These are all entries that I wasn't able to post due to crappy internet. I have also expanded on some of them because I am not as tired as I was when originally writing them.
Today we traveled to Arashiyama. It was a little bit cloudy but it didn't look like it was going to rain which was a good thing. Arashiyama is a very pretty area with a river and many scenic paths, shops and walkways. Several of us walked down the river for a bit. We saw several heron and a lot of koi. Beautiful Japanese boats floated up and down the river propelled by men with long sticks that reached down to the river bed. On the path alongside us men in funny shoes pulled rickshaws with one or two passengers.
We had heard of a monkey park in Arashiyama and set out to find it. A person pointed us across the bridge. We followed the road there and soon saw signs marking the direction of the monkey park. We climbed a small hill and found the entrance to the park. It was 500 yen to get in, but Marietta negotiated with the lady and since we had 7 people it was only 250 each. Marietta rules.
Once again, we were in for a climb to get up to the place where the monkeys were. It took a good 20 minutes to climb up to the top of this small mountain. Once we got close we could see monkeys swinging in the trees above us! We got excited. At the top there were tons of monkeys! They were everywhere frolicking, picking bugs off each other, climbing. They would run right past us and we could go right up to them. We also had a great view of Kyoto from this peak, this setting was great.
We went up to the top of the monkey park and sat for a few minutes. All of the sudden this monkey started walking towards Annalise and growling at her then coming at her! She got up and screamed and ran and it stopped. She was scared! Then another monkey chased after Taylor. We had enough of being at the top. We started going down. I will never forget Marietta trying to stay calm saying, "I am a little bit scared right now." HAHA! oh man it was great.
We took a ton of pictures and for one right before we left Marietta bent down and reached her hand towards a little baby monkey. The monkey reached and gently grabbed her finger and I got the perfect picture capturing the moment! It was amazing.
Heading down the mountain we found a playground with a zipline that we all tried. We were al entertained by the playground. We then made it all the way down and headed for the bamboo forest trail. We got lost trying to get there but it was beautiful when we walked through it.
We headed back to the hotel and I took a short nap... about 2 hours. After that Annalise and I went to get some food at Nakau on Sanjo street. (Na-ka-u-te, oh oh oh oh oh! Gohan o tabeyo!) It was the cheapest and easiest transaction meal I had eaten the whole trip.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
May 26, Mt. Hiei
Today's entry might be a bit shorter because I am COMPLETELY exhausted AND I need to do my topic presentation about why the Japanese population keeps getting smaller.
Well today was an adventure. That's for sure. After class we went to Mt. Hiei. No one had been here before and we started off the journey in the wrong way. We paid 300 yen to get in to this place where there were a few little temples and shrines when we really wanted to go to the top of Mt. Hiei. The lady at the gate didn't speak any English...
The shrines that we saw were cool and very pretty. There was also a waterfall that had some freshwater crabs at the bottom. That was something I had never seen before. When we found out the way to climb the mountain was the other way, we exited the park area and headed up a giant staircase. I led the way and took off ahead in front of the group. The staircase took about 10 minutes and after the staircase was a big winding uphill road. After the road was another staircase that took about 10 minutes to climb. By this time I had waited a few minutes and Ryan caught up to me. The rest of the group was way behind. I figured we were had made some significant progress and were getting close but I jokingly yelled back at the group, "We're not even halfway there!" They all groaned and were like, "Are you serious!?" They were all pretty tired.
Past the second staircase was a winding path through the forest. Ryan and I were far ahead of the rest, traveling at a brisk pace. We kept going for 30 minutes and said to each other, there's no way anyone else is gonna make it this far. We were un-phased by the mountain and kept going. We found this hotel/nice building and there was a nice view from there. About 30 minutes later, an hour and a half into the hike, we reached a temple. At the temple there was a huge bronze bell that you could strike with a swinging log. Me and Ryan both hit it and it was awesome. The bell kept ringing and reverberating the entire time we were there. We found a map of the mountain to figure out how close we were to the top... We were about 1/3 of the way up. Wow. Welp we needed to get some water because we had a heck of a hike ahead of us. We asked a man working there if there was any place to get water and he led us to one of the shrines. There was a little stream of water trickling out of a bronze dragon's mouth. Ryan filled up his water bottle...slowly...and we both took a drink out of it and he filled it up again. We then asked the man about the best way to go to get to the top and he looked at us like we were crazy and laughed. He was thinking, "Crazy gaijin trying to hike to the top..."
