Tokyo

After a good buffet breakfast at the Blossom Hotel, I booked online a ticket for the one-act matinee at the Kabukiza theatre in Ginza, and then took a taxi to ensure that I arrive there in time. There were a lot of school-chlildren in the audience. Those who had booked only one act sat in the gallery at the back of the theatre. I bought an earpiece which explained the plot of the Kabuki play first performed in the early 1800s and set in the medieval period. It was very colourful. An audience-member in the gallery shouted support for one of the actors.
I took the metro to the Meiji Shrine and Garden where I had a snack lunch in a cafe.
In the afternoon, I took the metro to the Shibuya Crossing and took the lift to the lounge at the top pf the Magnet by Shibuya 109 Building to look down on the Crossing and also across the city. I also took some photos of all the people using the crossing from a Starbucks,
Returning by metro to Shinjuku, I thought the crossings there were just as busy as the one at Shibuya.
I used the IC Card on the metro. Y2500 had been preloaded by Inside Japan, and I topped it up when necessary. Each journey on the metro was costing the equivalent of a few Pounds.
Returning to Shinjuku Station in the afternoon, I'd taken the east rather than south exit by mistake, and discovered another posh shopping streets.
In the evening, I walked up a main street beside the station, past buildings with neon lights, towards the Kabukicho district but couldn't find an appropriate restaurant with an English menu so returned towards Shinjuku and had dinner at a Nepalese restaurant. There were lots of restaurants in small booths or larger ones with alfresco dining, frequented by a young clientele.Leia mais