Tokyo, Japan: This morning we decided to try another of the (included with room rate) hotel breakfast buffets. We usually just go down to the executive lounge on this floor and get a pastry or coffee, or I buy a yoghurt from a shop in the hotel basement for my breakfast. One of the buffets is on the 44th floor of one of the hotel towers, boasting fantastic views. It was super cloudy and socked-in today, but up we went. Our assigned seats were next to a very dirty window and Dave was quite upset at the view:
I told Dave to take a closer look. I was just fine with the view:
Today was the first day to use the subway app downloaded to our phone. I was a bit skeptical as when I put the subway card in my iPhone wallet, it only looked like a photo of a credit card. Boy, were we happy when we placed our phones on the reader, heard a blip, and were good-to-go.
There is a subway station just two blocks from our hotel (seriously, they are EVERYWHERE), and we needed to pass over a bridge to reach the station and saw a very interesting boat house situation that rents everything from boats to fishing poles.
Our destination today was the Shibuya neighborhood - home to the busiest crosswalk in the world - and countless pachinko parlors, teeny eateries, junk shops, fancy department stores, hotels rentable by the hour, and everything else.
Several streets come together here, so to keep traffic flowing, all traffic lights go to red and all crosswalk lights go to green, so hundreds of pedestrians can walk wherever they need to go. It works and it is crazy. Not a lot of people today - but we have now seen/participated in a Shibuya Crossing. We just started walking around Shibuya to see what we could see.
In between all the one-off shops and restaurants, we saw Burger King, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Zara, Starbucks, most big sneaker brands, and Lululemon. There are also several large department stores in Shibuya with all the famous designer brands of clothing, handbags, and makeup.
Vending machines (above) selling tiny collectible toys are super popular with the youth of Japan. They are everywhere. Cannot say for sure, but it seems each machine sells one brand/character, but there are maybe 4 different versions, so - like trading cards - you never know what you are going to get? The toys are packaged in a softball-sized globe.
Japanese boy and girl bands are also very popular and teen girls were lined up today (with the help of security guards keeping the sidewalks clear) to snap phone photos of this billboard:
Time for lunch! We found a very small traditional soba place. Dave had a bowl of the buckwheat noodles in broth with green onion and duck breast. I had teriyaki chicken - and we shared.
Years ago, it seemed every restaurant had plastic “samples” of their food displayed in the window. We haven't seen it very often on this trip. Sad.
But we found Shohei everywhere:
We were fortunate today to get back to the hotel in time for a nice rest before going to the stadium. Dave worked out and I edited the above photos. Remember when I wrote about the pajamas/robes being placed on our beds each evening? There is another odd thing about the hotel housekeeping:
This stool is always placed in front of the bathroom sink. Even Kareem could not see his face in the mirror nor brush his teeth while sitting on this chair. Why is it there? It is impossible to use the sink if the stool is placed in front of the sink, and impossible to see your face in the wall mirror or makeup mirror. Everyday I move it out of the way (plenty of room in this large bathroom), and every evening it is returned to the sink. Any ideas?
Off to the stadium on the 6:15p bus. A big night on the track and the temperatures were nearly tolerable - because it was supposed to rain and there was a bit of a breeze. Here are a few photos of inside the stadium:
Highlights from tonight included an American - Curtis Thompson - earning the silver medal in the javelin throw (87.38m). Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad & Tobago) won the event with a season-best throw of 86.16. Anderson Peters of Grenada has the silver (87.38). US and Grenada representatives were seated in our section, so we had visits from the silver and bronze medalists! My javelin favorite, Neeraj Chopra finished a lousy 8th. Wonder what is going on with the Olympic silver medalist?
Maybe you might be interested to see a view from in front of our seats as they bring racers out for races that begin at the start line (400m/hurdles, 800m, relays, etc). The competitors are brought out (way too early in my opinion) sometimes even before the heat in front of them has started! They have to stand here until the previous race has finished. Dumb. Bad form.
Speaking of the 200m semis... Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek made it to the final and somehow four US women are in the final - Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Anavia Battle, Brittany Brown, and McKenzie Long are on the official start list for the final tomorrow. Nine women in the final - we think due to two women having the exact same time, down to the 100th of a second.
It was by-now pretty seriously raining. The wind was keeping the rain off the fans along the finish line (me), so we were barely getting wet, but the poor racers were getting soaked.
Botswana went one and three in the men's 400m final. Dave fears them against the US in the 4x400m relay! All eyes were on Sydney though. Many people hoped she would set a world record in the 400m (and maybe Ms. McLaughlin-Levrone did as well?), but with the rain, we knew it would not be a good idea. Sydney gave it her all - even though the officials brought the racers out sooooo early and made them stand in the downpour in front of their blocks while THREE triple jumpers finished! Beyond bad planning, people. Not to mention, it was Sydney for damn sake!
We wonder if the "long wait in the rain for absolutely no reason" fact ever made it on the American television coverage? Mrs. Levrone paid no nevermind. She was in her zone (as usual) and was only focused on the mission at hand: Win gold for America.
Well, you know she did. Dave snapped this above photo nanoseconds before Sydney crossed the finish line in 47.78. Her time was a championship record. (Current world record is 47.60.) Olympic and World Champion, Dominican Marileidy Paulo (hip 9) was second in 47.98 - setting a national record. Salwa Eid Naser, silver medalist in Paris, was third in a season's best 48.19. Sixth place finisher, Roxana Gomez, set a national record for Cuba. That is a very big race, people!
And then the rain stopped, the meet was over, and we all went home.
Dave and I have a little adventure planned for tomorrow, so check back.
Pedometer: Only 14,640. Slacker.
Until my next update, I remain, your "the 4x400m relays are gonna be fun Sunday" correspondent.
Links:
World Athletics Championships | Tokyo 2025
Meet Schedule
How to watch from the US
World Championships Results
Tokyo Weather