Tokyo is unlike any city we’ve stayed in thus far for its unique culture, food and shopping, and we hadn’t had too much of an opportunity to explore that. That changed on Thursday, May 28 — a day that began with an organized group tour of the Olympic MUFG Stadium and was followed by plentiful free time.
The 8:00 a.m. start time definitely was not ideal — especially for people who enjoy sleeping late like me — and earlier than the average day on the trip, but it paved the way for more time on our own later on.
As it is almost every day, our means of transportation is the subway. The Tokyo Metro is very big, as we’ve learned across the past few days, with nine lines. We typically take the Ginza Line to get to and from our hotel, but we had to transfer on some lines a bit to get within walking distance of the stadium.
It took just shy of an hour to get to the correct subway stop, and it was then a 10-15-minute walk to reach the stadium. We had some time before the 9:30 a.m. tour, so professor Jamie Kim had us sit down outside in the shade to discuss the past day. Specifically, Wednesday, when we visited MLB Asia and attended a Nippon Professional Baseball game. We had discussed the marketing approaches that defer between Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan for baseball and also contrasted Korean and Japanese in-game experiences, having attended games in both countries.
That concluded the small lecture, and it was time for our stadium tour. As we passed through a side entrance, there was a small screen showing the site of this stadium being built in the mid-late 2010s. We were also handed a two-sided paper that detailed the history and features of the stadium.
There were countless strong angles we got, peering across the stadium and at the field. There was an upper-deck view, one on the first level, one in a fancy lounge and — best of all — one on the field. It was an overwhelmingly fun experience being on the pitch that hosts so many soccer matches and concerts. It felt that every stop was designed to give us insight into what different types of ticketing offers. Granted, our tour was fully in Japanese alongside another tour group, but I clearly got a sense of the tour’s angle.
One of the coolest parts of the tour was that, on the field level, we had the opportunity to explore the locker rooms and hallways the teams use. There were interesting memorabilia and signings on the wall of former players and even signed team pages; even some of the early 2000s Real Madrid teams were present.
After the tour concluded, we wrapped up our organized class outside with another discussion, recalling our time in Beijing and comparing stadium models. We had announcements for Friday, and then, by early afternoon, we were off on our own.
I went out with three members of the trip to a revolving sushi restaurant — we couldn’t resist it before Friday’s group lunch in a similar setting. It took a few subway stops to arrive, and soon, we were gobbling salmon and tuna nigiri rolls, ordering off a touch screen. The prices, in Yen, were quite cheap, as sushi is charged for much more in the United States.
Then, I headed to Shibuya with my trip roommate to take in one of the world’s most famous shopping areas. It had some parallels to the likes of Times Square but also had its own Japanese nuances.
I was most enthralled by some of the athletic clothing stores. There was Nike, Adidas, Reebok; you name it. My goal with shopping was to get something I couldn’t find anywhere else, specifically with Japanese logos or phrases, so I took that into account when purchasing items. There were also interesting pop-up shops with themes from Star Wars to Pokémon to Back to the Future. And we were sure to cross the renowned Shibuya Crossing, which has to be the world’s busiest crosswalk.
It was late afternoon, and I had already reached 20,000 steps, so my roommate and I headed back to the hotel on a long subway ride. I took a small nap, and we headed out to dinner on the subway in the Asakusa area we visited Tuesday. We went to a kobe beef sushi restaurant. It was unlike anything I’d ever had before with raw beef stuck to rice instead of fish, but I was impressed.
It got pretty late, so we headed back to the hotel for the night after our final free day of the entire trip before it all comes to a close Friday.
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