So the 2nd day in Tokyo. Had that traditional inability to sleep on the 2nd night, so was a late-ish start and a fairly easy day.
Ventured to Shibuya today. Home to the Shibuya Crossing - supposedly one of the world's busiest intersections. I assume they mean in terms of people crossing - estimated to be 100,000 an hour. There is a Starbucks (claimed to be the highest grossing Starbucks in the world, probably they only serve the "tall" size - which being Japan isn't that big - and charge a lot for it) which overlooks the intersection. You'd think it'd be utter chaos, but watching it it's actually quite ordered. You get a buildup of people waiting, then all road traffic stops and everyone crosses in every direction possible. The people have usually thinned out by the time the traffic gets to go again (you get the odd straggler, but they soon shift!) For some reason the Starbucks don't like you taking photos of video of the intersection from up there; even if you've got a drink in front of you and despite the fact there are no signs!
After that, took the walk up to the Yoyogi park. Another nice open space with a few paths and things to see. Was also nice to see what the locals get up to at a weekend. A lot of younger people seem to use the park for a variety of activities including dance/cheerleading route practice, performance art, ninja practice and singing. Makes a bit of a change from the secret location (where there is no real parkland to speak of, so the youths get in their cars and act like lunatics), or back in the UK where the kids seem to cause mischief.
Next to the park there is the Meiji Jingu. This shrine was built in 1920 and is sacred to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. It seems to get very busy up there, so it's probably not really the best shrine for reflection. There's also a garden area of to one side of the main pathway. Unfortunately, the day had been mostly cloudy, and so it was getting difficult to see too much. The one thing you did find was a number of very tame small birds. There were seeds that they seemed to like, and would come and land on your finger to take one if you held to out for them. There was one place where there was a small well that had a single security guard who had a couple of birds that seemed to keep landing on him. I did try asking what sort of bird they were, but the only real response I could get was "My friends".
Headed back to Shibuya, but just after I got off the train it started raining. It was one of those annoying rains that wasn't heavy, but also not light enough to ignore. One problem this did lead to was umbrellas! It seems that I'm just the right height so that most of the pointy bits of an umbrella are at eye level!
One other thing I've noticed about the Japanese today... They really like their boy- girl-bands. They keep driving big HGVs around the place advertising the latest creation and their debut single. But they also play said debut hit at some volume.
Anyway, bit of travel tomorrow including first Bullet Train ride. Early start though, so hoping I get some sleep tonight!