- Tokyo tour by feet
- Sun. Feb, 27 2005
Because of my "little rest" the day before, I was awoken at 5AM unable to find some more sleep to complete the night. After a vain try to sleep, I decided to leave my bed at 6AM for a good bath (after a good surprise the French football league on a Japanese channel at 5AM presented by Dabadie-san, former translator of P. Troussier when he was in charge of the Japanese national team). Once the bath was cold and emptied (with a noise coming from outerspace that should have been heard in the whole hotel), a good breakfast at the restaurant and a charming smile of the girl at the front desk, I was on track at 8:30AM for a good day of tourism: thanks to a long period of awaiting sleep (that never comes after 5AM), I decided to have a heavy duty during the day. The planning finally stopped on the following trip: あさくさ浅草-うえの上野-Imperial Palace-ぎんざ銀座-しぶや渋谷.
What pleasant うえのこうえん上野公園 was not crowded yet (actually, museums and zoo weren't opened yet). So, I simply had to enjoy the freshness of the air as well as a bright sun with no clouds around. So, I decided to reach the Imperial Palace by feet instead of being locked in a train or a subway. Even if I didn't certainly used the quickest way (As usual, I didn't take a map: it is always nicer to only follow local indications or inhabitants explanations), I appreciated discovering some of the main streets closed to cars and full of pedestrians and bicycle riders. So I had a promenade in the Eastern garden (the only one opened to public) which deserves some interests.
A couple of pictures later, I was done and could head to ぎんざ銀座, still one of my favourite place. And that time, I had a very good surprise: ぎんざ銀座 1ちょうめ丁目 completely empty of cars. So nice to enjoy the 150えん円 oo-cha right in the middle of one of the most expensive streets in the World! Especially, sitting on a garden chair and talking with locals... The traditional visit to the Yamato music store done, I decided to reach しぶや渋谷. Still by feet and without a map.
Maybe that wasn't the best idea I have ever had... For, apart from being long, the way between ぎんざ銀座 and しぶや渋谷 is not the most attractive one (at least, the one I took). The good point is certainly that I saw some areas I wouldn't have normally. But the bad point is surely the complete collection of blisters on my feet for the coming week. How hard the last five kilometers were! But I did it and I could enjoy しぶや渋谷 almost a year since last time.
I did enjoy it but it didn't last long: my feet were so painful that I was only dreaming of sitting in a sofa with feet plunged into hot water. So I shortened my tour at HMV and headed back to うえの上野 and then, あさくさ浅草. However, in between, there was the station where Keiko-sama lives and I couldn't go through without stepping out for a quick hello. So I -painfully- did.
Unfortunately (fortunately would be more appropriate, I think), this quick hello turned into a long one giving news (one year since the last visit) and an invitation for dinner with everybody (Keiko-sama and the Japanese family who hosted me last year for a week) at 7PM. Because I couldn't refuse (and didn't want to refuse either), I had a quick step-and-go at the hotel (to have a quick shower and a change of shoes) to be on time at うえの上野. There I met the little Ayachan who, as soon as she saw me, stopped running to Keiko-sama, to hide between her mother's legs... For sure, she recognized me! What a pleasure to see them all! Unhappily, I was completely exhausted and I hardly discussed with them (I can't still understand why but the only words which came to my mind were Swedish, and not Japanese...). So I prefered refrain from talking a kind of English-French-Swedish-Japanese mix to enjoy the food and hearing Japanese again. Despite this, the dinner was really nice: we ate at a つきのしずく月の雫 (last year, I ate in the same, at しぶや渋谷, with Yukichan, Raphaelle and Nicolas) and that was delicious. So I finally came "home" at 11PM and I think I fell aslept around 11:02PM...
