Japan Trip: Day 4 -- Urban life
May 25
(I will start using LJ cuts today)
Morning.. we woke up, went down for breakfast and noticed the skies were a little more bright than the day before. And the ground was dry so it seems that it would be a great day to be outdoors.
We rode a taxi to Shibuya and got down just before the crossing.
First mission of the day, see Hachiko.
(film)
(film)
After a few shots, we diverted our attention to the crossing. and I saw Junsu's billboard. haha
(film)
HMV... music heaven (film)
(film)
Too bad I forgot to get a shot of 109. :(
It was almost lunch time and we were already hungry to we walked along the road in the direction of the first photo.
My dad was so tired of Japanese food already so we ended up in Mos burger.
I forgot which burger I had but I don't think it was the ebi burger.
We found this promo disturbing:
An Indian eating beef? I know it should be promo for the curry.. but beef?
After lunch we passed by the big Uniqlo store just 1 store away from Mos burger. Was interested in the Mickey shirts but the women's sizes were too small for me. After checking out clothes, we decided to just walk around.
My brother discovered that a Yamaha store was just near by so we decided to check it out. We only checked out the first 2 floors of the building but we already bought a lot. I got myself some guitar picks just because they're so cute. (I don't play guitars that much aside from Guitar Hero :P) And on the 2nd floor I got some books and a mini harmonica.
I don't play the piano much but I just wanted to get some scores of THSK's songs. Ouch 2000 yen... and here's a photo of what I got in Yamaha
We met up with my brother's friend there and we split up with the parents since they were already tired and needed to go back to the hotel.
We wanted to go to Akihabara next so we just walked in the inner streets of Shibuya. But before we got there, we saw an ad for a cat cafe. Of course we wanted to check it out. We went upstairs and saw the small room. The entrance had a lot of maneki neko.
The set was around 1050 yen per person for 30 mins. That already includes the drink with biscuits. The breakdown was 525 for playing with the cats for 30 mins and another 525 for the drinks.
The cafe had certain rules. Good thing my brother's friend was there to translate. There were cats that had collars that we couldn't carry. They had stomach problems I think. We were told not to wake the cats that were sleeping. We were also asked to follow a strict step by step way of cleaning our hands. They even numbered which one to do first. 1. Wash hands with water. 2. Apply soap, rub in hands. 3. Dry with paper towel. 4. Rub alcohol.
We were greeted by a grey tabby. I didn't get a clear shot of him though. We also saw a cat with a cone on its head. It hid behind the next room(?) beyond the hidden cat door. There were 3 groups of people that were there before us. One had a cat on her lap while reading a magazine. The other two groups were just seated trying to play with the cats that were awake.
We went to an empty table and started to check out the cat that was eating cardboard. What a surprise, he was wearing a collar! :P
Most of the other cats were already sleeping so that was the only one we caught awake.
Here's the rest of the cats there:
(he was under the box that the other cat was eating)
(awww it has a plush fish bone)
(this one was cute... too bad it was sleeping)
And cardboard-eating cat fell asleep after playing with us.
I had milk tea as my drink.
30 minutes passed by quickly since we can't play with the cats (gaaah they were all sleeping when we left)
My advice to those who wanted to check out a cat cafe... Go there at night, for sure those cats will be wide awake. They're nocturnal after all ;)
After the neko cafe, we walked in the alleys of Shibuya and found the side entrance of HMV! Walked inside and discover a 2-3 meter long rack with one row filled of THSK singles. Yes just their singles! Imagine if I planned on buying all those singles. It wouldn't fit my luggage! Balikbayan box is a must. Haha.. After checking all the floors for special cds and some movies, even after checking the touch screen search computer they had. I ended up with the following cds:
I didn't have T yet so I got the 2 disc/2DVD set. I also got the Tokyo dome DVD. I wanted to buy the rest of the concerts but decided it was too expensive to get all so I just got the latest and last concert. Flower rock had a special gift that came along with the single (it was a notebook). Also found So long au revoir. No sign of Soyogi :( Yes I went to Japan to buy kpop :P
We passed by the department store near the Shibuya station and we found the perfect cane for my brother. We then went out and discovered the Moyai. He was just sitting there all along.. it's on the other exit of the mall (the other exit was Hachiko)
Moyai
So after taking a pic of the Moyai, we went to the station entrance. We got our tickets and passed through the gate. And there were some ticket bloopers with my brothers.
1. Older brother passed through by tapping his paper ticket on the IC sensor. His friend passed first with her passmo so he probably got through so fast he thought the machine worked on him as well.
2. I passed in correctly with a hole in my ticket.
3. My younger brother inserted the ticket correctly but forgot to get his ticket back.
In the end, both of them had to go back and we wasted another 190 yen for my younger brother's new ticket.
So we rode through the Yamanote line (going counter clockwise I think) to Akihabara. It was pretty far (more than 11 stops away) but it was easier than transferring through several lines.
