Japan: Day 8 - Emperor speech at the Imperial Palace

This is going to be our last night in Japan, tomorrow at midnight, we head back to California. We'll change hotel once more. Tonight we'll be on the major leages and will sleep at the Hilton Tokyo, just 4 bloks away from the Rose Garden Hotel. 

Hilton - Tokyo

Hilton - Tokyo

Hilton - Tokyo

Hilton - Tokyo

Hilton - Tokyo

Hilton - Tokyo

The Hilton lies behind the Univesity Hospital, and a few blocks away from the Police station. We got a room on the 20th floor, it was awesome. It was as big as the US (finally... some space!), it had a large window with great and relaxing view, high definition TV, fridge, and all the stuff that every hotel we stayed seem to include: toothbrush, tooth paste, coffee, tea, iron, etc. Wired and wireless Internet is available but it isn't free (Y1680 or u$21.8 for 24 hours). Most of 4+ star hotels charge for Internet access, as for evey single item :-), but this is price to pay for a high end hotel. Still, a drawback when compared to the smaller hotels that give Internet for free. The Hilton is 3-4 blocks further away than the Rose Garden from Shinjuku station. This is still an easy walk, but a free shuttle service to/from the station is available. Also, the Hilton can arrange bus reservations to Haneda and Narita airports. There's a fee to pay. I wouldn't expect to offer this for free as this is a longer ride, but we'll use the JR train to go to Haneda.

I love the bus/rail/subway system in Japan. The first day, I was extremly confused, but it is awesome now that I know how to use it. It allows reaching every point in Tokyo (also I experienced the same for Kyoto), and the schedule is on time by the minute. Also, inside the trains, Japanese people are very respectfull and quiet. For example, they turn off their cell phone ringers. In the whole stay, I heard only 3 rings. They were always from foreigners. Another highlight is how clean Japanese are. After coming back later at night to Shinjuku, Roponggi, Shibuya stations, it's hard to spot a single piece of paper on the floor. Probably hundred of thausands people walk through it.

We were lucky to find a room available at the Hilton when we checked early morning in. Usually Japanese hotels don't guarantee room availability until 2 or 3 pm. We just left our bags and rushed to the Imperial Palace. January 2nd. is one of the two days in the year when the emperor of Japan gives a speech on the palace's grounds. The other day is sometime in December, on his birthday.

The number of people walking to the palace was massive, cops stand at every block. The closer to te palace, the more security that could be seen. On the way, Japanese flags were given to everybody. Later, the would be woven when the emperor went out. We had to go through two security check points. The open every bag, and pat down everybody. Something to notice is that here they don't care about the sex, either a police wooman or man can pat you down. I got a police wooman; my wife didn't like this so much, but I was cool with it :-D

After a very nice walk through the gardens, we arrived to the grounds and waited there for about an hour. All the time, more and more people were arriving. I would said in the tens of thousands. The wait wasn't bad at all. Once again, Japanese are very respectful so no laud yelling, no drunks, and although space was tight, people still tried to leave some room between each other. It was a cold day and it was warm inside the multitude. The emperor's speech was brief, just 5 minutes, and I have no idea of what he said. I think he gives some good well wishes to everybody. Afterwards, everybody waves Japanese flags and leaves the area in a very organized way. Leaving the place as clean as it was before. I enjoyed the experience.

Next stop, Akihabara. I wanted to spend some more time in the area, visiting electronic and manga (anime) stores. Some of the stores have 7 or more floors, each one dedicated to different product types, such as computers, home electronics, souvenirs, bags, clothes, and more, much more. This time, we went to the top of the building, and from there, visited floors down. This seems to be faster. We went to LAOX Main Store, Takarada Musen Duty-Free, and some others close to them. I didn't want to spend to much time here and picked the ones that seemed bigger, but there are lots more. In Akihabara station, we got a map of the area, showing the main stores. The DVD stores are 3 or 4 floor tall and mostly sell Japanese adult movies, of course only guys were shopping inside. The famous manga (comics) stores are also multifloor, with lots of magazines and books of every size. If you pay quick attention, most of those comics show innocent faced girls in X rated positions or little-no clothings :-). 

Akibahara Electronic Town - Tokyo

Akibahara Electronic Town - Tokyo

Laptop with Japanesse keyboard - Akibahara Electronic Town - Tokyo

Afterwards, we spent some hours on Shibuya and Harajuku. Those places were packed today. On our previous visit, they were pretty empty due to the holiday. Shibuya 109 was having a 7 day sale and it was packed of trendy dressed girls trying to grab some offers. It was hard to walk inside the store.
In Harajuku, Takarita street was also full of shoppers. On a parallel main road, there was a small market on the sidewalk, with all kinds of tasty and cheap foods (Y300 to Y500). Something very nice of Tokyo is that all those different districts (neighborhoods) , have their own downtown with tons of shops, restaurants, and people until late. This is very nice. Somebody would need to spend months in order to get to know all these area well.

At dinner time, we took the subway (line E) to Roppongi. This is the trendy bar and restaurant area from Tokyo. International chains can be found here such as Hard Rock, TGI Friday's, and many others. BTW, by Roppongi there's a large mall called Tokyo Mid Town, accessible from the subway station.The Ritz Carlton Hotel is there. It's supposed to be one of the bests in Tokyo but I wasn't impressed by the lobby. Finding the way out of the mall was a little confusing, the trick is to look for the exit to Roppongi Crossing.
We ended up at a Turkish restaurant with 3 floors. It's name was Daze or something similar. The food was excellent, the prices very good (Gyro sandwitch for only Y500 or u$6.5), international credit card is accepted, and the street view from the 3rd floor was excellent. Hard to beat.
Unfortunately it was Monday, and Roponggi was pretty empty. After a dinner, we took the subway back to Shinjuku, had a walk on the area, and that was it for the day.

Tips & Tricks

• On the basement of Takarada Musen Dute-Free, we found some nice Japanese souvenirs, 5-10% cheaper than at any other place we've been. Most of the stuff is exactly the same.
• Most shops in Akihabara do have staff that speak more English than in other places we've been. Also, they accept international credit card.
• In Takarada, the tax exemption (dute free) only applies to purchases above Y10000 (u$129.8) and after presenting a passport. Sales tax in Japan is only 5%.