One of the busiest holiday seasons in Japan is the Golden Week. Normally around the first week of May it combines 3 national holidays and is thus a common time to take the week off to travel with the family. Of course did I choose exactly this week for my stay in Tokyo which I was told resulted in even more people on the streets than usual. I really had nothing to compare and I think even with 1 million people less or whatever the difference is I would have been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people. On the up side, it offered unexpected treasures for me on which I stumbled without having it planned at all.
Best thing to do when hungover and with a sleep deficit? Go to a park and relax.
That was my thought at least having celebrated the night before until the first subway offered me a ride back home (last one goes at 1 am and the first one in the morning was 5 am) . If you are looking for a great nightclub I can totally recommend T2 in Shibuya, I was there with a group of Japanese and it felt like I was the only foreigner in the club. Funny thing though in Japan is that often, the guys pay twice the entrance fee than the girls. Normally you would also get a drink coupon with the fee though and my impressions was that drinks in clubs and bars are generally not that expensive. If you are more into Irish pub kind of partying Pub Hub was pretty good, too. We actually went there after the club was closed around 2 am due to… let’s say different opinions about licences between the police and the club owners.
Entrance to Meji Jingu Gyoen Park
Sake Barrels
So, as I said, I decided to go to a park and relax a bit. My choice fell on Harajuku and its close-by shrine garden Meiji Jingu Gyoen Park. It turned out that I most likely chose one of the most popular spots for that particular day as the special Golden Week activities and a wedding attracted even more people to come here as usual. Didn’t matter though as I felt so so lucky to see this traditional form of theatre. I did not really understand what it was all about but I assume it resembles some myth about a dragon. Let’s see for yourself in my short clip below.
Golden Week Festive
In addition to this performance I also got to see a traditional Japanese wedding on the Meiji Jingu Shrine grounds. The bride looked stunning and the whole surrounding was just so perfect in the middle of this Shinto shrine and the dresses and the traditional band in the background that it made me feel like being in some sort of movie scene. It was just so surreal that I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to experience all of this just by accident. Imagine I would have stayed in bed and miss it all.
Japanese Wedding
Afterwards I had a stroll through the massive Yoyogi Park which seemed to be a leisure hotspot. There were so many families and friends having BBQs, groups practising their music instruments, language classes, Yoga courses, role play groups and weird drunken people. And of course I bought some nice snacks. No idea how its called, no idea what it is but it was good. Oh and in case you wondered how many people there are at a regular pedestrian crossing in Harajuku, check this out.
Harajuku Pedestrian Crossing
Snacks
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