Wandering Tokyo

February 2025

I have been to Tokyo several times, so this trip involved showing my sister and niece around, shopping with them, and observing oddball things that evoke that “only in Tokyo” thought.

Shibuya

Yoyogi Park 

Yoyogi Park stands on the site where the first successful powered aircraft flight in Japan took place.  At the time, it was a military training ground; it remained a military establishment until the end of WWII.  It was then occupied by the US.

Japan’s foray into flying began with Captain Yoshitoshi Tokugawa being sent to France and Captain Kumazo Hino being sent to Germany. Both returned to Japan with aircraft that were reassembled and tested at the training grounds in Tokyo on December 19, 1910.

The area was used for the 1964 Summer Olympics, housing the main Olympic village and the Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

The Tokyo Toilet Project 

There are 17 Tokyo Toilet locations throughout Shibuya, which were designed by 16 creators invited from around the world.

I found the one in Haru-no-Ogawa Community Park (a park across the street from Yoyogi Park)  designed by Tokyo architect Shigeru Ban.

The statement regarding this design from the architect isn’t exactly what I found: There are two things we worry about when entering a public toilet, especially those located at a park. The first is cleanliness, and the second is whether anyone is inside. Using the latest technology, the exterior glass turns opaque when locked. This allows users to check the cleanliness and whether anyone is using the toilet from the outside.

As you can see, they were opaque all the time I was there.

This is such a fabulous concept, I do wish I could have found more.

I find these to be so charming. Kobans are small neighborhood police stations open 24 hours a day, with a rotating staff of 3 to 10 officers. Attached to a larger police station, there are some 6,000 kôban throughout Japan, including 1,000 in Tokyo alone.

To me, Kobans are a good emblem of Japan. They are a true community policing force, with officers specially trained to interact with citizens in a friendly, professional manner.

Ebisu

The Ebisu neighborhood only started to develop in the late 19th century, when the Japan Beer Brewing Company opened a factory in the area, bringing brewery workers and their families and, in time, a community. Japan Beer’s first brew was Yebisu, which is still made by Sapporo Breweries today (which long ago acquired Japan Beer). The beer takes its name from Ebisu, one of Japan’s Seven Gods of Fortune, but it uses an old-fashioned spelling of the name, adding a silent ‘y’.

In the 1980s, the old brewery was redeveloped into the Yebisu Garden Place shopping, dining, and entertainment complex, which opened in 1994.

This French Chateau is quite the eye-catcher in the Ebisu Garden Place complex.  It is the home of the restaurant of Joel Robuchon, a world-renowned French restaurant that has received three Michelin stars for 16 consecutive years. We had dinner there, and it was stupendous with Chef Robuchon greeting all the diners after dinner.

Ghibli

I am a huge fan of Ghibli Studios and was able to visit Ghibli Park on my last visit to Japan.  This time, I was able to visit the Ghibli Museum and find the Ghibli Clock, officially called the “NI-Tele Really BIG Clock” in the Minato area of Tokyo.

While the clock is not exactly drawn from his 2004 film Howl’s Moving Castle, it has been likened to the aesthetic of the anime classic.

The clock is huge: over 20 tons of copper and steel, three stories high and 60 feet wide.

There are over 30 mechanical vignettes at appointed hours, including cannons, a couple of blacksmiths, a wheel spinner, boiling teapot and two bell-headed piston crankers.

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Ghibli Museum

No photos are allowed in the museum. However, you can get up on the roof and take pictures with a Laputian Robot Trooper from the film Laputa: Castle in the Sky.

No Ghibli day is complete without a Totoro Cream Puff.

Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory is officially recognized by Studio Ghibli. The cafe/bakery owner is the sister-in-law of  Studio Ghibli founder/director Hayao Miyazaki, which gives them the right to produce their Totoro-themed treats.

Just a short walk from the Setagaya-Daita Station, it is worth the trek if you are a Ghibli fan.  There is a cafe upstairs, where we were really lucky to have lunch.  There is also the bakery on the first floor, which is overwhelming in its array of Totoro cream puffs.

I watched a considerable number of guests.  Their photo session lasted 5 minutes, trying to make the first plunge took 6-8 minutes, and devour time took 1-2 minutes.

Odds and Ends

Sunday March 2nd was the Tokyo Marathon.  It was pure coincidence that I walked by this statue.  The Hakone Ekiden is a relay marathon held between Tokyo and Hakone in Japan on January 2 and 3.

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All of the stations on the Toei Ōedo subway line are adorned with some form of public art. In the Kiyosumi-Shirakawa station is “Fossils of the 20th Century Civilization” created by artist Shōichirō Higuchi and installed in 2000, the same year the station opened. It was made from scrap metal produced in the area during the so-called “economic miracle” era (1946-1992).