2nd day in Japan!
Current time and location: International Hostel, Wednesday 1042 pm
Today has been a busy day! i feel like I've been to almost everywhere in Tokyo just within today LOL and tomorrow, it's gonna be a long day at Budoukan~~~ let's see...the places where I went to today: Asakusa --> Akihabara --> Imperial Palace --> Nippon Budoukan --> Ginza
Early in the morning, when I was using the net, I met an Australian guy who happens to be traveling around in Japan, and so we decided to hang out together since he's free and I'm free and we both aren't very familarized with the places around here, but two heads' better than one XD he helped me out quite a lot, especially in the transportation part cos I'm absolutely hopeless in finding directions and also I managed to discover the existence of the Pasmo card, which is SO MUCH MORE CONVENIENT OMG! it's like a metro card that saves A LOT OF TROUBLE from buying train tickets at different stations...
First stop: Asakusa. it was unexpectedly near though it looks further from the map, but after a few train stops we reached there already~ it's pretty easy to find too so it was all pretty smooth XD
Entrance of Asakusa. there's quite a great number of people even though it was like 930 am in the morning...okay maybe that's not really early X'D
Asakusa had really lots of souvenir shops and apparently pretty cheap~ so i practically bought almost all the souvenirs I need within that one area within today lol mainly bought keychains that's sort of characteristic of Asakusa. I also bought 2 charms, one that's for studies for myself and one that's for health for my grandmother. I also bought some snacks that's like 3boxes for 1000yen, which was a great price. right so I practically finished buying souvenirs already and it's only the 2nd day XD I "prayed" in the temple as well. but I wasn't sure if the gods understand english (I know this is a VERY LAME thing) so I tried thinking in Japanese but my brain might be too messed up still >.> then when i went to get a "fortune" card or prediction, and it came out as BAD FORTUNE orz...that's soooo depressing...the worst thing is that those are stuff that sounds like they really might happen ORZ....there were stuff like: you might not get things your way even though u try hard at them, the person you're waiting for won't come, studies might be bad, employment won't come easy, and basically it means it's not gonna be a smooth year for me orz...maybe I'll head back to Asakusa again some day just to see if my fortune changed...so because it's kinda of bad fortune, the custom is to tie the paper around a certain stick or line whatever you call it and pray for good luck that will change your fortune...I hope everything will be good tomorrow...
Food I had there: Tako-yaki and another -yaki thing that slips my mind...the one shaped in a fish...I forgot to take pictures orz...the tako-yaki tasted pretty different from the ones i had in Singapore...I liked the sauce and the floss...for some reason, the floss was not salty and very easy to eat, as in the taste is really appealing. it's soo hot though that i kinda burned myself...the fish-yaki thing was kinda tasteless, cos maybe i asked for the ham and cheese one. the outer later tastes good though because it's not so sweet, but the filling's really plain.
After Asakusa, I wanted to head to budoukan since I don't really have other plans but first we went to take a look at this:
this is the Asahi beer brewery. It's a really interesting building though we can't enter because the industry is not open to public. we can only stand outside and look at the interesting design which was kinda sad orz
On the way to Budoukan, we decided to stop by at the Imperial Palace since it's nearer to Tokoyo station and Budoukan was near anyway. and on the way on the train, we thought it'll be good to stop by at Akihabara since the guy's been there and knows that place well enough not to get lost and I wanted to visit too, so we went:
pretty much this kind of feeling. We went to the main electric store and man there were sooo many cool gadgets over there. First of I, I got an adapter for my charger, that's why I'm using my computer freely now XD we went to every floor actually but we stayed the longest in the earphones, headphones section. I really really REALLY loved some of the headphones there and I was so tempted to buy them >^< I think I will...they're so comfortable, they cover the entire ear, and it wasn't so expensive either...also there were some really cool earphones that i wanted to buy as well, but then I decided i shouldn't buy much for the time being...maybe I'll buy after I spent like 60% of my money on Alice Nine's tour goods ^^'' then after that we went briefly to some other shops...didn't stay long cos even though I'm an anime fan, I'm really not that interested in anime merchandise... but there were interesting erotic items available for sale LOL I might come back again to check out other stuff that's cool~ saw some K-on manjus lol XD also along the way, saw a gundam cafe lol
didn't go inside and probably won't anyway since I'm not a huge fan of gundam. or rather, I don't even know much about gundam haha~
After Akihabara, we went to the Imperial Palace, stopping at the Tokyo station. The imperial Palace was quite a contrast to the city landscape in the background. The palace is surrounded by a moat, and there's of course no tall buildings in that area. it's also surrounded by greenary and old structures that dates way back in Japan history.
