The Five Yen of Happiness! Shibuya Nights

The Five Yen of Happiness! Shibuya Nights

Some parts of Tokyo are best experienced during the day – like palaces and such. Other parts are best left to explore at night.

Shibuya always seemed best to me to explore at night.

Getting there: Yamanote Line, Chou line and a variety of other lines will get you there without any fuss.

Welcome to Shibuya.

Once you exit the station, just follow the signs…. and you’ll be quickly in the madness that is Shibuya.

Odd statues.

It’s Hachikō! The story of the patient dog who waited for his master each day – even after his master died. The full story is here.

Outside the station.

Of course, once you exit the station, you’re faced with the famous scramble crossing…. and there’s only two things you can do – 1) watch for the green man and 2) go with the crowd.

Across into the bright lights. Notice the Starbucks coffee on the right – we’ll come back to that later.

Once over the scramble crossing, it’s a matter of picking a street – and start exploring along with seemingly a lot of the population of Tokyo, as well as tourists.

The madness of Shibyua.

Of course, there are plenty of options for food…

Be it a “British Pub”…

Or something more traditional…

Or places showing off plastic food samples…

Or some classics you can never escape.

And lots of food options everywhere.

For myself, there was one thing I wanted – ramen.

I headed off to the Ramen shop I went to before… to find it had jacked up the prices a fair bit. So it was time to find a new Ramen joint. Thankfully, this wasn’t hard – and I found a place that served Tonkotsu Ramen.

You’re probably thinking… what’s that?

Well you know the word ramen, so let’s focus on the Tonkotsu part.

Tonkotsu Ramen is derived from Pork Bone. It’s made by boiling down pig bones for hours until it develops a cloudy white broth. As a result, it’s rather rich. The Ramen recipe comes from the Kyushu region – from the city of Hakata.

RAMEN!

Of course, this being Japan, you have to buy a meal ticket first.

Top tip: If you don’t know what to order, hit the top left button (that’s the shop speciality normally).

Once I had my ticket, I pulled up a seat in the small restaurant and handed the ticket over.

Cups for water. and what I was shooting with for Shibuya nights – yes, it’s the Canon 100D.

Yes, the shop had a loyalty scheme too – 15 bowls of Ramen = Free T-Shirt!

Soon a steaming bowl of ramen appeared.

Oooh Yes!

When eating Ramen, there are of course procedures to follow namely:

Admire the chef’s work
Stir the ramen to mix the noodles and broth to break up the oils

Mixed!

Taste the broth
Then dig in!
And remember – slurping your noodles is allowed (and actually, it’s better as it allows air in when you eat, releasing more flavours). You can ignore what you’ve been taught for so many years…

And yes – an empty bowl. Very satisfying, and around ¥550. What’s NOT to like (unless you’re veterinarian, or have a diet that excludes pork…)

With a full belly of Ramen, I wandered off again – and this time on a mission.

I was also asked by a friend to get a CD for him whilst out here – and there was only really one shop I could visit – Tower Records.

For those of us of a certain age, I remember going shopping in Tower Records for my music. With Tower Records retreating across the world, it is actually rather to visit a branch that was still alive… and thriving.

Even Tower Records has a copy of the status of Hachikō!

With my limited Japanese skills, and a few screenshots – I was ably assisted by some assistants to get the CD’s I was after.

The do love their Idols.

And extravagant outfits

Now, remember that Starbucks from the earlier picture? Well, that Starbucks is inside a record store (so twice the fun). But it’s also possible to head to the first floor of the Starbucks to get a view of the Shibuya scramble crossing.

And providing you position yourself correctly, you can get some great pictures of the crossing at its maddest…

And if you have time to kill, you can also video it – I’ve recorded mine as a Hyperlaspe.

Of course Shibuya is a bit of a party zone, as a party bus passed me..

The Boss and his coffee…

And people giving out free hugs…

Can’t give away something for nothing…

And even when you’re walking away from the madness of Shibyua to the insanity of the Yamanote line, there is still a blend of tradition and modern life… if you keep your eyes open.

Overall: Shibyua is what you make it. Treat it as that, and you can have a whale of a time people watching and getting involved in the madness that makes this place unique.

Next: We’re off to Outaku central as I head off for a morning in Akihabara.

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