Illuminations: Tokyo At Night During Holiday Season

Once the air gets chilly and the atmosphere turns a bit towards the holiday cheerfulness of late November thru the New Year, many parts of the Tokyo Metropolitan area become lit up at night, and in some cases magnificently so.

Yebisu Garden

So magnificent in fact, that it almost makes you want to leave the warmer comforts of home and go out into the cold night to see those illuminations with your own eyes.  Well, almost.  But really, once you get yourself in some warm gear and perhaps arm yourself with a cheerfully hot beverage, it becomes a pretty fun experience.

Shinjuku

As previously mentioned, there are many places to take in the season's illuminations in Tokyo, but since this is my web space I'll focus on the three best places to go to, in my humble opinion (and they are all free of charge):

#3 Caretta Shiodome

The illuminations at Caretta Shiodome is compressed into a small area, especially compared to practically every other illumination in Tokyo, but it does pack a lot of light for the given area.  Also, the lights go pretty high up:

In addition to it being a great place for taking a photo, there are musical presentations in sync with the lights, which brings you into the atmosphere of the holidays even more with that added sense of sound brought on.  It's definitely worth a visit, especially if you haven't seen the illumination at Shiodome before.  The only negative I can think of is the crowds, because of the small area... but it can be avoided if you visit on a weeknight.

#2 Roppongi Hills

On a much bigger scale, I present to you the illuminations at Roppongi Hills.

Location:



Maybe it's not so easy to find, but go to Roppongi Station, find one of the exits that lead to Roppongi Hills, and then head south... find your way to Keyakizaka Dori (the street with the high end shops such as Tiffany & Co, Salvatore Ferragamo, etc).  Speaking of those high end shops, they do lend a bit to the holiday atmosphere, reluctant as I may be to actually say that.

But overall the lighted trees here are very nice, stretch out for about 500 km along both sides of Keyakizaka street, and the buildings themselves also provide a beautiful background.  And on occasion, depending on the time of year, the colors will change to reflect the fall season:

And, Tokyo Tower can be seen further out, making for an even nicer photo:

#1 Shibuya Blue Cave Illumination

Location (starting point):

My favorite of all the illuminations, the Blue Cave packs the most bang for the buck, in my opinion.  It's a 1 km walk with a lot to see.  Start out from Shibuya Station, find the Hachiko exit and move on across the famous Shibuya Crossing, walk past the Starbucks on the right side.  Video below will help illustrate this part:

You'll start seeing the blue lighted trees, which will lead you all the way to the Blue Cave located at Yoyogi Park.  Along the way you'll find yourself walking among many others in the quest for the Blue Cave, and will see a lot of the interesting shops, places and architecture that make up the identity of Shibuya.

If you need relief/assistance in dealing with the cold air and wind, there's also several cafes, a couple of Starbucks, and many convenience stores along the way.

Having followed the blue brick road (sans bricks, mostly), you'll arrive at the blue cave illumination.  Very cool and wonderful!

At the end of the blue cave, there is a pretty interesting mirror house.  Worth a visit, as you can see from the laughs and confusion we experienced in there:

Having reached the endpoint, Harajuku Station is closer should you need to get on the train from this point.  Or you could go back the way you came.  Both have their plusses and minuses, but you can't go wrong either way as both directions have additional treats in store for you in the evening, such as the illuminations at Omotesando Avenue near Harajuku Station, and the Shibuya nightlife.  The blue cave area, the walking leading up to it, and having a plethora of food/drink/entertainment/sightseeing options on top of the experience itself is what makes this illumination experience the best for me.


Overall recommendations:

- Dress warmly!
- If you're after the perfect image, bring multiple cameras.  Sometimes the phone camera captures a better image of the lights among the darkness than a true camera, and vice versa.  It's a toss up.
- Go with a friend or two, or more.  It's cold enough out there as it is, so experiencing it with the figurative/literal warmth of friends makes it a bit more bearable at least.  Also, selfies can be tricky if you want to commemorate the moment on photo, so having someone to take photos of you is a great backup plan.