the moat~
some unknown building part of the palace I guess~ only the east gardens was open to public so there wasnt much to see there. but it was kind of nice to see a change in scenary i guess~
Budoukan was apparently pretty near. It was within another garden which i can't really remember the name. the place was still pretty empty with no one around lol. I wonder what it'll be like tomorrow XD soooo excited XDD
After that, we decided to head to ginza. basically we were heading ot the major stations on hte map. and since he knows Ginza pretty well, it won't hurt to head there anyway XD
first thing we did in ginza was to find food lol. by then it was already 3pm and we haven't had lunch lol. we managed to find a relatively cheap ramen store which regretably, I forgot to take photos of....orz it was the vending machine kind of ramen store and it's my first time using it so it's pretty cool. we both ordered a self-made ramen, self-made as in you choose your own ingredients. they gave us an english menu so that's really helpful ^^"" even if I can read Japanese, I still can't understand the meaning behind all the ingredients haha...the ramen tasted okay i guess...i still have no idea how really good ramen taste like...I love the chili they put and the noodles itself, but the stock was kinda too salty for me~~~ I'll prob be visiting more ramen places XD speaking of which, because we ate lunch sooo late, we didn't have dinner lol
Okay, one important note about ginza is that it's VERY HIGH-END! all the brands that i know and not know were there O_O Chanel, Prada, LV, DIor, Gucchi....you name it...O: and because of that, everything was soo expensive...
the street of GInza...can't really see the shop signs well cos my camera is pretty bad with night views >.> people dress more elegantly here according to him and if I go to Shibuya, I'll see a different style of fashion...that's interesting, I guess I'll see for myself how it is when i get there XD there were some cool buildings there, the coolest being the Sony building...damn, I'm not a huge electronics fan but that place got me fired up...first few floors were 3D TV and glasses and that was awesome enough...then further up, there's the cameras....the smallest camera that uses the adjustable lens O_O...i was sooo amazed by that I keep playing with it...if i have the money I'll so buy it >< anyway, that was an amazing place...another amazing shop i went to was Abercombie and Firch, a new york brand which i just learned of today orz...it's a 11 floor building and apparently staff there were required to know English to work there. they great people with "How's it going" or something like that, I kinda forgot. but anyway the shop was so clubby lol. they had english club songs on, and the employees were dressed in normal street clothes, the entire shop was dark, and there's a cologne fragance on every floor. it was one of the coolest clothes shop i've ever seen XD the clothes itself weren't something that's my style but the shop...NICE!
after that we went to a cafe to chill...except that place's high end, so we can only get some simple stuff like a cup of coffee. for me i got royal milk tea which looks like:
the teacups they used were really quaint and very english-style...the whole place was pretty English-style and the ambience was nice too~ we talked for quite some time on random stuff and then head back...he paid for my share which I really feel bad for >^< but well...
