Japan: Days 3 & 4
Sooo muuuuch walking
San... Started the day off my taking a stroll through the Imperial Palace. The place is big as to be expected but there really wasn't much going on. A lot of planted gardens that really weren't that fantastical except for the pond that had koi in it. Overall it was nice but pretty uneventful.
Harajuku was next. As it was Sunday I was hoping to see some cosplayers or at least a lot of awesome fashion but there really wasn't as much of it as I was hoping for. Then again I may have been over by the station a bit too early for the bulk of them to start gathering. Oh well. I did get to see a few people all up in their lolita and such.
So theres this one pedestrian street in Harajuku where all the young people action is and omg is it packed on Sundays. So many people.... so many attractive people D8 That street is amazing. They have like everything you could want... well... not really but it has a lot. I went into one shop that was pretty much all posters and merchandise of japanese celebrities. ARASHI EVERYWHERE. Might I add that my powers of observation are amazing. The system they had for the store was great. The posters were lined up all over the walls and such and each had a code number on them. They had little cards with pens for people to take and jot down the code of the poster they wanted which they then gave to the cashier which is a little room at the back where all the posters are organized. Very good idea especially for a place where shoplifting could easily happen though Im pretty sure Japan doesn't have as big a shoplifting problem as America does.
Forgot to mention, on the way to this street I passed by Johnny's... now I'll be honest, I have no idea what exactly went on in this place but it was certainly attracting a lot of girls and they had signs for NO PHOTOS... I took one anyway since it was just the building front.
So from Harajuku we went to Shibuya where we didn't really do anything aside from take a picture of Hachiko and listen to this Japanese Patriot shout about something... he said America a few times so I can only imagine he didn't like me 8<
After that we got lost after trying to find a sword museum which by the way was kind of not that awesome since I didnt know what any of the swords were cause of the amazing language barrier... yaaaay. Other than that the swords were cool... lol. But yes back to us getting a bit lost. We weren't like, lost as in we couldn't get back to our hotel lost, it was like... where the fuck is this goddamn museum and why does this map fail so hardcore. This guy came up to me and asked if I needed any direction (Im going to assume he was an American or Canadian that moved to Japan since he said the museum was in his neighborhood) He told up that it was hard to find so that made us feel better since my mom and I are usually pretty good at reading maps. We ended up getting a bit turned around on our way back to the subway station but meh, it wasn't too hard to finally get to a subway and on our way back to the other side of Tokyo.
Went to Akihabara again lolol FINALLY found the new Gundam Cafe and omg is it popular. There was a mass of people waiting outside to get in so needless to say I didn't go in. Went to this one place that claims to be the Tokyo Anime Center. It had a display of that new soccer anime... I know nothing about it so... yeah. They were selling a bunch of other random merch too. Didn't buy anything cause it was mostly stuff that I've seen before and just didn't have any real desire for OR I didn't know the series *shrug*
Ate food near our hotel and sat next to a drinking party. They acted like they were right out of a manga... like seriously to the T. I was surprised the scenes I've read in manga were so accurate lawl xD Then again I dont really hang around Americans who have drinking parties so my knowledge is little. Anyway day ends shortly after this...
Yon... Today we went to Nikko which for those who dont know is not in Tokyo so we had to take the Shinkansen and a local train to get there. Nikko is home of Tokugawa Ieyasu's grave... so sorry Date but I was all up in Ieyasu's place today 8P
The place was like a mile away from the train station and the site itself isn't small either so we did a lot of walking today as well. As far as historical sites go, this one was definitely my favorite so far. It was really beautiful and omg so greeeen. Just lovely. The only thing not so lovely was all the construction/resoration going on as well as the children... so many children! There were like school trips galore today or something 8| I'm not a fan of people crowding these kinds of places. I love my photos to have no people in them but no such luck do I have here ;;OTL
Nothing too eventful here, though I would like to note that their steamed pork buns had the Tokugawa family crest on them and that made me 8D for some reason. I'm weird shut up 8P
We go back to Tokyo after a long day of waaalking and waaalking so we decide to just find a place to each at the Tokyo Station... man this station is huge. We each at a typical japanese restuarant that had mostly tempura but I got Yakitori...I worry about which parts of the chicken I ate but Im trying not to think about it 8X After dinner I got one of those fish shaped pastries... I forgot what they're called D8 Either way... UMAI.
So now I'm back at the hotel and its only almost 8:30PM but we gotta get up for a train to Sendai tomorrow so it should be a lot like today I think. Tokugawa today, Date tomorrow 8) Sengoku everywheeereee lolol
Oh and I forgot to note before, I'm writing on a tiny netbook so if the pictures ond/or formating are all wonky... sorry 8P
San... Started the day off my taking a stroll through the Imperial Palace. The place is big as to be expected but there really wasn't much going on. A lot of planted gardens that really weren't that fantastical except for the pond that had koi in it. Overall it was nice but pretty uneventful.
