The Tokyo Chronicles: Shinjuku

After an incredible time in Shibuya, I awoke feeling the weight of two days packed with exploration and discovery. I didn't know it yet, but my day in Shinjuku would be a brilliant conclusion to my first adventure in Tokyo.

I had just one day left here in Tokyo, and I wasn't about to waste it. So despite the knots in my back and my sore feet, I got ready and headed to Shinjuku station. 

When I got to Shinjuku station my first stop was the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. All the photos I'd seen of this place were beautiful, but I also knew it would be a lot more walking. It was a good thing I'd planned to tackle it first, since I spent probably over an hour walking around. 

This beautiful garden had a gate at the entrance, which gave it a very official feel. I grabbed a ticket, only about $5, and headed inside. I stood in front of the park map and tried to plan out a route to hit all the major areas, without exhausting myself before my day had truly started. 

I walked down to the ponds and the Taiwan Pavilion, somehow managing to miss the Mother and Child forest. Gives me a reason to come back I suppose.

Continuing along the water I found the Rose Garden and the Sycamore Trees. These trees were absolutely beautiful, the fall had turned the leaves into a golden honey color, dotted with a few remaining spots of bright green.

My phone was out almost constantly, taking photos of the beautiful scenery around me. By the end of my walk around the gardens I ended up with enough photos to fill a nature magazine. 

Invigorated by the sights, I cheerfully began looping back towards the entrance. With one last stop on my mind, the greenhouse. 

As soon as I stepped into the greenhouse, I thought of my aunt. She loved flowers, and had helped many couples with the flowers for their wedding. The beautiful plants and flowers with small signs in front of them detailing their name and origins meant little to me, but I couldn't help but think of her as I walked around the breathtaking greenhouse. 

With a phone full of photos, I once again passed through the big gates at the entrance of the park, already satisfied I hadn't thrown in the towel and gone home. Though my feet were making their protests known. 

The reason I'd come to Shinjuku today, aside from the sightseeing, was actually a drag show. I'd seen a few videos before coming to Japan about what life was like as an English teacher. I liked the person that was interviewed, and so I started following them on Instagram. 

They had been posting about a drag show aimed at raising money to protect the environment, a noble cause if ever there was one. The drag show was tonight, and I was looking forward to seeing my first drag show in Japan with the bonus of meeting a friendly face, even if I'd only seen that face online. 

With this in mind as my plan for the evening, I walked over to the area where the show would be, wanting to scope out the area. I also wanted to find someplace to stay around this area. I doubted I would want to go far after seeing a drag show, so I started looking for a place to lay my weary head. It was barely noon, but a nap sounded pretty good. 

This would prove to be a lot easier in theory than in practice. I went into no less than 4 hotels, the cheapest room I could find, if one was even available, was around $430 dollars. My phone was quickly dying, and I was just about at my wits end.

Then I saw them, the golden arches. Mcdonalds. I had read an article before coming to Tokyo about places to crash in a pinch, and surprisingly enough, Mcdonalds had made an appearance. I went in, ordered a double cheeseburger meal, and went up to the third floor.

To my surprise, there were plenty of people sleeping, charging their devices, or both. I found a spot facing the window, plugged in my phone, and happily started eating. 

This McDonalds was open 24 hours, so if nothing else, I could come back here and have a safe, warm place to put my head down and charge my phone. It was a great comfort to my very tired brain, even if it was far from ideal. After finishing my food, both body and phone recharged, I returned to sightseeing.

I had ended up close to a surprising spot that I absolutely wanted to check out, the Square Enix offices. I’ve dreamed of working at Square Enix, being able to help create titles like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, or The World Ends With You. Games that had a profound impact on me when I played them.

I posed for a picture with the sign, said a silent prayer to the universe, and moved on to the nearby cafe. The Artina cafe was right next to the Square Enix office building, it was an odd, egg shaped building.

Upon entering, I found a delightful cafe filled to the brim with characters from various franchises and all kinds of merchandise. Music from their games helped create a soothing and familiar atmosphere. 

They also served food here, and while I regret not seeing what was on offer, I was far too distracted looking at the various goods for sale from many of my favorite games.

This was the one time I really wished I had more room in my bag. I would have loved to walk away with a Moogle plushie, or well made statue of Sora. This jumped to the top of my list of places I wanted to come back to, with more money and more room to bring things home. 

After nerding out for a while, I began looking for the Isetan Shinjuku, a big department store. As I got closer to the store the crowds started to become bigger and bigger. When I stepped inside the department store I was immediately overwhelmed.

There were lots of bright lights with different areas of the floor belonging to a variety of stores. There were people briskly walking in each direction and store clerks called out to passersby.

I wandered around pretty aimlessly, but eyed the different stores as I walked. It was all high end brand names like Channel, accompanied by equal high end price tags. Not exactly my kind of shopping. I spent a little while longer looking around, but after seeing bottles of wine for over $100 I knew there was nothing here for me.

My body wanting a rest I once again looked into places to stay. I knew about Manga or Internet Cafes from anime, and had heard they were good places to stay. I figured those were more of an Akihabara thing though. Having nothing to lose, I gave it a quick search, and to my surprise found one not far from where the show was going to be.

I walked in, and was given a number, it seemed they were in the middle of cleaning the rooms. After about a 20 minute wait I was called up to the counter, and I booked a room for 3 hours. I thought this would be a good way to test the waters of what to expect from an Internet Cafe. I would find out the hard way I should have just booked for 24 hours and checked out early the next day.