On we went with some fresh sacred water of the dragon. We continued past shrines that hadn't been maintained or attended to in what looked like years. Past overgrown gardens, grave markers. We kept going for another hour and a half. We finally reached a peak where there was nowhere to go but down. But there wasn't a shrine and garden like it said on the map... It was just a few radio towers... We must have made it to the wrong peak...
So we started heading down. But going down, it didn't look familiar... We got to a big clearing with all these trees with long branchless trunks and we knew we were lost. We jokingly started discussing survival tactics which we both enjoyed and hoped we might have to use someday. We kept going down for another 20 minutes and saw a road. We had to scale a pretty steep cliff and then hop a fence to make it to the road. We then walked down this winding road for 10 or so minutes until we came to a bus stop. I was able to make out the schedule in Japanese, and the bus had stopped coming an hour earlier...
At this point the thought of hitchhiking was a very realistic and preferable option. We sat down at the bus stop for a bit to recuperate and then we continued down the road. We found a parking lot and an old man was walking past us. We knew there was a cable car that went up and down the mountain and asked him where that was. He told us it was closed and offered us a ride in his car. We quickly jumped in! He drove us for a half hour down the mountain and to the closest JR station. We were extremely grateful to him.
We headed back to the hotel where I am now. I am going to do my topic presentation and go to bed!!!
Well today was an adventure. That's for sure. After class we went to Mt. Hiei. No one had been here before and we started off the journey in the wrong way. We paid 300 yen to get in to this place where there were a few little temples and shrines when we really wanted to go to the top of Mt. Hiei. The lady at the gate didn't speak any English...
The shrines that we saw were cool and very pretty. There was also a waterfall that had some freshwater crabs at the bottom. That was something I had never seen before. When we found out the way to climb the mountain was the other way, we exited the park area and headed up a giant staircase. I led the way and took off ahead in front of the group. The staircase took about 10 minutes and after the staircase was a big winding uphill road. After the road was another staircase that took about 10 minutes to climb. By this time I had waited a few minutes and Ryan caught up to me. The rest of the group was way behind. I figured we were had made some significant progress and were getting close but I jokingly yelled back at the group, "We're not even halfway there!" They all groaned and were like, "Are you serious!?" They were all pretty tired.
Past the second staircase was a winding path through the forest. Ryan and I were far ahead of the rest, traveling at a brisk pace. We kept going for 30 minutes and said to each other, there's no way anyone else is gonna make it this far. We were un-phased by the mountain and kept going. We found this hotel/nice building and there was a nice view from there. About 30 minutes later, an hour and a half into the hike, we reached a temple. At the temple there was a huge bronze bell that you could strike with a swinging log. Me and Ryan both hit it and it was awesome. The bell kept ringing and reverberating the entire time we were there. We found a map of the mountain to figure out how close we were to the top... We were about 1/3 of the way up. Wow. Welp we needed to get some water because we had a heck of a hike ahead of us. We asked a man working there if there was any place to get water and he led us to one of the shrines. There was a little stream of water trickling out of a bronze dragon's mouth. Ryan filled up his water bottle...slowly...and we both took a drink out of it and he filled it up again. We then asked the man about the best way to go to get to the top and he looked at us like we were crazy and laughed. He was thinking, "Crazy gaijin trying to hike to the top..."
On we went with some fresh sacred water of the dragon. We continued past shrines that hadn't been maintained or attended to in what looked like years. Past overgrown gardens, grave markers. We kept going for another hour and a half. We finally reached a peak where there was nowhere to go but down. But there wasn't a shrine and garden like it said on the map... It was just a few radio towers... We must have made it to the wrong peak...
So we started heading down. But going down, it didn't look familiar... We got to a big clearing with all these trees with long branchless trunks and we knew we were lost. We jokingly started discussing survival tactics which we both enjoyed and hoped we might have to use someday. We kept going down for another 20 minutes and saw a road. We had to scale a pretty steep cliff and then hop a fence to make it to the road. We then walked down this winding road for 10 or so minutes until we came to a bus stop. I was able to make out the schedule in Japanese, and the bus had stopped coming an hour earlier...
