Thursday, November 30, 2006

Shinjuku Station

I'll never forget the first time I went to Shinjuku station in Tokyo. The place is massive. It was packed and bustling with many, many people. I could not believe it. In London we have King's Cross station which is quite big, and other central London stations like Waterloo for example. But Shinjuku, in my opinion, is in another class. The station is so big and they've got so many rail tracks. It took me such a long time to find out where I was going. On either side of Shinjuku Station there is a department store. In fact the department store goes over the station. And there always seem to be people loitering around the exit of Shinjuku Station waiting to meet friends or colleagues. In the morning rush-hour you can see thousands upon thousands of workers come out of the station and head towards the Shinjuku business district. Also at Shinjuku Station is Takashimaya. I arrived in Tokyo three days before Christmas. Because it was Christmas time, Takashimaya was packed. I could not believe how we people were out shopping. Bet the Christmas decorations up outside, and the Christmas lights on the other side. So I wandered into Takashimaya, and went down the stairs into the food court. Up until this time I hadn't seen any shops that sold Western-style products. So it was a big shock, surprise, to find a department store that sold Western-style food. For example, they sold shoes like brie, rock for, Cameron Blair will stop they sold wine, they sold beers, like Heineken, Carlsberg for example. They sold champagne, they sold biscuits, they sold jams. It was amazing. So here I am I just walked into this department store which is just massive. And I find a food court that stocking all types of foods. Most of account was also gave free samples. For example one counter would give you free samples of biscuits, one counter would give you free samples of germs, one counter would give you free samples of something to drink. And the number of people going through here was just unbelievable. The prices in here were very, very expensive. This is when I realised that if you lived in Tokyo or Japan and you made some serious money you could live very, very well. In Tokyo obviously there's McDonald's, Burger King, Hard Rock Cafe, TGI Fridays etc. There are also some generic fast food places. These are usually for the poor and the class. But when I first went into the food court at Takashimaya in Shinjuku this is where I saw how the rich people in Tokyo. Everything was available. It really was a food paradise.
If you come out of the barrier and turn right and turn right again there is this little alley. Down this alley there's a flower shop on the right-hand side, and then you'll get a coffee shop that also sells ice cream and next to that is a small radio station. There always used to be these schoolgirls sitting outside the radio station watching the broadcast. The radio station was like a sound booth and you could see into it. If you continue down the alley it starts to slide downhill and you come round to the left side of Shinjuku Station.
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