM square don’t just sell any kind of used clothing, but promote their very own distinct style. Kinji is the cheaper of the two, and its look is young, brash and colourful, it’s aisles filled with patterned shirts, multi-coloured T-shirts, as well as jeans, furry hats, combat gear and shiny waistcoats. The shop assistants attire as well as photographs plastered over the windows helpfully show the mix and match Kinji look that customers are encouraged to copy.. T-shirts go for less than a thousand yen, and jackets around 2000-3000 yen. When buying, for a little extra cost, you are also given the option of a guarantee that you can re-sell it to the shop later; an idea rooted in good business sense and eco-friendly principles as clothes get re-used again and again.

Three floors above, Hanjiro, aims for a somewhat different, more laid-back hippy feel. The interior alone is worth going to the shop for. At the entrance you find yourself confronted by three faceless mannequins, representing a man, woman and child, all decked out in Hanjiro chic. On the walls behind are pictures of Jesus and Mary that appear to have been taken from a Jehovah’s Witness magazine. All wonderfully surreal! The interior lives up to the entrance as the ceiling is lined with an array of chandeliers that light up rows of decent quality used jackets, dresses, hats, stoles, scarves and accessories.

Hanjiro’s appeal is broader than that of Kinji, attracting a slightly more mature customer, as well as students in their early twenties. Hardly surprising then that prices are a little higher, although shirts at around 2000 yen are not likely to cause too many sleepless nights.

While most of the big name brand shopping is done on the main Omotesando, a short stroll away, you’ll find the second and third floor ‘Kindness’ store here buying and selling brand goods. Perhaps this is where some of the Vuitton bags and Fendi coats purchased just around the corner end up when the owners are forced to cut costs. If you’re a brand buying kind of person, then the store is worth a visit before splashing out on new goods. The stuff on display at Kindness looks as good as new and goes for a fraction of the price.

A little further down the road brings you to Takeshita guchi, where Takeshita Street ends on one side and Harajuku Street begins on the other. Takeshita Street is a teenagers’ paradise - a Mecca for wearers of street fashion ,with shops and stores specializing in punk, goth, cute, Lolita and whatever else is big among the under 20s. The street includes shops selling used clothes as well as new. Of special note are the wonderfully named ’Wego’ and the outlet store ‘Freaks,’ with a second-hand section in its basement.

Harajuku Street is a bit quieter and includes some interesting second hand shops like G2, which stocks Vintage American and European clothes. The store is well worth a look around as you find yourself taken back to a different era. If you’ve ever felt a wish to dress like a 50s Hollywood film star or don the tweeds of a British aristocrat, then this is the place for you!

The second-hand clothes stores, as well as selling good-quality, affordable clothes, are also worth visiting to see just how young Japanese people are changing and becoming more creative with increasingly limited resources. The used shops styles and interiors are the result of imagination and a DIY spirit, a contrast to the state-of-the-art brand shops nearby which seem to be no different from other brand shops the world over and where money alone seems to have been the source of inspiration.

In more ways than one, Omotesando Hills represents the future of the main Omotesando drag.

After opening a couple of years ago, the six floors of one of the most up-market, if not largest shopping options in the city was inundated as thousands visited daily and lines formed outside the main entrance.

Today, just around the corner from that much publicized opening, ‘Hills’ has reached the point it was perhaps aiming for in the first place; the mad rush of shoppers and sightseers long past, serious shoppers who know what they like, and have the money to spend forming the backbone of the custom now.

Construction wise, Hills is a phenomena, what with its angled, continuous floor running around the inside perimeter of a large hollow area. Not because if its size or even space for that matter – but for its ambience – an oft-ignored commodity in Japanese department stores.

A total of 77 shops line the walls of the walk-around slopes, interspersed with five galleries and at least two multi-purpose communal spaces.

None of these facilities ever appears as ‘in-yer-face’ as similar outlets seen in department stores elsewhere around the city. Instead, as with everything else in Hills, the shops here are a part of the larger experience, and it is always the experience that comes first.

For the peckish, around fifteen classy cafes and finger lickin’ restaurants, covering a range of tastes exist to cater to your every culinary need, and as with all up-market locales, the game here is as much about being seen as it is about eating in said restaurants positioned twixt the niche type stores lining the upper slopes.

Sadly, as simple yet modern as Hills is, it lacks in the opportunity to have its existence promoted by those visiting and taking photos inside, for at each turning point of the ascending and descending slopes, signs ask that photos not be taken from what is, without doubt, the ideal ‘capture all in a single shot’ vantage point.

It is only when the realization sinks in that the architects and / or designers have themselves foreseen the possibility of cameras tumbling several tens of metres to the basement below (open plan remember) and likely causing bodily injury, that extremely strong lights targeting each and every ‘between floors’ turning point are noticed.

At first cursed, these lights later appear to be a darned good idea – for it is a long way down, and a bunch of tourists snapping away, fingers raised in a peace sign really would remove from the ‘experience’.

The large central stairwell that creates the centerpiece of the whole structure, dim lighting and non-intrusive music add to the complete shopping trip for those with a few yen to spend and seeking to shop in serenity – no bright lights, shrieking teenage sales clerks and/or fluorescent “SALE – EVERYTHING MUST GO” signs here.

Head to Harajuku’s Takeshita Street for the kiddy area.

Omotesando Hills is about class, delivers class, and, you get the feeling, expects visitors to be just that little more ‘up-market’ than the youngsters down the road in Harajuku or Shibuya.

Be chic, be discreet – visit Hills.

Open seven days a week – 11:00 – 22:00.

Been there, seen it, done it you may think? Perhaps you have, but that is a comment that really can never be true unless you have walked the length of Harajuku’s Takeshita-dori – both ways – and lived to tell the tale.

In more ways than one, Takeshita-dori is Tokyo’s teen heaven – and by teen that means Teen with a capital T.

Any older than about 18 here in Tokyo’s equivalent of a million European and American street corners, minus the wealth of zany shops, and you will be looked upon as a thing of the past, a relic to be put away in a museum.

That said, as close to the grave as your DOB may place you, Takeshita is more than worth running the gauntlet of a thousand stares by the capitals rebellious, primarily female youth.

Shops full of the latest teen (read: girly) fashions – and there is more than enough weird stuff to go around here – as well as gimmick-cum-accessory outlets peddling oddities you will never use, and never see again are everywhere; think a single grain of rice with your name written lengthways using a laser!

Crepe shops galore, Viking sets (an all you can eat concept in Japanese) and far too many cramped little places selling idol / pop star pics, key rings and the like can leave the uninitiated dizzy.

Fear not, the return trip will reveal more of the same and could well lead to a burst blood vessel if you take it all too seriously, but as with so much else in Japan, no space is left unused, so just when you think you have seen everything there is to see – glance upwards at the second floor rooms of so many of the buildings. Guess what! More of the same – much, much more!

Blood vessel throbbing yet?