Peacefulness in a Large City- Shinjuku

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Shinjuku, Japan

We had to do some laundry. Though we could have done it in Hong Kong at my cousin's place, three of five people in the house had Covid and we wanted to be the least intrusive as possible. So we held on to our laundry to be done in Japan. 

The laundromat was only an 8 minute walk from our hotel and easy to fine. It cost 400 yen ($3 USD) to do a load and the detergent automatically comes with the wash. I appreciated that! 

I thought it was cool that they offered complimentary coffee/water while you did your laundry. In all, I saw three other customers use the machine while I was there. I didn't hang around for the 30 minute wash cycle. Instead, I took a walk around the neighborhood. It was mostly residential and I saw quite a few people walking to work. 

While the clothes were in the dryer, Corinne WhatsApp me with great news. She was really, really happy. She got into UCSB's PhD program which has an excellent sociology program with professors that she'd love to work with. And the department professors unanimously nominated her for the UC Fellowship. Hooray for Corinne!

Just a pic of the many tall buildings in Shinjuku.

Mom and I went to Shinjuku Gyoen National Park. 

Seniors 250 yen ($2 USD) and Adults 500 yen ($3.75 USD)

Walking in the park, listening to the birds and the quietness, and watching people is calming and peaceful. It's winter, so the park seems a bit lacking in color and flowers, but it was still beautiful.

Not sure if these are cherry blossoms/Sakura, but they looked like it to me. We saw just a few of these trees. When it's cherry blossom season in the spring (March/April), this park is raining pink petals- so I've read online. 

We asked an elder to help us take a photo rather than another selfie. 

We stopped at the Starbucks that's in the park. Mom went to use the restroom and I ordered a drink. She said she didn't want one, but I ordered her a mocha anyway. She said it was so delicious. Later I found out that she was not supposed to have coffee because of the Chinese medicine that she was taking. I didn't know and will order hot chocolate from now on for her. 

We scored seats by the vista window. The Starbucks was full but there weren't people waiting for seats, so I didn't feel bad about sitting in them. We didn't sit too long, just enough to finish our drinks. I had a hojicha latte, which is green tea. The difference between hojicha and matcha is that matcha is ground from young green tea leaves and hojicha is ground from mature green tea leaves. Mathca is green and hojicha is red/brown. My hojicha latte had a tea bag with milk. It was warm and yummy. The best was the picture perfect view. 

I think these location cups/mugs are so cute. I have plenty at home and do not need to add to the collection. Having collections of anything takes up space and is unnecessary. I do believe in enjoying your life and buying things you love. But I can pass on these now. 

We went into the greenhouse and wow...I was in heaven looking at all the plants. The greenhouse was big with great labeling and signage. I loved how your eyes could be drawn to all levels and you saw beauty- low, medium, and high. It's the best greenhouse, I've ever been to. 

We continue to walk the park and exited where we entered at the Shinjuku Gate. 

On our way out, I shared that Shinjuku is known for the shopping, the many people who go through the train station, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building...

Mom got excited about the shopping part and I shared that Uniqlo originated in Japan, although there are locations all over the world. She wanted to go check out the Uniqlo so we walked over to Shinjuku Station where there are malls and lots of shops. 

Not to be creepy, but I saw these platform shoes and thought "wow, they are thick." Platforms are in. We've been seeing them all over. 

This place must be yummy cause there was a long que to get in for lunch. 

Here we are right before entering the Uniqlo building. 

They have two floors- one for women and one for men. Mom found the jackets she wanted and we were about to pay at the duty free/tax free counter, when I read the sign that said we had to spend more than 5900 yen (something like that). So I told mom, let's save all our items and pay in one purchase. We still need to go upstairs to the men's section. Good thing we did that because we found sale men items that were similar to what mom wanted to buy in the women's section. She put the two women's jackets back and picked up some sale men items instead. Mom was really, really happy to be making these purchases. 

Mom said: great, I got the jackets that I wanted. Now I need to find tennis shoes and a piece of luggage to put all of this in. That's it.

All I kept thinking was: That's it. 

We dropped off our new purchases at the hotel and walked over to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building where the observatory is. The building is just across the street!

Up top, we saw sweeping views of Shinjuku. They labeled the landmark buildings and had QR codes where you could read all about them. Breathtaking. 

Right when we got up there, mom said she had been there before. Good memory, mom!

A Yayoi Kasuma artwork. More of her signature polka dots!

Mom closed her eyes up there for a few minutes while I walked some more. 

We walked by a building that had a bunch of restaurants. Mom said this place has a lot of people and we peered in. It was a smoking room. You walk in, get an ash tray and go to an individual stall and have a smoke. So interesting! What I found online:

Unlike in many countries, Japan traditionally had outdoor smoking regulations with more lenient indoor smoking regulations. Outdoor smoking is frowned upon on public streets and local governments typically have bylaws banning smoking on busy public streets.

We chose a soba noodle place mainly because they had tempura. The noodles were cold which disappointed mom. The saving grace was the meal came with a delicious bowl of rice. So she had rice and tempura while I ate the cold noodles and tempura. 

The guy next to us at his meal and was slurping his noodles soooo loudly. It was hilarious! Mom said that he was rude and I shared that in Japan, that's how people eat their noodles. 

After dinner, mom was looking for her chopstick holder that fell on the floor. She found it after a couple of minutes. The restaurant was pretty dark. 

 The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is lit up at night and is so pretty. Although it was only 6:30, I was ready to be back in the hotel to rest. Rest is good.