Japan Day 2: Shibuya and (Not) A View.

I took myself off to Shibuya to experience the Shibuya Scramble crossing: the busiest crossing in the world except at 1030 on a Wednesday in March, when it was merely standard busi-ness.

Not being a shopping person, and having decided to go to Japan too late to buy a ticket for the Shibuya tower observation deck, I took myself off on a meander through the back streets in search of a souffle pancake restaurant highly recommended by Sister on the basis of having dined there a year ago. My little back street trundled happily through Japanese suburbia, past private house whose front doors were festooned with pot plants, past clusters of workhorse bicycles chained haphazardly to posts, and past occasional shops and tucked-away restaurants. I found a little temple/shrine down an alley way,

and a wee shop fully dedicated to crochet yarn.

I confess, twas the bike that caught my eye.

The one thing I didn't find was the recommended souffle pancake shop so I commiserated with myself over convenience store pastries (yummy) and ready-to-go hot coffee (disgusting) in a park beside the Tokyo Stadium. 

Not to my taste.

Roger should be thankful: here I am sacrificing myself so that when he gets here I can lead him directly to the best bakery items without any unsatisfying culinary diversions along the way.

Park views.

Powered by pastry I caught another train to the Tokyo Metrpolitan building which does not require booking (or paying) for its observation deck.  A multitude (well, three) of uniformed gentlemen guided me and the other observation deck cheapskates into the lift for an ear-popping ride to the top floor.

I'm glad I hadn't paid for the view: Tokyo weather was not cooperating and I had to take it on faith that Mt Fuji was out there, because my own eyes could not see it at all. Mt Fuji's coyness aside, the views were still good and I can always come back should the weather decide to play nice. I hung out on the observation deck for a couple of hours, nursing a cup of tea as an excuse to sit down and enjoy the relative peace and quiet.

I had a few false starts exiting the Metropolitan Building, but once I finally got out the correct exit I was very glad I'd bought an umbrella. Of course I didn't do something sensible like catch the subway, no not me. I decided to walk back to Shubuya through the park, except when I got to the park it was 5:30pm and a big sign at the gate assured me, via Google translate, that the park shut at 5pm. The gates were wide open but I was too scared to enter lest someone come along and shut them, condemning me to wild camping in downtown Tokyo in the rain. Nope, I walked back to Shibuya in the rainy streets instead, which was quite fun in a soggy sort of way. I'm glad I waterproofed my shoes before I left drought stricken South Australia.

Tokyo Metropolitan Building: its very plain on the outside but the inside is quite grand.

I really would have preferred to be in the park, not beside it.

Everyone has big umbrellas and there's a real skill to zipping past each other at close quarters without getting tangled umbrellas. The trick is to hold the umbrella loosely so it just spins when it contacts another umbrella. The locals are very good at this.  Me, not so much.

Back at the Scramble crossing I dined at Starbucks for the express purpose of overlooking the crossing, where the umbrellas looked for all the world like a sea of jellyfish as they clustered at the corners and flowed across on green.

After all that excitement there was nothing left to do but take my still soggy self home to give my feet a well deserved rest and hung my umbrella up to dry, ready for tomorrow.