There are several small cities around Tokyo that offer plentiful dining, shopping, drinking, karaoke, and just whatever you want to do. I visited (and loved) Kichijoji and Shibuya.
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| Overlooking Tokyo |
Kichi (for short) has so much packed all together. It's a great night life spot. My favorite stores included The 100 Yen Store (everything except what's marked is 100 Yen...so it's a Dollar Tree basically) and Don Quixote. The 100 Yen Store is great for souvenirs because no one will ever guess what you paid. Don Quixote, to me, was like a Japanese Walmart. There are 5 floors, each with a different shopping section. The first floor is a grocery store, and after that you never know what you might find: clothes, designer bags, costumes, dishes, electronics, shoes, cosmetics, pet stuff, everything! But the whole store is slightly weird. It's a great shopping experience.
Also in Kichi is the bar Ziso Ziso. I'm not sure how to explain how to find it, other than it's on the second floor of some building. That's incredibly helpful, I know. It's just a tiny bar, 7 or 8 seats, with karaoke. Had some great fruity drink with oolong tea and some sort of alcohol. My descriptions are seriously lacking. The owner is great, and very nice. And he has a nice voice too!
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| Shibuya Crossing |
Shibuya is home to Shibuya Crossing, the world's busiest intersection (foot traffic). When the pedestrian light turns green people cross the street in every direction - straight across, diagonal, in a circle if they want I suppose. It's pretty cramped most nights. But certainly worth walking through. Just to say you did it. Or you can just stand around in a store overlooking the Crossing and watch everyone like they're little confused ants.
Shibuya is also home to The Lock Up, a prison themed restaurant. It's not that easy to find. It's front door is down a flight of steps and under an arcade. It might also be hard to find someone who knows what you're talking about if you're asking for directions. I think we had to ask four or five people. But we did find it, and it ended up being rather fun. Don't go if you're in a hurry, just go to enjoy the theme and the theatrics, and the food and drinks aren't bad either.
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| Along the walkway at Meiji Shrine |
A large srhine located in Shibuya is the Meiji Shrine. Back in the woods, accessed by walking through a 40 foot tall torri gate and then walking down a long, wide dirt walking path the walk to Meiji is as beautiful as the main hall and surrounding buildings. The grounds also contain the Inner Garden, the only area requiring payment to visit.
You could easily and happily spend an entire afternoon/evening in either Kichijojo or Shibuya. I would suggest doing some research to find out about the shrines, temples, and other sights to be seen in both of these awesome cities, as well as the many other areas of Tokyo.
Now one city I actually wished we had skipped out on is
Odaiba. Nothing against it, there's just not a whole bunch to do. What drew us there was the ferris wheel and descriptions of Palette Town. So the ferris wheel was alright, it is quite large and does sit sort of high up off the ground. But there's not a whole lot to see other than the shipping areas in the harbor.
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| Rainbow Bridge |
Palette Town is made up of several sections, but mainly the Venus Fort Mall. The inside is designed to look like the outside of an old Greek or Roman town. The ceiling is painted and lit like the sky, and each store front is a building. It's pretty, and has a large Roman fountain, but it's like several places in Las Vegas and wasn't anything new to me. It was interesting that in another mall next door, that we cut through, there was someone standing at the door of every store who did nothing but bow as you walked by, whether you were looking at them or not. Sort of strange. Felt like I should bow or wave to them all or something.
Aside from the mall there's a large arcade, a Toyota showroom and test drive facility (need a Japanese or international license), and several other areas for car junkies. Odaiba also has a mini Statue of Liberty, a giant gold needle statue, and the Rainbow Bridge. I've seen amazing pictures of Rainbow Bridge at night, and it was still cool in the day, but I wish if we hadn't decided not to go at all, that we had gone at night. You also have to take subways to get to Odaiba, which isn't covered by the JR Pass.
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