anyway, it's been an accomplished day! Tomorrow is finally THE DAY >^< I'm sooo looking forward to it....and damn it, I still havent wrote the messages for the members ORZ.....maybe I'll find time tomorrow...good thing i traveled so much today cos i'm tired and i think i can fall asleep with no problem ^^''
オK！明日の武道館ライブ楽しみにしています＾＾
Today has been a busy day! i feel like I've been to almost everywhere in Tokyo just within today LOL and tomorrow, it's gonna be a long day at Budoukan~~~ let's see...the places where I went to today: Asakusa --> Akihabara --> Imperial Palace --> Nippon Budoukan --> Ginza
Early in the morning, when I was using the net, I met an Australian guy who happens to be traveling around in Japan, and so we decided to hang out together since he's free and I'm free and we both aren't very familarized with the places around here, but two heads' better than one XD he helped me out quite a lot, especially in the transportation part cos I'm absolutely hopeless in finding directions and also I managed to discover the existence of the Pasmo card, which is SO MUCH MORE CONVENIENT OMG! it's like a metro card that saves A LOT OF TROUBLE from buying train tickets at different stations...
First stop: Asakusa. it was unexpectedly near though it looks further from the map, but after a few train stops we reached there already~ it's pretty easy to find too so it was all pretty smooth XD
Entrance of Asakusa. there's quite a great number of people even though it was like 930 am in the morning...okay maybe that's not really early X'D
Asakusa had really lots of souvenir shops and apparently pretty cheap~ so i practically bought almost all the souvenirs I need within that one area within today lol mainly bought keychains that's sort of characteristic of Asakusa. I also bought 2 charms, one that's for studies for myself and one that's for health for my grandmother. I also bought some snacks that's like 3boxes for 1000yen, which was a great price. right so I practically finished buying souvenirs already and it's only the 2nd day XD I "prayed" in the temple as well. but I wasn't sure if the gods understand english (I know this is a VERY LAME thing) so I tried thinking in Japanese but my brain might be too messed up still >.> then when i went to get a "fortune" card or prediction, and it came out as BAD FORTUNE orz...that's soooo depressing...the worst thing is that those are stuff that sounds like they really might happen ORZ....there were stuff like: you might not get things your way even though u try hard at them, the person you're waiting for won't come, studies might be bad, employment won't come easy, and basically it means it's not gonna be a smooth year for me orz...maybe I'll head back to Asakusa again some day just to see if my fortune changed...so because it's kinda of bad fortune, the custom is to tie the paper around a certain stick or line whatever you call it and pray for good luck that will change your fortune...I hope everything will be good tomorrow...
Food I had there: Tako-yaki and another -yaki thing that slips my mind...the one shaped in a fish...I forgot to take pictures orz...the tako-yaki tasted pretty different from the ones i had in Singapore...I liked the sauce and the floss...for some reason, the floss was not salty and very easy to eat, as in the taste is really appealing. it's soo hot though that i kinda burned myself...the fish-yaki thing was kinda tasteless, cos maybe i asked for the ham and cheese one. the outer later tastes good though because it's not so sweet, but the filling's really plain.
After Asakusa, I wanted to head to budoukan since I don't really have other plans but first we went to take a look at this:
this is the Asahi beer brewery. It's a really interesting building though we can't enter because the industry is not open to public. we can only stand outside and look at the interesting design which was kinda sad orz
On the way to Budoukan, we decided to stop by at the Imperial Palace since it's nearer to Tokoyo station and Budoukan was near anyway. and on the way on the train, we thought it'll be good to stop by at Akihabara since the guy's been there and knows that place well enough not to get lost and I wanted to visit too, so we went:
pretty much this kind of feeling. We went to the main electric store and man there were sooo many cool gadgets over there. First of I, I got an adapter for my charger, that's why I'm using my computer freely now XD we went to every floor actually but we stayed the longest in the earphones, headphones section. I really really REALLY loved some of the headphones there and I was so tempted to buy them >^< I think I will...they're so comfortable, they cover the entire ear, and it wasn't so expensive either...also there were some really cool earphones that i wanted to buy as well, but then I decided i shouldn't buy much for the time being...maybe I'll buy after I spent like 60% of my money on Alice Nine's tour goods ^^'' then after that we went briefly to some other shops...didn't stay long cos even though I'm an anime fan, I'm really not that interested in anime merchandise... but there were interesting erotic items available for sale LOL I might come back again to check out other stuff that's cool~ saw some K-on manjus lol XD also along the way, saw a gundam cafe lol
didn't go inside and probably won't anyway since I'm not a huge fan of gundam. or rather, I don't even know much about gundam haha~
After Akihabara, we went to the Imperial Palace, stopping at the Tokyo station. The imperial Palace was quite a contrast to the city landscape in the background. The palace is surrounded by a moat, and there's of course no tall buildings in that area. it's also surrounded by greenary and old structures that dates way back in Japan history.
