Day 3: Friday 1st September 2017
Two activities scheduled. An optional full day tour taking in all of Tokyo’s highlights with our English speaking Japanese Guide and the GGArmy’s own Tour Leader Kevin Pollard. The second activity is a package inclusion, an evening tour of Kabukicho with our own Tour Leader/s Kevin Pollard & Matt Dundas.
09:30 OPTIONAL DAY TOUR. Tokyo Highlights. Additional Fee AUD$85.00.
In each of the cities we visit, the GGArmy product team selects a premium optional day tour activity that captures the soul of the city we are visiting.
Travel to the Nishi Shinjuku business district to the observation deck at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (in effect, Tokyo’s City Hall) for a stunning view across the Tokyo skyline.
We visit Shinjuku Station, the world’s busiest railway station complex. Guinness World Records recognises Shinjuku Station as the busiest railway station in the world: More than 4 million passengers pass through each day. The station is a sight in itself, effectively forming a giant multi-level warren of department stores, restaurants, commercial buildings, railway facilities and underground shopping malls which radiate out for kilometres under the surrounding area.
Travel via, Isetan – the most popular department store in Shinjuku through Yoyogi Park and visit Meiji-Jingū Shrine: The Meiji-Jingū Shrine is Tokyo’s grandest Shintō shrine and is dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken.
Moving on, visit Harajuku to see teenagers dressed up as Gothic Lolita’s, French Maids and other extreme Japanese youth fashionista types and travel through Takeshita-dori: a bustling narrow street home to many trendy teenagers.
Walk along the broad, tree-lined avenue leading downhill from the southern end of the JR Harajuku station to Omote-sandō Street which leads to the upscale Aoyama district. The street is full of cafes, clothing stores, KiddyLand shops, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Prada buildings and the kitschy Tokyo institution, Oriental Bazaar. If you’re interested in more quirkiness, nearby Cat Street is just that – full of mish-mash boutiques and unique retail architecture.
Continue south to Shibuya: a major center for nightclubs, music, shopping and eating. This suburb is very popular with young Tokyoites and has more two-story televisions than any other area in the world! See the Hachiko Statue (Tokyo’s famous pooch), Myth of Tomorrow (a mural which depicts the atomic bomb exploding over Hiroshima), Shibuya Hikarie 34-storey tower, Shibuya Center-gai main entertainment drag, Dogenzaka, aka Love Hotel Hill – home to many love hotels and capsule and sauna hotels and Spain-zaka alley – an atmospheric, colourful, Mediterranean styled street. Most of the action in Shibuya is in the hectic blocks known as the Shibuya Crossing, which is a five-way “pedestrian scramble crossing” under various giant video screens. Also, Nonbei-yokochō, is a narrow alley packed with traditional yakitori (skewered meat) taverns as well as some modern and extremely small bars. There are also many cheerful izakaya (gastro pubs) scattered about Shibuya.
We take the metro to Tokyo Station; something of a sight in itself as it reflects the station’s original World War I-era architecture and explore the mammoth Daimaru department store. Continue down to Ginza – variously known as the fashion centre, the skyscraper district and home to yet more quirky youth pop culture. View the San-ai Building: a glass building with its huge neon sign, the original Sony Building and the prestigious Wako and Mitsukoshi department stores. Cross the famous Ginza-Yonchome Crossing with the Ricoh sign atop of one of the main buildings.
Travel to Akihabara Electric Town for cutting edge electronics. The area houses thousands of shops selling every technological gadget you can imagine, from computers to gaming consoles and vacuums to DVD’s. This area is also known as the ‘Gamer’s Mecca’ and is strongly identified with anime (Japanese animation) and manga (Japanese comics) subculture, with the legions of otaku geeks filling the area. The huge towers of Sega, Taito, and others can’t be missed, but places like ‘Hey Arcade’ on Chūō-dōri have entire floors dedicated to shooting games (think Galaga) and fighting games (think Tekken) and ‘Super Potato Retro-kan’ on Soto-kanda have 80’s retro games.
Estimated return to hotels is 18:00.
Kevin Pollard and an English speaking Japanese Guide lead this tour. Please note that subway ticket and lunch are not included. Please make sure you have Japanese YEN with you to accommodate these small expenses.