The Star Wars Sights at Marunouchi

In advance/anticipation of the theater opening of Episode 9, Star Wars is firmly imprinted in the Marunouchi area of Tokyo.

A Precious Star Wars Event Indeed, at Tokyo Marunouchi

The event is called Star Wars: Precious For You.

You'll find Star Wars exhibits of seemingly of all kinds, from Lego themed to Christmas/holiday themed and everything in between, across eight different buildings in the area (equaling the number of movie episodes in the Star Wars saga thus far), all within easy walking distance of each other and Tokyo Station.

I feel words wouldn't do much justice for the experience, so I won't type too many here.  I'll let the images do most of the talking.

There's even a Star Wars café!

As you might have detected from some of my photos and my cosplay repertoire, Star Wars is a big deal for me, family, and many of my friends.  So, this type of event truly appeals to my heart.  From the heart:

May The Force be with you.

Specifics:
Star Wars: Precious For You
Duration: From November 7 until December 25, 2019
Location: Marunouchi area, Tokyo (take Marunouchi exits from Tokyo Station)

VR Gaming at Sega, Akihabara

Virtual Reality (VR) gaming is still a very new gaming medium.  Even at events such as Tokyo Game Show, VR is still in the minority, seen as an intriguing and exciting way to play and experience a game but not reaching its potential.  One of the barriers I can see right now for VR really taking off is the infrastructure required, and I don't meet just the electronics.  Just looking at some of the VR games in action from the outside, you realize that VR requires considerable real estate to work.  Whether it's a VR "vehicle" or one of the games where you walk around, more space is required than the console or even typical arcade game.  In today's world where the majority of our electronics are getting smaller, VR is a step in the different direction.

Still, the idea of getting immersed in the game environment is a new and exciting one.  So, early in 2018, several of us had our first experience with VR gaming at Sega, Akihabara.  The game was Mortal Blitz, set in outer space, and the objective of the game was to survive attacks from hostile, nasty looking aliens who'd invaded the space station.  The player is armed with an automatic rifle (equipped with a laser sight to ensure you get your target) and would need to gun down the attacking aliens, walk around the space station while opening doors and navigating the base order to reach your allies.

Your humble blogger, shooting at some virtual baddies

Unfortunately, it is a one player game.  Though you can play at the same time as others, you're each in your own game.  But that was the only bone I could pick with this game; it was truly fun, exciting, and definitely an experience I'd recommend to any gamer who'd never tried VR before... or even any non-gamer.

:

It's also very cool/funny to observe your friends in battle from outside of the VR 

On another occasion, some of us tried Tower Tag, one of the other VR offerings at Sega Akihabara.  Unfortunately no photos from that experience, but it is a multi-player (2 or 4) shooting game where the objective is to eliminate other players while traversing towers.  Not too much walking here, as you'll be swinging from tower to tower, but some evasive maneuvers are needed to emerge victorious.

Without going too much into detail, (and believe me, any attempt to describe what we seen and experienced through those VR headsets is quite a challenge), for all of us the VR experience was totally fun and immersive, and highly recommended to gamers and non-gamers.



Recommendations:
- Wear clothes/shoes comfortable for walking (no high heels!)
- Make reservations online before going.  Walk-ins are okay, as they will take you in if there's a slot available, but if none are available soon be prepared to wait at least a couple of hours until you get your chance.
- Though Mortal Blitz is a one player game, go with a friend or more, so that you can have someone take the essential photo of you in the VR gaming gear.



Specifics:
VR Gaming at Sega Akihabara
Cost: 1500 yen per game, per person for Mortal Blitz, 1000 yen for Tower Tag

VR Zone Shinjuku: As (Virtually) Real As It Gets!

Having some degree of familiarity with Virtual Reality gaming in the form of the Mortal Blitz game at Sega, Akihabara, we sought to experience more of that flavor of fun.  So, we progressed towards visiting what seems to be the biggest virtual reality arcade in Japan: VR Zone Shinjuku.

