Around Tokyo
I’ve walked 75km in 4 days, and my little toes are officially sore. It’s a “rest” day today, with nothing planned other than replacing the pair of Ray Ban sunglasses I bought in Tokyo 18 months ago and maybe a quick trip to Yoyogi Park and Yokohama in the afternoon.
Ray Ban opened a flagship store in Shibuya last year, so I decide to check that store out first. In the end I spend 15 minutes there, leave with 2 pairs of sunglasses and wander up the street. This takes me to the south-west corner of Yoyogi Park, and it’s gently raining. I haven’t been to this section, which has a sign saying that there is no direct access to the Meiji Shrine, which might account for how few people are out, other than the usual dog walkers and some intrepid expats or tourists.
It’s a nice part of Yoyogi Park, with a large pond, some ornamental bridges, and some active water features. It’s also home to several hundred crows, which are impervious to the rain.
This section is also home to some of Tokyo’s invisible homeless – I stop at a series of rotundas that have circular seats, and realise that what I’m looking at is a neatly stacked and organised pile of belongings in the middle section of each seat.
Further along the path is what looks like an old classroom or park administration building, pretty from a distance but needing renovation up close. There a nice line of olive and apple trees leading to the building, so it might have also been a live-in park rangers residence at some point.
Harajuku Station is nearby, usually phenomenally busy, but quieter today in light rain. Back to the hotel for a rest and some lunch.
Yokohama
Back in November 2017, I accidentally discovered that the Wallabies were playing a friendly rugby match against Japan in Yokohama. I always remember thinking that the area between the station and the stadium warranted further investigation, and decide to head to Yokohama to check it out in the late afternoon.
It’s 11 minutes by Shinkansen to Shin-Yokohama station. I make the mistake of thinking that the stadium is in Yokohama, so change trains and head to Yokohama. After wandering around Yokohama for a while where it’s overcast, windy, and humid, I conclude I’ve gotten off at Yokohama station when I should have continued on to Kannai station. Arriving at Kannai station, it looks a little familiar, but I don’t remember the blue baseball hats decorating the entrance to the station. The stadium seems to be nearby, and I distinctly remember walking through parkland last time. Arriving at the stadium – it’s the wrong stadium. I check my blog entry and realise that the rugby match in 2017 was played at Nissan Stadium in Shin-Yokohama, not Yokohama Stadium in Yokohama.
That’s enough to send me back on the train to Tokyo – I’m obviously too tired to read my own blog! At least it might save someone else some confusion when the Rugby World Cup is played in both locations later this year.
Today’s statistics: 18, 647 steps and 13.26km, 11 floors and 199 minutes in the active zone.
