Golden Week v2: Tokyo Through Fresh Eyes

For our first full day of our trip, we had a few things lined up, but it was mostly going to be a chill exploratory day. Henry had found a crying baby festival taking place at Senso-ji temple in Asakusa, so we centered our day around that and played the rest by ear. 

We slept in a little bit after our night out, slowly got ready, and went out in search of breakfast. I only knew of one restaurant in the area, a family style restaurant that had solid breakfast options. We made our way over, ordered some food, grabbed something from the drink bar, and slowly shook off our grogginess. 

Due to our slower morning, we would probably miss the first round of the crying baby festival, so we had a bit of time to kill. The best way to Asakusa would take us through Akihabara, so I figured we could wander around there for a while. Henry has some knowledge of games, mainly through watching other streamers, but really doesn’t know much about anime. 

We wandered through Bic Camera, a big electronic department store, taking in the wide selection and different sections of the store. After we felt satisfied, I suggested going to Super Potato, a retro game store, and probably my favorite spot in Akihabara. 

Poking through the tiny aisles of Super Potato was lots of fun, enjoying seeing all the different games on display and commenting on what we had or hadn’t played. I’ve yet to explore Akihabara with anyone who really matches the depth and breadth of my game and anime knowledge, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. 

As we started heading back towards the station, we ended up lured into a crane game arcade. I typically try to avoid crane games, as it’s an easy way to sink a fair chunk of change and walk away with nothing. Perhaps due to my company, or the novelty of it, I ended up at a machine spending nearly $40 trying to win a prize. 

Like buying scratch off tickets, playing a crane game you should probably play expecting to lose. I know there are some secret tips and tricks to win a bit more often, but largely it’s not in your favor, and depending on how expensive the prize is it’s supposed to take a lot of money. I ended up getting my hopes up a few times, but before long it was time to walk away. I left a bit frustrated, but it was plenty of fun. 

Finally, it was time to head to Asakusa to see some crying babies. We grabbed a train, and walked over to the temple. It seemed like the usual crowd of people, but I was honestly surprised it wasn’t busier. We did a quick lap around the temple before heading off to find the festival. 

The festival had a decent crowd, but not too huge. I’d guess this festival probably flies under the radar of a lot of people, I’d never heard of it myself until Henry brought it up. They did a quick parade of the contenders and their parents, while reading off each of their names. There were probably close to 100 babies competing, and even a few foreigners were participating. 

Apparently, in Japanese folklore a crying baby has the power to ward off evil spirits. A loud strong cry can also be an indicator of health in a baby. After they introduced all the contestants, a shinto priest read a prayer for health for all the babies involved. While certainly a bit of a funny tradition, it seemed like a very sweet idea. 

For the matches, each baby was held by a real sumo wrestler, with 4 people in each corner of the ring. Once the match began the sumo wrestlers began bouncing the babies in their arms, and the MC yelled at them “Cry!” “Cry!” in japanese. The 4 people in each corner of the ring could hold up a mask designed to scare the baby and encourage them to cry. Whoever cried, or cried the loudest if both babies cried was decreed the winner. 

It was both cute and hilarious to watch. Henry and I probably watched around 10 matches or so before deciding to explore the area some more. It felt like something that could really only happen here in Japan, but had enough thought behind it that made it feel like a real tradition. 

We wandered around Asakusa for a bit longer, stopping at one store that offered a mix of productions using high quality milk from Hokkaido. Henry got a milk flight, choosing three different types of milk, and I ordered a milkshake. You really could taste subtle differences between each kind of milk. I still love milk, so this was a particularly fun little stop. 

Eventually, we felt satisfied with our exploration of the area, and decided to head back to our hotel for a brief stop. Once we regrouped, I suggested we do yakiniku for dinner. We found a promising spot, grabbed our table, and after some back and forth, landed on doing both all you can eat, and all you can drink. 

It took us a bit of time to figure out the system, but once we did we had different cuts of meat coming on regular rotation. I’ve only done yakiniku one other time, so I’m still a little inexperienced, but it tasted delicious. Henry chose some cuts or types of meat I normally wouldn’t touch, but it meant we almost never got the same thing twice. 

Once our bellies were full, we did a quick speedrun of Shibuya. This was probably the busiest I’ve ever seen Shibuya, and it took us forever to get from the station to the crossing. I showed Henry the classic spots, the crossing, the 109 building, Hachiko, and finished it off at Tower Records. We didn’t spend too much time at any spot in particular, we’d already covered a lot of ground today after all. 

Having spent an hour or two exploring Shibuya, it was just about time to start winding down. We landed on doing some more karaoke for the night at my usual karaoke chain, gotta collect those points. We got a room for 2 hours, and got another all you can drink package. We had a blast enthusiastically singing whatever we wanted as we sipped our drinks. 

It had been a whirlwind of a day, playing tour guide for Henry and showing off my favorite spots, while also seeing new things like the Naki Sumo festival or trying out a milk flight. I didn’t know it then, but this really set the tone for the rest of our vacation together. It was a mix of old and new stuff, and in a way, it reminded me of what I really love about Japan. 

Sometimes you just need an additional perspective to help you try something new, and even see old things through a new pair of eyes. Henry was able to help me do both those things, and it’s one of many reasons I’m so glad he came to visit.