At this point the thought of hitchhiking was a very realistic and preferable option. We sat down at the bus stop for a bit to recuperate and then we continued down the road. We found a parking lot and an old man was walking past us. We knew there was a cable car that went up and down the mountain and asked him where that was. He told us it was closed and offered us a ride in his car. We quickly jumped in! He drove us for a half hour down the mountain and to the closest JR station. We were extremely grateful to him.
We headed back to the hotel where I am now. I am going to do my topic presentation and go to bed!!!
May 25 Free Day
Today after class the kind doctors let us go on account that everyone is very tired from their respectable weekend adventures. A few of us headed to to do a walk that is in our required 3rd year writing book. On the way there we got really lost and confused on the subway and had no idea how to get to the one that we wanted to go to. So instead we picked Yasaka Shrine which was closer.
We walked through the streets of Kyoto to the entrance of the park. It had Torii gates and foxes just like the Inarii. We walked through and it was very pretty. Nothing that we hadn't seen before though, shrines and smaller temples. We then got to the central area which the main attraction is this giant cherry tree, perched up on a small hill. It is very old and in the spring when the cherry blossoms bloom it is apparently extremely beautiful and people travel from all over to see it.
We stopped for a quick bite to eat at a little shop near the tree. I got some chestnut flavored soft serve ice cream and like usual it was delicious. Past the cherry tree there was a little pond with tons of koi and turtles. They were so used to people feeding them that if you put your hand down near the water they would start gathering around it! I had fun there for a few minutes and we moved on.
The map in the book was not very good or accurate...and we didn't really know where we were going. We got lost for sure and just started wandering down a street. We came to a giant cemetery with thousands of small shrines! The Japanese cremate their dead, but they have stone shrines and headstones in large cemeteries. This one was enormous and it went up a hillside. We all decided we wanted to trek to the top of it. It was like a maze and you would be on a path that would just suddenly end. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the top and it was worth it. We had a great view of Kyoto and the whole gravesite. It was beautiful and I took some really good pictures including my favorite of the trip so far, the Buddha.
The gravesite wasn't part of the path we were supposed to be on, but it was a great experience nonetheless. We headed back down to leave the gravesite and when we got to the bottom, the gate was closed and locked! We looked for other ways to get out when we ran into a police officer who kindly and cordially unlocked the gate for us.
By this time we were all VERY hungry. We headed to one of our favorite locations, Sanjo street, and ate dinner at a traditional Japanese place where we took off our shoes. It was a really enjoyable atmosphere and there was a little creek flowing through the restaurant, very nice. After that we headed back to our hotel.
I am feeling a little crammed right now. I have been doing so much every day leaving me exhausted. I usually fall asleep at around 9 while doing my journaling then wake up at 12 and get up to brush my teeth and go back to bed. I have my presentations soon but the internet hasn't been working...and that combined with the fact that I have no energy or time to work on them... I'll figure something out though, like I always do.
We walked through the streets of Kyoto to the entrance of the park. It had Torii gates and foxes just like the Inarii. We walked through and it was very pretty. Nothing that we hadn't seen before though, shrines and smaller temples. We then got to the central area which the main attraction is this giant cherry tree, perched up on a small hill. It is very old and in the spring when the cherry blossoms bloom it is apparently extremely beautiful and people travel from all over to see it.
We stopped for a quick bite to eat at a little shop near the tree. I got some chestnut flavored soft serve ice cream and like usual it was delicious. Past the cherry tree there was a little pond with tons of koi and turtles. They were so used to people feeding them that if you put your hand down near the water they would start gathering around it! I had fun there for a few minutes and we moved on.
The map in the book was not very good or accurate...and we didn't really know where we were going. We got lost for sure and just started wandering down a street. We came to a giant cemetery with thousands of small shrines! The Japanese cremate their dead, but they have stone shrines and headstones in large cemeteries. This one was enormous and it went up a hillside. We all decided we wanted to trek to the top of it. It was like a maze and you would be on a path that would just suddenly end. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the top and it was worth it. We had a great view of Kyoto and the whole gravesite. It was beautiful and I took some really good pictures including my favorite of the trip so far, the Buddha.
