Kagurazaka and elsewhere...

We have seen beautiful decorations like this in front of houses and shops all over Tokyo.

JR Train arrives at IIdabashi Station by the canal.

Now we are exploring Tokyo using the undergroud subway system, often called the Tokyo Metro but that is just the name of one of the companies operating subterrainian railways here. Another is Toei Subway. The networks are separate, and you can tell you're moving from one to the other by colour schemes, branding and livery. Fortunately, all operators appear to show the connections to other operators, and our PASMO cards works on them all, and there are other swipe card systems going too.

Just another delicately decorated shopfront.

In Kagurazaka, like everywhere else, shrines were very popular for New Year's rituals.

Moorish type facade on this French Restaurant in Kagurazaka.

On recommendation, we spent a lot of time wandering around the "old Tokyo" locality called Kagurazaka. We walked there from Iidabashi metro station, mistakenly took the wrong exit so got lost for a while. Kagurazaka is a delightful enclave of narrow windy streets which are replete with shops plus restaurants and cafes showing a very strong European influence, mostly French. The area was very popular with locals enjoying their days off for New Year.

Kimono shop open for business.

Kagurazaka pharmacy.

It was not what we expected for "old Tokyo". The buildings are 2-4 storeys post-war reconstructions, by the look of them, but very close together. We expected "old" to be older than that!

This young lady served us a traditional New Year's drink, a hot sweet rice soup in front of her tiny shop.

This plaque appears to tell the story of Edo Castle at Kagurazaka.

We think this represents the old Edo Castle gate in this location.

Nearer the station, there are remains of ancient walls and a moat, and these may be part of the historic Edo Castle whose outer boundary was here. All interpretive signage was in Japanese, but we know the castle was here.

We found our way to NakaMeguro, a residential part of Tokyo on both sides of the quite pretty Meguro Canal. The canal was quite empty, but clear signage warned of how high floodwaters can get!

Meguro Canal shrouded in cheery trees which must be quite spectacular in season.

NakaMeguro seemed to have fully embraced the holiday spirit - nothing much was open. Cafes which would normally have been trading at the time were were here hunting for lunch were firmly closed. The two establishments which were open were so crowded with grateful patrons we couldn't get in.

JR's above ground Shibuya Station continually disgorges shoppers.

Streetscape of Shibuya Crossing.

So we repaired to (fairly nearby) Shibuya which was the diametric opposite to NakaMeguro - alive and bustling to the point of being frantic. Here we found a place for lunch and managed to get a good seat overlooking Shibuya Crossing, not the Starbucks Restaurant which has an uninterrupted view, but a pretty nice view anyway. Shibuya Crossing is famous, appearing in many movies - two adjacent multi-road intersections become synchronised scramble crossings with hundreds if not thousands of pedestrians negotiating them simultaneously. Quite spectacular, and we wonder if the day of our visit was "quiet" or "busy", being a holiday.

Shibuya Crossing as seen from a 1st Floor balcony.

At least the back lanes of Shibuya are free of vehicles.

Frantic happenings inside Shibuya 109.

Shibuya seems to be a hangout for the young. The intersections were constantly being transversed by huges semi-trailers whose sole purpose was to advertise some boy-band or girl-band or other. The buildings around the Crossing looked like Times Square, with all the neon signs and massive screens promoting music groups.

Just one of many large trucks promoting musical groups, traversing Shibuya Crossing.

Youngsters everywhere checking and updating their social media postings.

Already noisy enough, spruikers are very active (but often camera shy) in Shibuya shops.

Historical artifact outside Shibuya Station.

An apparent tourist attraction is fleets of go-carts which (like the semi-trailers) repeatedly pass through the Crossing in one direction or other, the drivers clad in fancy dress. Presumably these go-carts are licensed to be on public streets, and they don't cause any problems in the traffic, because, frankly, motor traffic here (and all over Tokyo) has been very quiet over this holiday period. In Sydney, city streets would be totally congested with motor vehicles even on holidays, but not here. Tokyo residents seem to be well conditioned to use public transport.

Go-carter at Shibuya Crossing.

Shibuya's shops were packed full of excited young women buying discount fashion items. Indeed, the biggest and most prominent, Shibuya 109, which we ventured into, seemed to be dangerously crowded with hysterical young shoppers.

The back streets of Shibuya.