After checking in, I took a quick nap, then it was off to my first tourists destination: Ginza. Ginza is the high end shopping district of Tokyo and while I am not a shopper, I wanted to experience the glamorous Japan for myself.
My first stop was Matsuya. According to my guide book, besides the usual fashion products, this department store also had art galleries on it top floor.
I quickly browsed through the men's fashion here, but quickly found prices to be outside my budget. Making my way to the top, my attention was immediately drawn to a calligraphy exhibition. Guessing from the name, a few calligraphy schools were showing its students' art work.
I was amazed by the works. Near the entrance were seal script and standard script pieces. The words were written well, with lots of balance and proper spacing. I was impressed! There were also several pieces with more modern format, where seal scripts words were artfully clustered to form a graphic. My favorite piece was a standard script piece called "虎啸风起 龙腾云起". I inquired about the price and found it to be 10 times more than what I was willing to pay for...
There were also really creative housewares, beautiful watercolors and ceramics on display. There was an exhibit for chopsticks and bowls, which were very refined, but to this untrained eyes, not very exciting.
After browsing through the art exhibits, I was feeling a little hungry. I went to the basement food court for a quick bite. However, I quickly realized the basement was for selling food products for home consumption rather than a place to eat. There were no chairs or places to sit down.
Being a foodie, I enjoyed browsing through the different miso and pickled vegetables. There was a high end butchery place with beautiful cured meats and a cheese stall which I went back repeatedly for free samples. Finally, my hunger got the better of me and I bought several items from the bakery. The bakery had taken food presentation to a very high level! The bread were beautifully glazed and looked really appetizing. Unfortunately, the taste was somewhat of a let down. It wasn't bad, but not as tasty as it looked.
My next stop was Ito-Ya, a 100 year old stationery store. The store occupied 9 levels, selling everything from different types of paper, pens, pencils, note books, calendar and greeting cards. Some products were common, but there were also really unique items like beautiful artisan wrapping papers and designer Frank Lloyld Wright pens which I had never seen before. Given it was New Year's Eve, I bought several New Year Day card, for use during the next Chinese New Year.
The Japanese used to follow the Lunar calendar and celebrate their New Year the same time as the Chinese. Following the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese celebrate New Year on January 1st. I knew of this, but forgot about it when booking air tickets for this trip. The implication for the trip was, while the bigger stores like Matsuya were opened, many of the smaller stores were closed. Luckily, I am not into shopping:)
After the break, I walked to Mitsukoshi. Again, another department store. Slightly larger in terms of foot print to Matsuya, but with very similar merchandise and prices. I was, however, intrigued by the Shinto shrine located on the top floor.
As I went to the top floor, I noticed there were no signage pointing to the shrine. I was able to find a flight of stairs leading to the roof, but when I walked up those stairs, I saw the roof being used as a storage area with a security guard standing outside the door.
Confused, I went down to the top floor and ask one of the cute sales lady where the shrine was. With a lot of pointing to my guide book, she finally understood where I was tring to go. She took me up the same stairs, said a few word in Japanese to the security and led me to a corner on the roof. There was a stone statue, a small store and a hand wash area... everything a proper shrine needed were there!
My guide book suggested visiting several art galleries and the Nissan show room, but unfortunately these locations were closed for New Year's Eve. I also realized finding a location using its address was crazy difficult in Tokyo! An address would read 6-10-10 Ginza, Chuo-ku. The first number referred to the chrome or side street, the second number referred to the block, which may not be in continuous order and the third number referred to the actual number on the block. Even Japanese had difficulty finding their way around, and I saw them crowding, along with me, at the police post asking for directions.
As I was just walking along, I saw an Abercrombie & Fitch store. Given this was a familiar brand, I had no intention of shopping there at all. But my interest was piqued by the bouncers outside the store, waving people along and the long line of people waiting to enter the store. What made this A&F so special?
The wait to enter the store was about 10mins. Upon entering, I understood why entering the store was like going to a club. The store was dark, with loud music playing in the background. On the ground floor, a hunky, half naked male model with low riding, brief showing jeans was posting for photos with eager female shoppers! As I went up the stairs, I noticed the attendants were dressed in casual Abercrombie & Fitch clothing, instead of the more formal uniforms favored by Japanese department stores. These attendants were very young. Most of them were very cute and some were dancing to the music while working! The whole place felt like a club more than a retail store and it showed.
