Tokyo Drift (and a Whole Lot of Rain): My Week in the Concrete Jungle
okay, so. tokyo. i’m still processing. i just got back and my brain feels like a tangled ball of ramen noodles. i’m a botanist, which, you know, usually involves dirt and sunshine and quiet observation. tokyo is… not that. it’s a sensory explosion. a beautiful, chaotic, slightly overwhelming sensory explosion.
I was there for a conference - something about urban green spaces, ironically - and ended up staying a week longer than planned. mostly because i kept finding things. tiny, hidden gardens tucked between skyscrapers, weirdly specific vending machines (corn soup, anyone?), and the most incredible, slightly unsettling, taxidermy shops. seriously, you gotta see them to believe them.
The weather… oh, the weather. i just checked and it's drizzling steadily, a persistent, grey curtain. hope you like that kind of thing. it’s not exactly tropical, let’s put it that way. the temperature hovered around twelve degrees celsius, feeling closer to ten. i was bundled up like a yeti most of the time.
I spent a lot of time wandering around *Shibuya, just soaking it all in. the scramble crossing is insane, obviously, but it’s the little things that got me. the perfectly manicured bonsai trees in tiny pots outside every shop, the way everyone bows, even the convenience store clerks. it’s all so… deliberate.
I stumbled into this tiny, hole-in-the-wall ramen place in Shinjuku - seriously, you’d miss it if you blinked - and overheard some salarymen arguing about the best type of seaweed. apparently, there’s a huge debate. someone told me that the place is always packed, but if you go at 3am, you can get a seat. i didn’t test that theory, but the ramen i had was pretty spectacular. check out the reviews on Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=ramen&find_loc=Shinjuku%2C+Tokyo.
I also spent a day exploring Ueno Park. it’s massive, and there are museums galore. I mostly just wandered around, admiring the cherry blossoms (even though they were past their peak) and trying to identify all the different types of trees. I even found a little herb garden tucked away near the zoo! It was a tiny oasis of calm amidst all the hustle and bustle.
If you get bored, Yokohama and Kawasaki are just a short train ride away. I didn’t make it to either, but I heard they’re worth a visit. Apparently, Yokohama has a really cool Chinatown.
I’m still sorting through the hundreds of photos I took. I’m thinking of doing a series on urban botany - finding pockets of nature in unexpected places. I’m also trying to figure out how to recreate that corn soup vending machine experience at home. Wish me luck.
Oh! And a local warned me about the vending machines in Akihabara. Apparently, some of them dispense… interesting things. Like, really interesting things. I didn’t venture down that rabbit hole, but I heard it’s an experience. You can find some discussion about it on this forum: https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/1234567/vending_machines_in_akihabara_are_weird/.
I also found this really cool guide to hidden gardens in Tokyo: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g298182-Activities-Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html. It was a lifesaver.
Honestly, tokyo is just… a lot. But in a good way. I’m already planning my return trip. Next time, I’m tackling the karaoke scene. Wish me even more* luck.
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- https://votoris.com/post/the-weirdest-thing-i-found-in-the-middle-of-nowhere
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- https://votoris.com/post/hanoi-why-im-still-here-even-though-its-24-degrees-and-everyone-hates-me
- https://votoris.com/post/phillys-economic-rollercoaster-a-budget-students-survival-guide