the moat~
some unknown building part of the palace I guess~ only the east gardens was open to public so there wasnt much to see there. but it was kind of nice to see a change in scenary i guess~
Budoukan was apparently pretty near. It was within another garden which i can't really remember the name. the place was still pretty empty with no one around lol. I wonder what it'll be like tomorrow XD soooo excited XDD
After that, we decided to head to ginza. basically we were heading ot the major stations on hte map. and since he knows Ginza pretty well, it won't hurt to head there anyway XD
first thing we did in ginza was to find food lol. by then it was already 3pm and we haven't had lunch lol. we managed to find a relatively cheap ramen store which regretably, I forgot to take photos of....orz it was the vending machine kind of ramen store and it's my first time using it so it's pretty cool. we both ordered a self-made ramen, self-made as in you choose your own ingredients. they gave us an english menu so that's really helpful ^^"" even if I can read Japanese, I still can't understand the meaning behind all the ingredients haha...the ramen tasted okay i guess...i still have no idea how really good ramen taste like...I love the chili they put and the noodles itself, but the stock was kinda too salty for me~~~ I'll prob be visiting more ramen places XD speaking of which, because we ate lunch sooo late, we didn't have dinner lol
Okay, one important note about ginza is that it's VERY HIGH-END! all the brands that i know and not know were there O_O Chanel, Prada, LV, DIor, Gucchi....you name it...O: and because of that, everything was soo expensive...
the street of GInza...can't really see the shop signs well cos my camera is pretty bad with night views >.> people dress more elegantly here according to him and if I go to Shibuya, I'll see a different style of fashion...that's interesting, I guess I'll see for myself how it is when i get there XD there were some cool buildings there, the coolest being the Sony building...damn, I'm not a huge electronics fan but that place got me fired up...first few floors were 3D TV and glasses and that was awesome enough...then further up, there's the cameras....the smallest camera that uses the adjustable lens O_O...i was sooo amazed by that I keep playing with it...if i have the money I'll so buy it >< anyway, that was an amazing place...another amazing shop i went to was Abercombie and Firch, a new york brand which i just learned of today orz...it's a 11 floor building and apparently staff there were required to know English to work there. they great people with "How's it going" or something like that, I kinda forgot. but anyway the shop was so clubby lol. they had english club songs on, and the employees were dressed in normal street clothes, the entire shop was dark, and there's a cologne fragance on every floor. it was one of the coolest clothes shop i've ever seen XD the clothes itself weren't something that's my style but the shop...NICE!
after that we went to a cafe to chill...except that place's high end, so we can only get some simple stuff like a cup of coffee. for me i got royal milk tea which looks like:
the teacups they used were really quaint and very english-style...the whole place was pretty English-style and the ambience was nice too~ we talked for quite some time on random stuff and then head back...he paid for my share which I really feel bad for >^< but well...
anyway, it's been an accomplished day! Tomorrow is finally THE DAY >^< I'm sooo looking forward to it....and damn it, I still havent wrote the messages for the members ORZ.....maybe I'll find time tomorrow...good thing i traveled so much today cos i'm tired and i think i can fall asleep with no problem ^^''
オK！明日の武道館ライブ楽しみにしています＾＾