Many Merry Christmas!!!

Even at its quietest, Tokyo is an exhausting city. Just try to imagine it the last weekend before Christmas... The Japanese don't really celebrate Christmas. Except for those among them who are Christians (celebrating by actually going to Church & everything), it's akin to Valentines day. With Polar Bears.

The problem with Shibuya (pictured) is that it's already a cornea melting onslaught of lights and stuff. The only difference at Christmas appears to be even more people and obligatory scatterings of fairy lights on the trees.
But I love Christmas shopping, and what better place to pick up random charming tat than Tokyo? Specifically, Tokyu Hands, a chain that seems to combine elements of Ikea, BHS & Blackpool. The branch in Kawasaki can keep you occupied for a good hour or so, never mind Shibuya. There are so many things to play with, mostly disposable merchandise from popular Anime or Japanese Television, with the odd self contained bit of strange cuteness.


The animals in top hats are in fact tap dancing, not in unison but to the same beat. The overall effect is hypnotic.



Whenever I'm in Shibuya I always find myself walking around in circles, sometimes taking refuge in a shop, often wondering why I came in the first place...actually, Christmas shopping was secondary to taking photos on this particular jaunt.
















I was accompanied by Brian from New Mexico, himself seeking a camera & a phone. Should you find yourself shopping in Japan, you will invariably be offered point card after point card...they're quite useful. I myself am but one purchase away from a free bag of rice, and those things last a fair bit. Anyway, Brian wanted to go to a specific chain that didn't have a branch in Shibuya, so off we went to...


...Akihabara!

This is Mecca for the Gadgetista - the not inconsiderable distance of the very attractive (and not-nearly-as-crowded-as-Shibuya) main road was lined with electronics shops, peppered with the odd purveyor of absurdly detailed toys.



To the left is the chain in question - Yodobashi Camera, or rather, the biggest Yodobashi Camera in the world. I've seen stores of its type in Kawasaki - several floors of electronic things, presented in dazzling display cases, complete with motorised dancing logos, standing out against the blinding whiteness of the floor and the teeth of the floor salesemen, competing with blaring techno and each other using microphones or their God given lungs. It can't be summed up in a word. To sum it up in a facial expression, your eyes need to be wide open, your eyebrows escaping to the top of your head, your jaw maybe dropping slightly. You move slowly, as if in a dream.





Whilst Brian was doing what he had to, I was determined to act in my official position as a tourist and photograph everything that caught my eye, and believe me there was a lot, like Gundam - an incredibly popular Manga, possibly the source from whence the Transformers came...




Ordinary things caught my eye...


...as did the peculiar. There are about fifteen of those chairs, arranged in rows of three. Every other one is vibrating.



There you have it - Christmas shopping in Tokyo. An endless barrage of noise, lights, perplexing stuff and many many many people. Much like Tokyo all year round really.

Another notable feature of the Japanese Christmas experience is just how impossibly cold it is. At the time of writing, I'm wearing a scarf and hat and I can see my breath. Unfortunately, the Japanese don't believe in central heating, opting instead for a kotatsu. In my first two months here, waiting to get paid and aware of the impending freeze, I had my eye on a mighty fine specimen for a mere £50...naturally it was sold as soon as I got paid, as is the way with these things...but no matter as I'm heading back home in three days, although it feels very odd going from Asia to Bolton in pursuit of warmth.