I bought some shoes on line that were touted as the best travel shoes ever.  They were grey flats with lots of padding, lightweight and apparently smell resistant.  I tried them out on a trip to Norway and again in Thailand and they lived up to the hype. 

Today, I had nothing planned until a wagyu beef tour in the evening.  After breakfast I headed to Harajuku.  I had been there before and loved wandering through all the interesting shops.  I also thought a park I remembered loving was there.  Last time I was there, we went to a very odd cat cafe.  I had no desire to do that again, but Google has decided that it would let me know there was an owl cafe and that peaked my interest. 

I arrived in Harajuku an hour before the owl cafe opened.  The area was super crowded with tourists and Japanese girls, about age 6, with their parents.  They were all standing in lines in various places (not the tourists).  Something big was happening.  I googled it and found nothing useful.  Instead I found some other news articles about someone running over 7 school aged kids.  Not what I was looking for, Google.  First you give me owls, then car accident….

I wandered around the little shops.  There were tourist t shirt shops, stores with only gumball type machines.  You put your money in, twist the knob and out pops candy or a plastic figurine of your favorite cartoon character.  Last time I was in Japan, I found one with cat hats and proudly went home with a cat hat to give to friends I knew would get it.  I looked for cat hats this time because I have 3 cats.  I found none.  So sad.

As I wandered, I walked by cat cafes, two dog cafes, a hedge hog cafe, an otter cafe, and three mini pig cafes.  What the hell is going on here?  Why so much interest in mini pigs?  I didn’t go to the owl cafe.

I went to the park I remembered.  It wasn’t a park, but the entrance to a temple.  There was a park next door that I decided to go check out if I had time after. 

I got a call from a Japanese number.  That seemed odd so I answered it in case it had something to do with the food tour.  It did.  They cancelled because the guide was sick.  I sat down on a bench and looked through other tours.  There were only three that specialized in wagyu.  Two had no availability and one looked like it was pretty far away.  I looked at other food tours and found one that looked ok except the sushi part (I don’t like fish).  Still, I could try the sushi and if I didn’t like it, I’m sure there would still be plenty of other food.  I booked it and then contacted the tour company to make sure they got the booking.  It took awhile of whatsap-ing back and forth before they got the booking.

I had a couple hours before I had to make my way to Shinjuku station.  My right heel was hurting like I was getting a blister.  I just booked a walking food tour.  So, I looked for a pharmacy.  Google maps was having trouble in this area so I walked back and forth across the same crowded intersection three times before I could get it to stop jumping around.  It led me into a building that was not a pharmacy.  I used translate to ask a woman if she could tell me where the pharmacy was.  Instead of directing me, she walked me there – underground on the opposite side of the building.  I bought bandaids and bandaged two hot spots I felt.  Ready to go!

Shinjuku station wasn’t too far away.  I had plenty of time to get to the Starbucks that was the meeting place.  A coffee sounded good too.  Google maps went nuts at the same intersection again.  I crossed it and then it showed I went the wrong way.  I did this several times before I had to go old school and just read the actual map.  The intersection was a quarter block from the train station!  I still had plenty of time, but was running low on willpower.

I arrived in Shinjuku station and looked for the exit signs.  In every other station the exits were numbered and signs with arrows directed you.  No signs.  So I picked a direction.  Five minutes later still no exits, just signs to other train lines.  Up escalators, down escalators, past other train lines, through ticket gates, past shops, NO EXITS.  If I could just get above ground, maps could re-route me.  After about 15 minutes, I started seeing exit signs for East and West.  I was looking for the Yasuda Exit.  I never saw a sign for Yasuda and maps didn’t tell me an exit number or East or West.  It appeared the meeting place was west of the station and I no longer had plenty of time.  The West exit sounds great!  I never saw any other exit signs.  About 5 minutes later, I saw an exit and took it.  I looked behind me and saw it was the Yasuda Exit (or entrance for anyone reading the sign).  I made it to the Starbucks just in time.  I actually suspect I might have nightmares in the future about being stuck in this station.

The tour was good.  We walked around Shinjuku and learned a little about the area.   We went to four different restaurants and tried a variety of food and drink.  Unfortunately the first restaurant was sushi and sashimi.  I tried it though.  Some was ok and some was not to my liking.

After the tour, I headed back to my hotel.  It was so much easier to navigate back to the hotel.  I was so tired and my feet hurt so bad.  After I took my shoes off, I counted 5 blisters, 4 of which were on the bottom of my feet.  Those shoes will not be continuing the trip with me.

Some things I learned today:

The word Godzilla comes from the words Gorilla and Whale although Godzilla is neither a gorilla or whale.

Shinjuku Station is considered the busiest train station in the world – 3.5 million people pass through a day (in 2018) – It has 16 train lines – It is roughly 182,000 square meters (45 acres) in size – It has over 200 exits.  It’s a miracle I am not still in there.

Gambling for cash is illegal in Japan, but Pachinko machines are legal.  You can win balls from the game.  The balls can be turned in at the Pachinko parlour for prize tokens.  The prize tokens can be sold elsewhere for money.

A small alley named Nonbei Yokocho has other names such as Drunkard’s Alley, Memory Lane, or Piss Alley.  I didn’t really need to know that, but now I do.  Now you do too.