The gravesite wasn't part of the path we were supposed to be on, but it was a great experience nonetheless. We headed back down to leave the gravesite and when we got to the bottom, the gate was closed and locked! We looked for other ways to get out when we ran into a police officer who kindly and cordially unlocked the gate for us.
By this time we were all VERY hungry. We headed to one of our favorite locations, Sanjo street, and ate dinner at a traditional Japanese place where we took off our shoes. It was a really enjoyable atmosphere and there was a little creek flowing through the restaurant, very nice. After that we headed back to our hotel.
I am feeling a little crammed right now. I have been doing so much every day leaving me exhausted. I usually fall asleep at around 9 while doing my journaling then wake up at 12 and get up to brush my teeth and go back to bed. I have my presentations soon but the internet hasn't been working...and that combined with the fact that I have no energy or time to work on them... I'll figure something out though, like I always do.
May 24, Last Day in Tokyo
Today was our last day in Tokyo before heading back to Otsu. Unfortunately it was rainy and yucky outside, but not cold. We went to the Harajuku district. I was excited we would be going to Harajuku on a sunday to see some of the world famous Harajuku girls! Sunday is the day that they go all out and gather by the park.
We got off the train, umbrellas in hand, and headed to a famous meeting place for Harajuku girls. They were there, as expected, but unfortunately the rain kept many away. I got some pictures of them and then we headed to the world famous Takeshita Street. This is one of the epicenters of the fashion world. Once again it was crazy shopping. I was still yet to buy anything besides food in Japan and still in search of the sickest pair of Nikes to bring back to the states.
We split up and planned to meet at this staircase in an hour. I was off and running looking in and out of shoe stores. I walked down Takeshita street about a half mile through 7 or 8 shoe stores. I crossed a big intersection, one of the main avenues, and saw MY DREAM STORE. It was this store called Chapterworld and just about all they had were limited edition Nikes! I looked through their walls of shoes for a good 20 minutes and tried a few pairs on. It was down to this pair of high Dunks with orange and a cement bottom or a pair of high Air Force 2s that were Grey and silver elephant skin and this bright baby blue. I copped the AF2's for $126. Mission Accomplished.
After I met back up with the group we went down the main avenue. There was an H&M, Gap, lots of big stores and they had just opened a Forever 21...HOLY CRAP the line was about 100 yards long. One thing I have learned, Japanese people love standing in line. If they see its a big deal they get excited and stand in line. The longer the line is the more people want to join in! Crazy. Ryan and I journeyed to another BAPE store. It was down the super high fashion street. We walked past Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Armani, Gucci, the world famous Japanese designer Isse Miyake and when we got to the Prada building we knew we were close. The Prada store was an incredible structure. It looked like it was a giant all glass honeycomb, it was just ridiculous. Once again the BAPESTORE had an insane layout. Each one is different. The only thing I got there was an umbrella holder for free...
We all decided to leave shortly after. The rain was putting a damper on the day. So we headed back to the hotel in Shinjuku. Aaron and Brenda showed us a delicious Mexican restaurant/karaoke place. It was kind of a disaster ordering, it took forever for Taylor's food to come. You had to order using the Karaoke remote. If we didn't have Sarah's friend Masa there it would have been cataclysmic. They ended up chasing us out because we had a time limit to eat...? Even though we wanted to order more food...weird.
After eating we said our goodbyes and endless thank you's to Sarah and headed to the train station to catch the Shinkansen back to Kyoto. We all had the same feeling that Tokyo was the highlight of the trip. Coming back we felt like the trip was over and the train to Kyoto was going back home to the states. It seemed like nothing could top Tokyo. I am now exhausted and I have to give my Topic Presentation soon so I gotta start looking over that.
We got off the train, umbrellas in hand, and headed to a famous meeting place for Harajuku girls. They were there, as expected, but unfortunately the rain kept many away. I got some pictures of them and then we headed to the world famous Takeshita Street. This is one of the epicenters of the fashion world. Once again it was crazy shopping. I was still yet to buy anything besides food in Japan and still in search of the sickest pair of Nikes to bring back to the states.