We passed by the Tokyo Anime Center first. It was pretty "late" again so we arrived and it seemed like they're almost closing. I got a mini Totoro keychain. There were several other stuff there but I guess I didn't feel like buying.
We looked for Yodobashi and on the way there, we found the Gundam Cafe.
Nothing much special except that you can watch Gundam while eating. Definitely go there if you're a big fan. We didn't go in since there was a long line.
After passing under a bridge (or track?), we were greeted by the lights from Yodobashi. We got in and immediately rushed to the multimedia player section. They didn't have the Sony exclusives there (duh!) After more than 30 minutes I finally decided to get the overseas version of the player I wanted (and it was an upgrade since the next one cheaper than this was too cheap) since I learned that the Japan-only versions will only work with a Japanese OS and we weren't really willing to change our PCs just for it. So I got the clear case and the Walkman and paid for it. Tax free! As long as you bring your passport along. ^^ Got it for 29800. Not bad. 2.8in OLED screen, video output, 32gb, drag and drop transfer, noise cancellation and just to be unique amongst the Apple iPod users in the Philippines.
Here's my Kurosuke (with it's namesake attached to it)
I forgot to add in those awesome noise cancellation earphones that came with it. They're probably worth more than 10% the cost of the whole set.
(first 5 to reply before Monday to say where I got my background (of the Walkman) will get a vgift leaping lemur :P hahaha... what? I get them free so I should give it away -- ok I'll screen the comments until 5 are done.)
ETA: hint: it's Leehom-related.
peligr0 and nazurahchan got it correctly ^^
sent vgifts to people who tried to guess anyway.
So after buying, we went up to the restaurant level to eat some dinner. I forgot what I got. Took a sip of Guinness from my kuya (I think I still prefer dark beer over the regular light one even if I don't really drink) We were so full after that.
We headed back to the hotel after. We went back by subway. It's cool. The seats were all cushioned. We said our thanks and goodbyes to my brother's friend before she went down to her stop. We got off a station that was mentioned in the hotel business card as "8 minutes walk away". We got lost on the way so we just got a taxi back to the hotel. It was definitely more than an 8-min walk away. Who does these calculations?
So the day ended. We walked around a lot and it was a bad time to have had my Walkmate turned off. Oh great.
And the bet we made the day before? Our younger brother won. We didn't get a single drop of rain the whole day. So now he's 1000 yen richer to use for pasalubongs and whatnot.
Shinkansen to Kyoto day 5 coming next ^^
(I will start using LJ cuts today)
Morning.. we woke up, went down for breakfast and noticed the skies were a little more bright than the day before. And the ground was dry so it seems that it would be a great day to be outdoors.
We rode a taxi to Shibuya and got down just before the crossing.
First mission of the day, see Hachiko.
(film)
(film)
After a few shots, we diverted our attention to the crossing. and I saw Junsu's billboard. haha
(film)
HMV... music heaven (film)
(film)
Too bad I forgot to get a shot of 109. :(
It was almost lunch time and we were already hungry to we walked along the road in the direction of the first photo.
My dad was so tired of Japanese food already so we ended up in Mos burger.
I forgot which burger I had but I don't think it was the ebi burger.
We found this promo disturbing:
An Indian eating beef? I know it should be promo for the curry.. but beef?
After lunch we passed by the big Uniqlo store just 1 store away from Mos burger. Was interested in the Mickey shirts but the women's sizes were too small for me. After checking out clothes, we decided to just walk around.
My brother discovered that a Yamaha store was just near by so we decided to check it out. We only checked out the first 2 floors of the building but we already bought a lot. I got myself some guitar picks just because they're so cute. (I don't play guitars that much aside from Guitar Hero :P) And on the 2nd floor I got some books and a mini harmonica.
I don't play the piano much but I just wanted to get some scores of THSK's songs. Ouch 2000 yen... and here's a photo of what I got in Yamaha
We met up with my brother's friend there and we split up with the parents since they were already tired and needed to go back to the hotel.
We wanted to go to Akihabara next so we just walked in the inner streets of Shibuya. But before we got there, we saw an ad for a cat cafe. Of course we wanted to check it out. We went upstairs and saw the small room. The entrance had a lot of maneki neko.
The set was around 1050 yen per person for 30 mins. That already includes the drink with biscuits. The breakdown was 525 for playing with the cats for 30 mins and another 525 for the drinks.
The cafe had certain rules. Good thing my brother's friend was there to translate. There were cats that had collars that we couldn't carry. They had stomach problems I think. We were told not to wake the cats that were sleeping. We were also asked to follow a strict step by step way of cleaning our hands. They even numbered which one to do first. 1. Wash hands with water. 2. Apply soap, rub in hands. 3. Dry with paper towel. 4. Rub alcohol.
