Today Nicky
and I decided to meet in Shibuya after I got out of class because it’s
the halfway point between our two cities. We met around one to go tour
the area around the station as we are both trying to conserve funds, and
discovered pretty quickly that Shibuya is not the city to attempt this
in. Directly after exiting the station, we happened across a high end
fruit stand that was selling watermelon anywhere between $105 US to $140
US. Even a normal cantaloupe was $105 US.
Shibuya is a city crammed full of
arcades, pachinko, food shops and fashion stores. It’s a lot like
Roppingi or Shinjuku, except it feels more like a massive flea market
hosting exuberant prices. We were able to find a cheap ramen place,
however, and had a tasty lunch there. After about two hours of
wandering around, we decided we were done, as neither of us really have a
hankering for window shopping and tend to get exhausted in cramped city
areas.
We also decided after today that since
Shibuya is not the most interesting of towns, we would start meeting at
different stops along the Yamanote line while we’re still in Tokyo to
explore it more efficiently. There are a few things we definitely want
to do before we leave, like visiting the big ferris wheel and going to
the Tama or Ueno Zoos.
Tomorrow
I have more class, and a mandatory two hour earthquake safety seminar.
As far as I could understand, we are going to a building that simulates
real earthquakes... but that might just be wishful thinking!