The room had a tiny entryway to remove your shoes, a desk with a computer, and a cushioned floor with a computer chair in the corner. It was fairly small, but the rooms were pretty cheap, and the floor was actually fairly comfortable.

I didn’t think to take a photo of my room, but this should give you the idea!

I took off my boots, bundled up my jacket to use as a makeshift pillow, and for the last time during my trip, settled in for a nap.

I woke up about 2 hours later, did my makeup, got ready for the show, and checked out of the Internet Cafe. I stopped at a nearby curry place for dinner, and had my first taste of Japanese curry. It was pretty good! Eating curry with chopsticks took some getting used to, and I was in a bit of a rush so I didn't have time to savor the meal.

I arrived at the same location I had been to hours earlier, though it felt completely new. This area had really come to life once night fell as all the bars opened their doors and people were chatting animatedly in the streets.

I walked down the stairs and found a quaint little bar, with rows of seats in front of a small stage and a few tables near the back of the room. I purchased my ticket, and in return got two drink tickets and a raffle ticket for later. Thankfully there was a small coat check, so I left my backpack and jacket with the lovely person at the front.

I was also greeted by a familiar face from Instagram, they cheerfully pulled me into a hug. I was certainly glad to see them, though I hadn't quite expected them to be in just their underwear. Not that I was complaining, they were very attractive.

I grabbed a lemon sour, the real star of this trip, and found a spot near the back of the bar. I was still early, so I waited for around 20 minutes for the show to begin.

There were two MCs, both dressed to the nines, who introduced the show in both English and Japanese. It's impossible to get a good sense of the drag scene in a brand new country from just one show, but it certainly felt a lot more intimate than drag shows back home. This could be due to the smaller venue, or maybe because I got to chat with some of the performers when I went out for a smoke break.

It also appears that the drag scene here in Japan is still fairly small. Back home in Canada we even have our own drag race spin-off, and some of the Vancouver queens have made appearances on the show.

There are pros and cons to this, and I look forward to getting to experience more of the drag scene here in Japan. I began following some of the queens from the show, so I'll be keeping an eye out for future events!

The show was a lot of fun! The performances were high energy, the makeup and costumes expertly done, and the eye towards environmental sustainability gave the show a purpose. I even managed to win the raffle!

My prize was a box of goodies from lush, a lovely surprise since I didn't know Lush even had a presence here in Japan. I use their products fairly often back home, so I was ecstatic to receive this unexpected gift. 

This is Rose, one of the very talented performers. Turns out we’re both from Vancouver, went to the same dance studio, and were even born in the same hospital! Small World!

During the intermission of the show, I had gone out for a smoke break and started chatting with another patron. It was mostly small talk, but he seemed rather nice. At the end of the show I saw him outside once again, and to my surprise he invited me to tag along with him and his friends after the show.

I was a little hesitant at first, but pushed beyond my initial hesitation and joined him and his group. We ended up all together at a table in a small bar that I hadn't even caught the name of. He and his friends were from France, and from what I gathered worked in something like a French embassy here in Japan.

The hours quickly flew by as we talked and drank, breaking out into dance when a good song began to play. By now the night was quickly becoming a blur, I was caught in the high that came with my first brush with the drag scene. I felt welcomed by the community, and may have gotten a little carried away in the process.

Soon, it was time to go home. The group was moving on to the next bar, but I thanked them for letting me tag along and split from the group.

I had gotten a little swept up in the moment, and all of a sudden the world couldn't seem to remain still. I had intended to go back to that same Internet Cafe, but in a daze I wound up walking to a much further location that had no rooms available.

Finally managing to get to the right location, I quickly realized my mistake. The lobby was filled with people all wanting a room, likely just as tired as I was from their night out. I was given another number, my number in the afternoon was 3, but this time it was 7. Now I know, even if you won't be there for the full time, booking a longer stay allows for in and out privileges, and would have saved me from my current predicament.

I was in for a long wait. I dropped my stuff and slumped over the counter, quickly falling asleep. I'm not sure how long I waited, but it was around 3AM when I finally heard my number called.

The person at reception explained how the cafe worked, and while I had been there just a few hours earlier, I mustered up a slight smile and nodded along with her explanation.

Finally I headed up to my room, collapsed on the floor, and drifted off to sleep. The morning came too soon, and my head pounded. I wanted nothing more than to sleep longer, but I was worried about overshooting my time at the parking lot, so I forced myself upright and back down to the lobby.

My journey home was fairly uneventful, and as the morning wore on my headache subsided and I started to slowly feel better. Even though all I wanted was to sleep, I was glad my first foray into Tokyo, all things considered, had been a resounding success.

This trip had been so special, and reassured me that I had made the right decision. Going back to school, coming to Japan, leaving my friends, family, and even my cat, had resulted in something truly spectacular.

And this isn't the end. While I may have been going home, I was going to my new home in Ibaraki, not even 2 hours away from Tokyo. This was only the first chapter of my new life here in Japan. While it wouldn't all be easy, even this trip had its fair share of trials and tribulations, it was what I'd been craving.

New experiences, moments that would change my view of the world, challenge me, and help me to grow. For a while I was worried that I'd already seen everything I was going to see, and become the person I would remain for the rest of my life. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Through this blog, I get to document and reflect on those very things. I hope you've enjoyed The Tokyo Chronicles, please look forward to my future musings on my time here in Japan.

I have plenty left to see, I'll do things I never even dreamed of, and become more than I ever thought possible.