Case Japan
Photo Gallery:
Day 20: November 10th 2008 Monday
Tokyo, Shibuya
Hachiko
Last full day in Japan. In the morning, we headed out and took again Yamanote. We got out at Harajuku, walked around a bit and went for some shops. On my earlier visit to Shibuya, I had missed the famous dog statue. The story of the dog is quite cute. Long time ago, a professor had a dog called Hachiko. Every day, his dog came to meet him at the train station when he came back from work. After the professor died, his dog still kept coming to the station to wait for his return. Hachiko kept this routine for 10 years, for the rest of his life. People who knew the professor and the dog, found this so amazing they made a statue at the Shibuya station for Hachiko.
So this time we went to Shibuya to visit the statue. We walked around Shibuya for a while, and then went to eat. We decided to go for ramen. The place was quite interesting, it was downstairs from the street level. At the entrance, there was a vending machine for the food coupons. You selected what you want to eat, inserted money and got a food voucher. Then we went in, and there were several tiny single person booths with small table and a chair. You sit there, and pass the voucher under the curtain, and moment later food is passed on your table from behind the curtain.
After the food, we went to an arcade. We played funny game, where you toss coin on the game table, and hope to get more in return. We were lucky and hit the jackpot, and got huge pile of money in return. After playing for a while, we decided to cash in the play coins into real money. But, we couldn't exchange the coins into money, or even items. The only option was to keep on playing until you lose all your money. I think the Japanese need a lecture on gambling. If you win, you're supposed to gain something. This place, if you win, you must play until you lose everything.
