day 8...

...dawned on us in tokyo...

we had arrived fairly late the night before and had been checked into the ANA hotel near narita. the rest of the people on the tour package were having the day free and easy (i.e. guide was gonna bring them to some big shopping centre for a day of shopping) but the missus and i decided to give it a miss and head off on our own. we checked out and made our way to my friend's place where we'd we bunking in for the next week or so (barring the 2 nights that we had planned for kyoto)...

after getting settled in for a bit, we headed out immediately to look for grub plus some shopping in shibuya...special mention has to be made of the lunch that we had at a little sushi joint called midori at shibuya station...sublimely fresh sushi that was in my book one of the best that i'd ever had...i was convulsing in sheer pleasure, i tell you...

1. at JR ozaki station awaiting our ride to shibuya
2. the statue of hachiko the dog - the japanese revere the trait of loyalty and it is no more better shown by the story of this dog (to learn more, click HERE)
3. hunting around in shibuya station for midori
4. seated at the counter - the best place to check out the deft hands of the sushi masters
5. chef's omakase set - @ 2940 yen it ain't particularly cheap, but it was particularly GOOD, not to mention fresh...
6. hachiko crossing in shibuya (a pedestrian scramble) - this is one of the most if not THE most crowded pedestrian crossings in the world...all the traffic comes to a complete standstill and i watched amused as heck whilst a seemingly amorphous mass of people went left right and centre all over...
7. the iconic shibuya109 building
8. shibuya gals
9. a solitary figure
10. shibuya night scene
11. more shibuya nights
12. she's in her element cos it's shopping time!
13. the ebb and flow of people in shibuya is astounding...massive human traffic
14. we ended up at TENGU for dinner...a chain of eating cum drinking bars known as izakayas
    
15. hachiko crossing at night...even more crowded!