shibuya

05May09

the weather has been holding up well, but it is clear that spring is on its last legs. tomorrow brings with it three continuous days of rain (april showers, an entire month late) and friday will dawn with summer winds, sunshine, and smelly teenagers on the train. still, midsummer is a couple of months down the road, so i won’t let that prospect disturb me as yet.

i decided to celebrate this last day of spring (in my books, that is) with a walk down to shibuya, winding through shinsen and dodgy back-alleys on the way. i discovered supermarket number 4 along the way – what a triumph! – and numerous love hotels marking the golden path to shibuya. they look rather decent by day when they are not illuminated by purple and orange and red lights. you would never know they were special unless you happened to glance at some of the discreetly-positioned signboards, listing prices for “rest (3 hours).” now, i would never have realized that the average time taken to complete these… restful activities… was 3 hours, if not for these delightful places. there was a particular one fashioned like a medieval castle of sorts, giving the entire area a very las vegas feel that i rather enjoyed. dogenzaka is supposed to be one of the main love hotel areas in tokyo. this, i have to remember, only because i do not want to sashay past it on one of my random night-prowls.

there is really a lot more to shibuya than the garish, central area with that famous cross-junction and that famous dog statue most people associate it with – noisy by day and noisy by night, and filled with drunkards and girls in short skirts most parts of the day, really. i rarely wander into that inner sanctum because it smells strange (truly it does), and people walk around so distractedly you are bound to hit or be hit by a handbag, umbrella, or randomly waving arm at some point in time. more, never go near the area on a rainy day (rainy weekend, god forbid!) if you love yourself and/or your umbrella; one, or both, will be damaged.

i thought i should document my walks and join the growing ranks of tokyo bloggers. there are many blog-and-snap-worthy things in tokyo, really. but i cannot be bothered with stopping every two steps to take a photo, or digging out my camera while my food chills in front of me. i much prefer to keep walking, looking, thinking, smiling, looking for my bearings, losing them. but my  mind keeps wandering to the camera depreciating away in the drawer, so maybe i shall.

the rain has come even as i type. there is a slight chill in the air, but the rain has cleared the air of the dust that plagues my existence day by day, so i am thankful. no walks for the next couple of days as the typhoon that wreaked such havoc in the philippines makes its way up. i shall put aside my restlessness and attempt to work instead.

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Tags: blogging, shibuya, walks