Tokyo Opera City, Hatsudai

So I decided to to go to the Square Enix Showcase in Hatsudai on Saturday after Masako’s lesson.

And I got completely lost.

The thing with Hatsudai is that there’s absolutely nothing there; so there aren’t many landmarks to help you figure out your way on a map. I’ve seen the Square Enix Products direction map enough times to know that the store is to the right of Hatsudai Station. The only thing I remember from the first time I went was that as soon as you leave the station, there’s this place that has these areas in gigantic pools of water which are really nice. So, I went on that. The problem was, since that’s where I got out of the station, I thought that was Hatsudai Station… when it wasn’t. It was Tokyo Opera City, which on the map is across the street from Hatsudai Station. As a result I wound up walking in the COMPLETELY wrong direction and didn’t think to turn back after a good 20-30 minutes of walking. My intelligence is astounding, isn’t it?

The streets around Hatsudai all look exactly the same so, at first, I thought I was headed in the right direction. Most of the streets are also next to nothing but highway, which makes them look even more identical. When I was walking I didn’t pass anything except for a koban (small police station) and like 6 convenience stores. The further I went I started noticing that the highway signs started pointing to Shinjuku and Meguro, which were the places I had just come from, so that’s how I figured out I was going the wrong way.

I decided to walk back on the opposite street, to find nothing but empty lots and one very sad looking park. Good thing the weather was nice; if it was raining it would’ve looked like the most sad and desolate area of Tokyo anyone’s ever seen.

Despite how there’s absolutely nothing there, I like Hatsudai. I like it a lot. I would never live there, but it’s really nice to walk around there when the weather is good and Tokyo Opera City and it’s watery surroundings are my favorite places to mindlessly stare at. There’s also this big stone pit where people sit and hang around that’s quite cool. Too bad the Square Enix Showcase is only open on weekends, otherwise I might go there more often.

I’ve only been one other time before in June, so I’m going to combine the photos from that time since the weather was good on both occasions (though the photos where all of the trees look alive and the people are dressed lightly are obviously from June).

 

 

Update: June 3, 2009 – Going through all of my posts to make edits and add photos. During the holidays, a Christmas tree was added into the stone pit. It was nice, but the base would have looked better if it were discreet rather than having a bright red box around the tree.