The price of admission and gaming is pretty steep (4000 yen gets you in and playing four games) but as the games are very unique and so immersive, it is definitely worth considering if you love video games, and especially if you're among others who have fun playing video games as well.

The biggest pull for my friends and I was the Evangelion VR game.  We're all fans of the anime, and the idea of getting to pilot an Eva was too good to resist.

And it truly lived up to all the hype we had for it, and then some.  From the moment we stepped into the entry plug and had ourselves submersed in LCL, to getting to battle several of the Angels at Tokyo-3, it was awesome!  Also, we were seated not too far from each other but communicating with each other through the mic/headphone system made it seem like we were coordinating from kilometers apart in the battle field.

Once we wrapped up our experience as Evangelion pilots, we moved on to give the Mario Kart game (also very fun) and another game (can't recall the name) where we rode on scooters to escape some prehistoric reptiles in a jungle, similar to Jurassic but not quite.  Still, very fun and enjoyable among good friends.

For our last act, we went a bit away from the "traditional" VR route and opted to try their rock climbing experience, called Trap Climb.  Virtual and real obstacles were there, making for a pretty unique type of rock climb.

There were, indeed, a few "traps" which I won't give away, but nothing that scary or dangerous, I think.  Hands and arms got kind of sore at the end but it was a good time!

For a great time out in Shinjuku and in the virtual reality world, give the VR Zone a try!

Recommendations:

- Go with friends; one could conceivably go on his/her own here but it's so much more enjoyable playing alongside friends/family who will share the experience with you.

- You can ask staff to take photos of you with your camera/phone while you're busy playing, some examples of which are seen on this post.

- Wear comfortable clothes and shoes.  You'll move around a bit, and depending on the games you choose to play, wearing tight clothes or skirts might not be the best here.  For the rock climb, if you choose to do it, they will lend you a pair of climbing shoes.

Specifics:

VR Zone Shinjuku

Location: 

CoCo Ichibanya: Japan's Finest (And Most Famous) Curry

I've been meaning to put in some time/space on this part of the internets to share some of my/our favorite places to find fuel and energy for our many adventures in and around Tokyo... so here's a start.  And it's an easy start, as I'm going with one of my longtime favorite places.

CoCo Ichibanya, also known as CoCo Ichi to many locals, CoCo Ichiban to some, and "CoCos" to many Americans in Japan, is a popular and well loved curry rice restaurant chain in Japan, and has some footholds outside of Japan as well (such as in Singapore, and the United States).

The curry is very palatable, delicious, and relatively easy on the budget.  But how is it so popular, above all other places that serve curry?  Being a fan and frequent diner at CoCo Ichi, I've tried to brainstorm the reasons:

-It's everywhere (trying searching for it with your iPhone; any sizable city or semi-sizable city has at least a couple of CoCo Ichi restaurants within a few minutes drive or a short train ride away.

-Customizable to your exact tastes/moods:  from the spice levels (from mild to number 10 level spicy) to the type of curry sauce (default is pork, with options of vegetable/beef and possibly more) to the toppings (meat/vegetables/seafood/etc) you will undoubtedly be able to order something that suits you.

-Service: friendly/professional to Japanese standards, and the food comes to you within just a few minutes of completing your order.  Need to bring some home for the family/crew?  Takeouts are a regular occurrence and easy to do at CoCo Ichi.

But to me, having been to several places, with several different people ranging from family to friends and everything in between, I'd have to say that the warm curry combined with the additional warmth brought about by the spice level and the warmest memories of all I've shared a curry lunch/dinner with, it is one of my comfort "places" in Japan, not just food.

An added bonus for tourists are the take-home "boxes" you can buy; they are actually pouches of curry sauce which can be prepared by microwave heating or dropped by the pouch into boiling water for heating (5 minutes).  They aren't exactly like what you'd have served in the restaurant but the taste is definitely there.

While you're in Japan, don't miss out on CoCo Ichi.  And take some home with you if you love it as much as we do!

CoCo Ichibanya
Location (nearest to Camp Zama):