Harajuku was next. As it was Sunday I was hoping to see some cosplayers or at least a lot of awesome fashion but there really wasn't as much of it as I was hoping for. Then again I may have been over by the station a bit too early for the bulk of them to start gathering. Oh well. I did get to see a few people all up in their lolita and such.
So theres this one pedestrian street in Harajuku where all the young people action is and omg is it packed on Sundays. So many people.... so many attractive people D8 That street is amazing. They have like everything you could want... well... not really but it has a lot. I went into one shop that was pretty much all posters and merchandise of japanese celebrities. ARASHI EVERYWHERE. Might I add that my powers of observation are amazing. The system they had for the store was great. The posters were lined up all over the walls and such and each had a code number on them. They had little cards with pens for people to take and jot down the code of the poster they wanted which they then gave to the cashier which is a little room at the back where all the posters are organized. Very good idea especially for a place where shoplifting could easily happen though Im pretty sure Japan doesn't have as big a shoplifting problem as America does.
Forgot to mention, on the way to this street I passed by Johnny's... now I'll be honest, I have no idea what exactly went on in this place but it was certainly attracting a lot of girls and they had signs for NO PHOTOS... I took one anyway since it was just the building front.
So from Harajuku we went to Shibuya where we didn't really do anything aside from take a picture of Hachiko and listen to this Japanese Patriot shout about something... he said America a few times so I can only imagine he didn't like me 8<
After that we got lost after trying to find a sword museum which by the way was kind of not that awesome since I didnt know what any of the swords were cause of the amazing language barrier... yaaaay. Other than that the swords were cool... lol. But yes back to us getting a bit lost. We weren't like, lost as in we couldn't get back to our hotel lost, it was like... where the fuck is this goddamn museum and why does this map fail so hardcore. This guy came up to me and asked if I needed any direction (Im going to assume he was an American or Canadian that moved to Japan since he said the museum was in his neighborhood) He told up that it was hard to find so that made us feel better since my mom and I are usually pretty good at reading maps. We ended up getting a bit turned around on our way back to the subway station but meh, it wasn't too hard to finally get to a subway and on our way back to the other side of Tokyo.
Went to Akihabara again lolol FINALLY found the new Gundam Cafe and omg is it popular. There was a mass of people waiting outside to get in so needless to say I didn't go in. Went to this one place that claims to be the Tokyo Anime Center. It had a display of that new soccer anime... I know nothing about it so... yeah. They were selling a bunch of other random merch too. Didn't buy anything cause it was mostly stuff that I've seen before and just didn't have any real desire for OR I didn't know the series *shrug*
Ate food near our hotel and sat next to a drinking party. They acted like they were right out of a manga... like seriously to the T. I was surprised the scenes I've read in manga were so accurate lawl xD Then again I dont really hang around Americans who have drinking parties so my knowledge is little. Anyway day ends shortly after this...
Yon... Today we went to Nikko which for those who dont know is not in Tokyo so we had to take the Shinkansen and a local train to get there. Nikko is home of Tokugawa Ieyasu's grave... so sorry Date but I was all up in Ieyasu's place today 8P
The place was like a mile away from the train station and the site itself isn't small either so we did a lot of walking today as well. As far as historical sites go, this one was definitely my favorite so far. It was really beautiful and omg so greeeen. Just lovely. The only thing not so lovely was all the construction/resoration going on as well as the children... so many children! There were like school trips galore today or something 8| I'm not a fan of people crowding these kinds of places. I love my photos to have no people in them but no such luck do I have here ;;OTL
Nothing too eventful here, though I would like to note that their steamed pork buns had the Tokugawa family crest on them and that made me 8D for some reason. I'm weird shut up 8P
We go back to Tokyo after a long day of waaalking and waaalking so we decide to just find a place to each at the Tokyo Station... man this station is huge. We each at a typical japanese restuarant that had mostly tempura but I got Yakitori...I worry about which parts of the chicken I ate but Im trying not to think about it 8X After dinner I got one of those fish shaped pastries... I forgot what they're called D8 Either way... UMAI.
So now I'm back at the hotel and its only almost 8:30PM but we gotta get up for a train to Sendai tomorrow so it should be a lot like today I think. Tokugawa today, Date tomorrow 8) Sengoku everywheeereee lolol
Oh and I forgot to note before, I'm writing on a tiny netbook so if the pictures ond/or formating are all wonky... sorry 8P