Wednesday, Oct 14

Today, we actually did several of the things that we tried to do yesterday. Our first destination was once again the Edo-Tokyo Museum. We got there a little before it opened so we popped in to a nearby bakery for a tasty pastry for breakfast. The museum is impressive. It traces the history of the area from its beginnings as the capital city of Edo in the 1600s, through its name change to Tokyo in the 1860s and into the present day. For the most part, there is excellent English signage on everything and this is a great place to learn about the history of the region and how it grew into the city it is today. The things I learned about are too numerous to even try to start listing – see a history of Tokyo or, better yet, visit the museum yourself.

One thing I will comment on is the different slant you get on something depending on who is putting it together. The World War II section of this museum focused on the awful fire-bombing of Tokyo and the eventual surrender in Tokyo Bay. I’m sure a World War II museum in the U.S. would have glossed over the fire-bombing and focused on Pearl Harbor and suicide bombers. Just goes to show you how difficult it is to present even historical facts in a truly unbiased fashion.

We had lunch in the museum café on the 7^th floor. Our meal was good and it was nice to take in the city skyline from yet another vantage point. After lunch, we hopped on the subway (skipping the walk through the ugly neighborhood that we did yesterday) and headed back to the Tokyo Metropolitan Photography Museum in Ebisu. We actually spent the 1,000 yen for an unlimited use subway pass today so we weren’t shy about taking advantage of it.

As expected, the photography museum was open today. It was pretty good featuring the work of Japanese photographers with the theme “travel.” As I’ve found with most photography exhibits, there are some things that really catch your eye and others that do not. All in all, this seemed like a really good exhibit.

After the museum, we stopped into a place called “Smooch” for a smoothie. Let’s just say we were clearly not the target demographic for this place. With a pink themed interior and cool music blaring, it was clearly targeted at the young 20-something women roaming around Shibuya right nearby. Still, our smoothie was good.

Our third goal for the day was to try out the Azazbu-Juban Onsen that we noticed was closed on Tuesdays before we tried to go there yesterday. Today, we made it to the place where we thought it should be – only to discover a parking lot. Sure enough, one of the shopkeepers nearby confirmed the building containing the onsen had recently been torn down.

Undeterred, we decided to try out luck at one last onsen experience. We figured the 3^rd time attempting a city onsen would be the charm. Or perhaps strike three, you’re out. Fortunately, we found this place AND it was even open. The place was Komparu-Yu Onsen and Lonely Planet describes it as a refreshing slice of the low city in the midst of Tokyo’s most fashionable and well-to-do precinct. This place is used almost exclusively by the locals. It is down a little alley in the Ginza district and I was a bit confused about where to go when I walked in. I accidentally walked into the women’s side of the onsen! Fortunately, I don’t think anyone saw me (nor I them) except for the bath mistress who looked at me with disdain and said “No, no, no.” That was about all of the English she spoke and there was no English signage to be found. This elderly woman presided over both the men’s and women’s side of the bath with clear views into each.

This place isn’t really the kind of place you come to sit in a tub of really hot water to enjoy a relaxing soak. It seems to be mostly about getting yourself clean. Everyone brought their own soap, wash cloths and towels. Everyone, except us, that is, since we didn’t know that we needed to do so. We made do by wetting down in the shower several times and pretending to rub ourselves off as if we were actually using soap. We then sat in the hot water for a few minutes before drying off using a T-shirt and heading out. I imagine we provided a chuckle for some of the regulars who must come in there every day. Even though it wasn’t quite the onsen experience we were looking for, I’m still glad we spent the 450 yen and got to experience something with the locals. And I didn’t even cause an international incident by making my grand entrance into the women’s side of the onsen!

Next up, we headed back to Shinjuku for a little bit of shopping and some dinner. I found the “pen style” camera lens cleaner I had wanted since I saw a similar one that Brett had earlier in the trip. I did not find a tea set, at least not one in my price range at the department store where we were shopping. Dinner tonight was at a tempura place from the Lonely Planet. It was quite good and seemed like the perfect “last dinner” in Tokyo. After dinner, we ducked into a used CD store nearby (Disk Union) for a few minutes and then headed over to the 45^th floor of the Keio Plaza Hotel for one last view of Tokyo from above. The drinks here are really expensive – almost 1200 yen for a beer after you add in all of the service charges, etc. that only this place seemed to include. Still, it was worth it since this was a great place to look out over the city and reflect on what we’ve done over the past 3 weeks. After ample reflecting and two drinks apiece, we hopped on the subway and headed back to the ryokan. This was a great way to end our last night in Tokyo.

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