We are back in Tokyo, staying at the Tokyu Stay Nishi Shinjuku. I would consider this more of a budget hotel. It has a little kitchenette and washer/drier in the room. Also, you don't get maid service daily. So, more of an extended stay type of place I suppose. We have a nice city view from our room and find this hotel quite acceptable. There's a 7-11 just down the block which is a nice bonus. It's interesting that hotels here don't have little bottles of shampoo -- soaps and shampoos are in a huge pump bottles. But they do give you toothbrushes with tiny little toothpaste tubes. They also provide pajamas, which we don't wear, and slippers.
This hotel also has a weird TP sign, but I think I know what they are trying to say... "save the planet -- use less TP!"
Our first days in Tokyo were more of an old Tokyo itinerary with the temples and shrines of Asakusa, the fish market, the Imperial Palace gardens, and an onsen. I guess this leg is more of new Tokyo with the hustle and bustle of Shibuya, the lights of Shinjuku and things like Karaoke and Cat Cafes.
We have tickets today for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. Tickets for this museum sell out in advance so I bought mine months ago from JBT USA travel agency. You pay a hefty surcharge but the tickets themselves are inexpensive and having them in advance is worth the extra fees. Studio Ghibli is an animation studio founded by Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is like the Walt Disney of our generation. He's an innovative, brilliant storyteller and a master animator. His films are beautiful and varied. Many take you to brand new worlds. If you haven't seen any of his films, you should.
The museum is in Mitaka, which is outside of Tokyo, kind of like a suburb. We'll take a subway and then a train. When we are trying to figure out which train a kind lady helps us pick the train going in the right direction. While we are riding she comes and finds us to tell us we have to get off and switch trains. She is very apologetic saying she gave us bad information as this was an express train and it doesn't go as far as we need to. I tell her it's really fine -- we are headed in the right direction and half way there. I'm thankful she found us and told us what was going on because I'm sure we would have been confused when we had to get off the train before arriving at our stop. But basically we all just needed to get off that train, stand on the platform and wait for the train on the other side. It was easy enough and the kindness of the Japanese people shines through again.
We walk through Inokashira park on the way to the museum and the rain begins to fall. Thankfully, this will be our only rainy day. We have one umbrella to share, and I have my waterproof jacket on. We see another shrine -- bright red and very pretty. It's the Benzaiten shrine and is devoted to the goddess of all things that flow -- like water, words, music, knowledge, etc.
I decide we need to do some Karaoke and we happen to walk by Big Echo which I've heard has a good selection of English songs. In Japan you get your own small room so you can privately sing your heart out. No waiting for your turn, no having to endure other people's bad singing. You just pick your songs and sing! You can order food and drinks, but we were too busy singing. We sing for an hour and it costs $12 per person, so $25 total. It was really fun.
We finish our night with a stop in 7-11 to get some uniquely Japanese snacks. Sometimes we aren't sure what we're eating, but it's fun to try some new things. We found all of these were somewhat tasty.
