Sunday, January 15, 2024

• Domestic Shibuya morning, part two – went back to finish all of our laundry, and decided to use the downtime while things were cleaning to find a post office for another shipping box and an ATM that would work with our cards.
• Google Maps was still struggling with all of the construction happening around JR Shibuya, so I was taken on a bit of a wild goose chase.

• When I finally found it, the ATM worked with our international cash card, which is good. Less good -it had a ¥50,000 withdrawal limit, but I was trying to withdrawn ¥150,000. Three sets of Japanese ATM fees didn’t feel great.
• In better news, by the time I made it back to the hotel with all our clean clothes, more yen and a new shipping box, I was already over my 10,000 steps for the day. Had to change shirts.
• Finally ready to start for real, we headed out to the Boroichi Market at Setagaya – a “rag fair” market that has been running twice a year for 430+ years, which attracts around 200k visitors a day. All of whom seemed to be trying to explore it at once, when we got there!

• Although we didn’t end up buying anything, we were certainly tempted, MBW by some vintage accessories and myself by some beautiful old rolliflex cameras (which seemed to be sold as junk, so likely not working? But one would have looked excellent as a centrepiece souvenir). Unfortunately, the crush of the crowd was such that it was very hard to spend too long in one spot exploring the goods before feeling guilty that we were interfering with the flow of the crowd. Still an experience.
• When we’re had enough of the relentless crowds, we took a mini adventure to find something nice for lunch. At least where we were in Setagaya, finding a place that was open, had seats free, and where we had a decent chance of interpreting the menu proved a challenge!
• We eventually lucked into a small place that was just opening as we walked past, so we jumped at the chance (and were their first customers of the day). They only had one item on the menu that looked dairy-free (I don’t handle lactose well), which turned out to be a delicious kaarage set meal.

• Food was delightful, and the restaurant seating was a Japanese-style low table on tatami. It became a party when more customers started showing up – a group of around 30 elderly Japanese people who were clearly meeting as a group, who ended up sharing our table. Despite the language barrier, everyone was super friendly and it was a lovely dining experience.
• It was slightly less lovely when it was time to leave – very full, restaurant was now packed full of people, and trying to put our shoes back on without getting in the way of bustling servers was a real challenge!
• We spent the rest of the day continuing to explore Shibuya, looking for some Etrude cosmetic products, checking out Loft, and discovering a Village Vanguard store we hadn’t found on previous trips.

• Finally, had a relatively small meal for dinner, supplemented by a selection of fine refreshing drinks.