Tokyo: Day 8
Sunday, August 15
Sunday morning I woke up early-ish and went out to Harajuku to get my hair cut with Szuwei and Yao. We wandered around a bit looking for a salon, and eventually Yao asked her friend to check for cheap places in the area, since Szuwei felt that her 6500yen haircut was a bit unreasonable. We found the place Yao's friend suggested, and Szuwei and I both got our hair cut! For only 3500yen!
Then we went to a famous オムライス cafe to have rice wrapped in a fried egg and covered in delicious sauce. It was really crowded, so we watched people eat really quickly. We waited for awhile before we were able to eat... After lunch we wandered down towards Kiddy Land (and Szuwei stopped at Condomania) and Omote-Sando. Szuwei had to leave, but Yao and I had Hello Kitty ice cream at Kiddy Land :D
There was a photo exhibit at Omote Sando that Yao and her friends wanted to see, so we went to see it and met them. They were all very daily-life type pictures, and the exhibit was quite sweet and charming. The shopping center is built in a spiral, and it's really, really pretty, so we walked back up from the basement.
Yao and I went to Meiji Jingu to see it and pay respects/offer prayers, and I bought some お守り for my friends and family. Jen wanted to meet up that evening, but they weren't ready yet, so Yao and I went to Shinjuku for dinner. She pointed out the small platform at the Harajuku JR station that used to be the Imperial Family's platform (Meiji Jingu is still associated with the Imperial Family, to some extent).
She took me to her favorite shopping places, and I stopped and looked around, then we debated over ramen or okonomiyaki and went with the latter. It was a real okonomiyaki place, where you make your own, so we had normal okonomiyaki and then the Tokyo variety monjayaki. Monjayaki is not as solid as regular okonomiyaki, and has a thin sauce in it. Yao took her job making it quite seriously :D It turned out really well, but I'm not a fan of monjayaki.
After dinner we went to Tokyo Tower to meet Jen and friends, but they were running late and it didn't seem like they would make it before the Tower closed. So Yao and I went on our own. The view is gorgeous, even from the first level viewing deck. You can pay twice as much to go all the way to the top, but Yao and I didn't really feel like we needed to do that. We also saw sumo wrestlers there!
Yao wasn't feeling well, so we didn't some omiyage shopping very quickly and then I put her on a train home, while I went to Shibuya to meet Jen and friends for karaoke. Jen, Gameli, their friend, and one of the other girls from Hakodate were all there... since Sini and I were dependent on the trains, we could only karaoke for an hour and a half or so, but we had drinks and a delicious sweet toast dessert!
I made it on the last train back to Akasaka Mitsuke (: The last train is kind of scary sometimes.
Sunday morning I woke up early-ish and went out to Harajuku to get my hair cut with Szuwei and Yao. We wandered around a bit looking for a salon, and eventually Yao asked her friend to check for cheap places in the area, since Szuwei felt that her 6500yen haircut was a bit unreasonable. We found the place Yao's friend suggested, and Szuwei and I both got our hair cut! For only 3500yen!
Then we went to a famous オムライス cafe to have rice wrapped in a fried egg and covered in delicious sauce. It was really crowded, so we watched people eat really quickly. We waited for awhile before we were able to eat... After lunch we wandered down towards Kiddy Land (and Szuwei stopped at Condomania) and Omote-Sando. Szuwei had to leave, but Yao and I had Hello Kitty ice cream at Kiddy Land :D
There was a photo exhibit at Omote Sando that Yao and her friends wanted to see, so we went to see it and met them. They were all very daily-life type pictures, and the exhibit was quite sweet and charming. The shopping center is built in a spiral, and it's really, really pretty, so we walked back up from the basement.
Yao and I went to Meiji Jingu to see it and pay respects/offer prayers, and I bought some お守り for my friends and family. Jen wanted to meet up that evening, but they weren't ready yet, so Yao and I went to Shinjuku for dinner. She pointed out the small platform at the Harajuku JR station that used to be the Imperial Family's platform (Meiji Jingu is still associated with the Imperial Family, to some extent).
She took me to her favorite shopping places, and I stopped and looked around, then we debated over ramen or okonomiyaki and went with the latter. It was a real okonomiyaki place, where you make your own, so we had normal okonomiyaki and then the Tokyo variety monjayaki. Monjayaki is not as solid as regular okonomiyaki, and has a thin sauce in it. Yao took her job making it quite seriously :D It turned out really well, but I'm not a fan of monjayaki.
After dinner we went to Tokyo Tower to meet Jen and friends, but they were running late and it didn't seem like they would make it before the Tower closed. So Yao and I went on our own. The view is gorgeous, even from the first level viewing deck. You can pay twice as much to go all the way to the top, but Yao and I didn't really feel like we needed to do that. We also saw sumo wrestlers there!
Yao wasn't feeling well, so we didn't some omiyage shopping very quickly and then I put her on a train home, while I went to Shibuya to meet Jen and friends for karaoke. Jen, Gameli, their friend, and one of the other girls from Hakodate were all there... since Sini and I were dependent on the trains, we could only karaoke for an hour and a half or so, but we had drinks and a delicious sweet toast dessert!
I made it on the last train back to Akasaka Mitsuke (: The last train is kind of scary sometimes.