We were greeted by a grey tabby. I didn't get a clear shot of him though. We also saw a cat with a cone on its head. It hid behind the next room(?) beyond the hidden cat door. There were 3 groups of people that were there before us. One had a cat on her lap while reading a magazine. The other two groups were just seated trying to play with the cats that were awake.
We went to an empty table and started to check out the cat that was eating cardboard. What a surprise, he was wearing a collar! :P
Most of the other cats were already sleeping so that was the only one we caught awake.
Here's the rest of the cats there:
(he was under the box that the other cat was eating)
(awww it has a plush fish bone)
(this one was cute... too bad it was sleeping)
And cardboard-eating cat fell asleep after playing with us.
I had milk tea as my drink.
30 minutes passed by quickly since we can't play with the cats (gaaah they were all sleeping when we left)
My advice to those who wanted to check out a cat cafe... Go there at night, for sure those cats will be wide awake. They're nocturnal after all ;)
After the neko cafe, we walked in the alleys of Shibuya and found the side entrance of HMV! Walked inside and discover a 2-3 meter long rack with one row filled of THSK singles. Yes just their singles! Imagine if I planned on buying all those singles. It wouldn't fit my luggage! Balikbayan box is a must. Haha.. After checking all the floors for special cds and some movies, even after checking the touch screen search computer they had. I ended up with the following cds:
I didn't have T yet so I got the 2 disc/2DVD set. I also got the Tokyo dome DVD. I wanted to buy the rest of the concerts but decided it was too expensive to get all so I just got the latest and last concert. Flower rock had a special gift that came along with the single (it was a notebook). Also found So long au revoir. No sign of Soyogi :( Yes I went to Japan to buy kpop :P
We passed by the department store near the Shibuya station and we found the perfect cane for my brother. We then went out and discovered the Moyai. He was just sitting there all along.. it's on the other exit of the mall (the other exit was Hachiko)
Moyai
So after taking a pic of the Moyai, we went to the station entrance. We got our tickets and passed through the gate. And there were some ticket bloopers with my brothers.
1. Older brother passed through by tapping his paper ticket on the IC sensor. His friend passed first with her passmo so he probably got through so fast he thought the machine worked on him as well.
2. I passed in correctly with a hole in my ticket.
3. My younger brother inserted the ticket correctly but forgot to get his ticket back.
In the end, both of them had to go back and we wasted another 190 yen for my younger brother's new ticket.
So we rode through the Yamanote line (going counter clockwise I think) to Akihabara. It was pretty far (more than 11 stops away) but it was easier than transferring through several lines.
We passed by the Tokyo Anime Center first. It was pretty "late" again so we arrived and it seemed like they're almost closing. I got a mini Totoro keychain. There were several other stuff there but I guess I didn't feel like buying.
We looked for Yodobashi and on the way there, we found the Gundam Cafe.
Nothing much special except that you can watch Gundam while eating. Definitely go there if you're a big fan. We didn't go in since there was a long line.
After passing under a bridge (or track?), we were greeted by the lights from Yodobashi. We got in and immediately rushed to the multimedia player section. They didn't have the Sony exclusives there (duh!) After more than 30 minutes I finally decided to get the overseas version of the player I wanted (and it was an upgrade since the next one cheaper than this was too cheap) since I learned that the Japan-only versions will only work with a Japanese OS and we weren't really willing to change our PCs just for it. So I got the clear case and the Walkman and paid for it. Tax free! As long as you bring your passport along. ^^ Got it for 29800. Not bad. 2.8in OLED screen, video output, 32gb, drag and drop transfer, noise cancellation and just to be unique amongst the Apple iPod users in the Philippines.
Here's my Kurosuke (with it's namesake attached to it)
I forgot to add in those awesome noise cancellation earphones that came with it. They're probably worth more than 10% the cost of the whole set.
(first 5 to reply before Monday to say where I got my background (of the Walkman) will get a vgift leaping lemur :P hahaha... what? I get them free so I should give it away -- ok I'll screen the comments until 5 are done.)
ETA: hint: it's Leehom-related.
peligr0 and nazurahchan got it correctly ^^
sent vgifts to people who tried to guess anyway.
So after buying, we went up to the restaurant level to eat some dinner. I forgot what I got. Took a sip of Guinness from my kuya (I think I still prefer dark beer over the regular light one even if I don't really drink) We were so full after that.
We headed back to the hotel after. We went back by subway. It's cool. The seats were all cushioned. We said our thanks and goodbyes to my brother's friend before she went down to her stop. We got off a station that was mentioned in the hotel business card as "8 minutes walk away". We got lost on the way so we just got a taxi back to the hotel. It was definitely more than an 8-min walk away. Who does these calculations?
So the day ended. We walked around a lot and it was a bad time to have had my Walkmate turned off. Oh great.
And the bet we made the day before? Our younger brother won. We didn't get a single drop of rain the whole day. So now he's 1000 yen richer to use for pasalubongs and whatnot.
Shinkansen to Kyoto day 5 coming next ^^