After walking up and down all 12 floors of A&F, I went along the back street to Sony Building. This building housed a Sony show room, where one could try the latest and greatest Sony products.
One product heavily promoted was 3D television. I was led into a room and handed a pair of 3D glasses. The TV was showing a documentary on polar bears. The clarity and experience was amazing. When an under water camera shot of the polar bear plunging into the water was shown, I swear one could reach out and touch each bubble floating to the water's surface. The glasses made the pictures look darker, which was the only drawback.
I also saw various music player, basically Sony's answer to iPod, noise cancelling head phones, computers with touch screen functionality and various types of cell phones. Since I don't usually paid much attention to electronics, I was unsure what was new and innovative.
My final stop at Ginza was Kabukiza Theater. I had hoped to catch a few acts of a show, but the theater was closed for New Year's Eve. There was some preparation of a float for New Year and TV crews were there, setting up for the evening's broadcast. With more and more shops closing around me, I decided it was a good time to go back to my hotel.
About.com recommended visiting Zojoji Temple's New Year's Eve count down party. Since the temple was a stone's throw from my hotel, I had planned to check it out.
I reached the temple at about 7:30pm. Hungry after much walking, I immediately started checking out the food stalls. The takoyaki looked especially appetizing. Here batter was poured in a semi spherical mold. When slightly cooked, boiled octopus, pickled ginger and green onions were added to the center of the batter. Then the batter was turned using 2 long needles and more batter were added to form a ball shape dough. The takoyaki was served in a small box, topped with dried bonito flakes and drizzled with Japanese mayo. Delicious!
After dinner, I walked around the temple ground a little. I visited the main chamber, took pictures of the temple with Tokyo tower in the background and looked at the various charms on sale. I was basically killing time, waiting for 8:30pm.
Before the trip, YC found out from his friend the evening's events. The temple staff start handing out wishing cards at 8:30pm. People would write their New Year wishes on the card. With this wishing card, I could get a balloon at 10:30pm. The wishing cards were to be attached to the balloons, which would be released at midnight.
After collecting my wishing card, I decided there was still a lot of time to wait. I was feeling cold and sleepy, so I went back to the hotel for a quick snooze.
I woke up at 10pm. As I was putting on my glasses, I accidentally broke the frame! Looking at the damage, I decided there was no way for me to fix it, and I did not bring my back up glasses with me. I had worn glasses since I was 10 and have never gone extended period of time without any vision correction, so the next few days would be interesting...to say the least. I had complained 2009 was a bad year, and indeed I had a terrible farewell gift:(
I took a quick shower, added an additional layer before heading back to Zojoji temple. There was a long line to collect balloons, but people were moving orderly and quickly.
Everyone then gathered in the yard, waiting for midnight. Apparently, this tradition is quite famous and many people come to the temple just to partake in this event. I could hear several different languages been spoken amongst the crowd.
As 2009 draws to a close, the crowd got more antsy. An electronic billboard started ticking when there was less than 60 seconds left in 2009. Everyone stood up, and I noticed lights on Tokyo Tower were turned off. As the seconds started ticking off, there was an excitement in the air.
Then the countdown: 10, 9, 8,... I didn't understand a word of Japanese, but it did not matter...3, 2, 1, Happy New Year! Everyone let go of their balloons and what a sight! The sky was suddenly covered with balloons and in less than a minute, it was clear again!
I found this video clip on Youtube of this event.
Lights on Tokyo Tower were turned on once more, with the letters 2010 showing. As I stood in the crowd, wondering what to do next, I felt a surge of people pushing me from behind. Of course! New Year prayers in the main chamber!
I was pushed up the stairs into the main chamber. The police's crowd control was amazing. A taped was used to stop people from advancing when the people in front of us were not cleared. Despite the anxiety to reach the main chamber, people were moving in an orderly fashion.
I got into the main chamber, saw people throwing money into a alter in front of the Buddha statue and decided to do the same. Then it's out of the side chamber door and into the temple ground once more.
I read it was good luck eating soba in the New Year and given I was slightly hungry, decided to participate in that tradition:) Then I went to take pictures of the bell ring ceremony. I did not realize this earlier, but ordinary people were joined by the priests in ringing the bell. The bell was to be rung 108 times. I timed the period between each ringing (yes, I am an Engineer). The bells were ring about 5mins apart. So, there was no way I could stay for the entire 108 ringings and still get some sleep.
It was about 1am when I got back to the hotel. I had missed the hotel's New Year reception, so this would be an alcohol-free New Year celebration for me.
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