Proper Crimbo (shopping)

Well I’d better try and get into the habit of the blog lark, so here are a few words on my trip to Tokyo this weekend – well, Saturday to be precise.
My home prefecture of Niigata is on the west coast of Honshu and sits next to the Sea of Japan. Tokyo is on t’other side of Honshu, but thanks to Shinky the Shinkansen you can get across to the capital relatively swiftly. We (Heather, Stacia and I – the three of us live in the same building in Itakura) left our sleepy mountain village before sun up in an attempt to cram in as much as we could in our brief visit to the city, the principal aim of which was Christmas shopping.
Squeezed into Stacia’s tiny Suzuki something or other, we weaved our way through the misty mountains and numerous tunnels on our way to Nagano City in the next prefecture – along the expressway it takes a little over an hour. We parked the car up at Nagano train station and head off for the Shinkansen line just as the sun sleepily lifted its head from behind the horizon.
If you are a kid in the UK and you say that you love trains, then people will think you are a geeky trainspotter. Not so here. Boys in Japan love trains, and rightfully so, because the Shinkansen is a very cool thing indeed for numerous reasons.
Firstly, they look like space shuttles more than trains; secondly, they travel at around 200mph; and thirdly, they are always on time. Your ticket has your seat and carriage number on it and indicated on the platform is where you should stand and wait for the train. The Shink then whispers its way up to the platform at precisely the scheduled minute and, as if by magic, the carriage door you want is tight in front of you. Once on board you have bags of legroom, plenty of space for your bags (and legs) and the ride is so quiet and smooth that you nod off within a few minutes – none of this screeching of wheel on tracks that cuts you right to the core. Anyway, enough of this waffle – the moral of the story is that the Shinkansen is quite cool. It takes about an hour and a half to get to Tokyo from Nagano.
Once in Tokyo it was time to see whether I still had all the city-slicker skills that I’d picked up in London. Not so, it seems, as I tripped coming off the train and had a close encounter with an elderly Japanese businessman. We took the metro from Tokyo Station to Shibuya, where some of the city’s best you-can-buy-it-all-here-and-more department stores are.
I had heard a lot about the outrageous dressing of the Tokyo youngsters (says he at all of 24), but I thought it was probably just a few alternatively-dressed kids and the whole thing had been hyped up. Not so, they are all over the place. If you can imagine Camden on a Saturday afternoon cranked up a little bit, but more cutesy and less Goth / rock, you're almost there. The guys have big coiffured hair soaked in so much hairspray that you fear walking too close to them as they might spontaneously combust, while the ladies are so scantily clad it would make you mother blush. It is definitely the place to be seen.
Our first port of call was Tokyu Hands, three sprawling multi-story towers of all sorts of Japanese randomness. Christmas isn’t a very important religious holiday in Japan, but they have embraced the spirit of Christmas – the commercial spirit that is.
Having looked through what Tokyu had to offer, we toddled along to Loft – more of the same basically, but more trendy. Back out on the streets we took in the atmosphere – a cup of coffee while standing by one of the busy crossings made you wonder where all of these people could possibly be going (I think I have been out in the sticks for too long).
Next stop was Asakusa, formerly Tokyo’s principal entertainment districts way back when. The main attraction for us was Nakamise-dori (top picture), a long shopping precinct that leads up to Senso-ji Temple. You can buy all manner of bits and bobs here and it’s a fascinating area to simply wander around. At night the street is wonderfully lit, which makes it very atmospheric. Senso-ji is not one of the most attractive temples I’ve seen since I’ve been in Japan, but to it’s left is a stunning five storey Pagoda. It too was rather atmospheric, all lit up and that…
Back on the tube and we scooted off to the Ginza district. Ginza is the posh shopping area in Tokyo; huge buildings pulsate with neon and the main aim seems to be to remove as much yen from your wallet as you can as quickly as possible. The most impressive building for me was by Dior (I don’t know if he designed it, but it had his name on it). It looked as though it was covered in diamonds.
In search of some non-Japanesey food – not something we have the luxury of in Joestu too often – ideally we would have stumbled upon a Mexican restaurant as soon as we exited the station, but it wasn’t to be. Instead we settled for a wee Irish pub down a side street. I didn’t catch the name, but O’Flannigan’s probably isn’t far off. A Guinness and a Shepherds Pie later and I was a happy bunny.
A hop, skip and a jump back to Tokyo Station and we were soon Shinking our way back Nagano.
Did I ever tell you how cool the Shinkansen is? Well, firstly…and sleep.