Our morning saw us exploring Shibuya crossing and some of the surrounding area before meeting up with Paul and Erin at Shinjuku Gyoen Park. Shibuya crossing is famous for, well just being a big crossing I suppose. But it felt like most of the people there were more interested in filming their crossing than getting to the other side (how about that for an existential commentary on the movement of avians across automobile areas). The small area of Shibuya we had time to explore was mostly full of arcades, bars, and “gacha” machines (essentially gumball machines with small toys in plastic balls instead of candy). We carried on to the park, and enjoyed our best day of Sakura yet, though it seemed they would peak next week. 

In our walking, we did see two examples of how lining up for things is a national pastime in Japan: The single refreshment stand (a very classed up looking Starbucks) in the park had a line that was over 90 minutes long, and on our way into the park we saw a line around the block for a hole in the wall restaurant that hadn’t even opened yet! 

After the park we met up with Kaia’s cousin who has been teaching English in Japan on and off for the past few years. She took us to the Shinjuku Kabukicho area, we enjoyed a udon dinner, and then came to an unexpected high point: the Don Quixote. 

Part Target, part Spencer’s, part Toys R Us, part maze, this 4+ story, brightly lit, hodgepodge of a store was well worth the visit. We were apparently too enthralled to take many photographs at this point, so I would recommend searching them online. 

We eventually tore ourselves away and returned to the hotel to pack up.

The most impressive sakura we saw!

An early morning taxi (our flight was early enough that there were no good trains to the Narita airport from us). Our memorable moments were: the 2+ hour immigration line upon arriving in Seoul, and the couple in the lounge in Tokyo who definitely missed their flight for some food. 

After arriving in Seoul, we headed to the MMCA for an exhibit on contemporaneity which was very cool, and had some vegan street food for dinner.