We split up and planned to meet at this staircase in an hour. I was off and running looking in and out of shoe stores. I walked down Takeshita street about a half mile through 7 or 8 shoe stores. I crossed a big intersection, one of the main avenues, and saw MY DREAM STORE. It was this store called Chapterworld and just about all they had were limited edition Nikes! I looked through their walls of shoes for a good 20 minutes and tried a few pairs on. It was down to this pair of high Dunks with orange and a cement bottom or a pair of high Air Force 2s that were Grey and silver elephant skin and this bright baby blue. I copped the AF2's for $126. Mission Accomplished.
After I met back up with the group we went down the main avenue. There was an H&M, Gap, lots of big stores and they had just opened a Forever 21...HOLY CRAP the line was about 100 yards long. One thing I have learned, Japanese people love standing in line. If they see its a big deal they get excited and stand in line. The longer the line is the more people want to join in! Crazy. Ryan and I journeyed to another BAPE store. It was down the super high fashion street. We walked past Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Armani, Gucci, the world famous Japanese designer Isse Miyake and when we got to the Prada building we knew we were close. The Prada store was an incredible structure. It looked like it was a giant all glass honeycomb, it was just ridiculous. Once again the BAPESTORE had an insane layout. Each one is different. The only thing I got there was an umbrella holder for free...
We all decided to leave shortly after. The rain was putting a damper on the day. So we headed back to the hotel in Shinjuku. Aaron and Brenda showed us a delicious Mexican restaurant/karaoke place. It was kind of a disaster ordering, it took forever for Taylor's food to come. You had to order using the Karaoke remote. If we didn't have Sarah's friend Masa there it would have been cataclysmic. They ended up chasing us out because we had a time limit to eat...? Even though we wanted to order more food...weird.
After eating we said our goodbyes and endless thank you's to Sarah and headed to the train station to catch the Shinkansen back to Kyoto. We all had the same feeling that Tokyo was the highlight of the trip. Coming back we felt like the trip was over and the train to Kyoto was going back home to the states. It seemed like nothing could top Tokyo. I am now exhausted and I have to give my Topic Presentation soon so I gotta start looking over that.
May 23 Tokyo Day 2
Welp, I predicted it and I was right. Instead of waking up at 5 AM this morning we awoke just after 9 to Sarah calling the cell phone. She was at the station but couldn't find us. We were luckily able to communicate with her and she headed to meet us at our hotel. However...the plan was for Brenda and Aaron to meet us at the train station at 9 as well... and they weren't in their room when we went to check... So we had no idea where they were. The only thing we could do was hope!
After we all showered we headed out. The group really wanted some pastries for breakfast, so thats what we got. Which, by the way, is my favorite thing to eat in Japan. There are lots of little bakeries with fresh donuts, rolls and all kinds of treats, its fantastic. So after that we were off to explore Tokyo!
We went first to the electronics district where there are just hundreds of different electronics shops with their walls packed with merchandise. It was crazy and overwhelming. They don't have nice stores with big floor layouts like Best Buy. All of the shops look like what we would call "sketchy." What's different about walking the streets of Tokyo compared to other cities? TONS MORE PEOPLE. Everywhere you go its like there is some kind of big event going on. All over the electronics district there were maids... Probably because this is a big spot frequented by Otakus. I mean, the maids were everywhere. Popular stores: Anime DVD shops, J-pop stores, random crazy electronic accessory stores with unnecessarily bright florescent lighting, and PLENTY of arcades, big ones.
After the electronics district we headed to the Senso-Ji temple. One of the BIG tourist attractions in Tokyo. There was actually an article about it in the magazine on the plane. It was just as described and pictured in the magazine. Upon entering, like all temples we have visited, there were two giant guardian stautes on both sides of the entrance gate. They remind me of things out of Mortal Kombat!! There was then a long, LONG, avenue of vendors selling souvenirs, ice cream, treats and other things. Ryan and I stopped and got some soft serve ice cream, I got mandarin orange and he got rose petal. We got up to the actual temple and just as the in-flight magazine described, there was a huge bronze incense holder. It gave the place a sacred atmosphere. Smoke surrounded us and the hundreds of people passing by and our clothes absorbed the scent of the incense. Inside there were buddhist monks chanting and meditating.
We took some pictures of the temple then headed to Shibuya for some shopping. We got off the train and before we left the station we stopped on the 3rd or 4th floor and Sarah pointed out the busiest intersection in the world. Not busy from car traffic, but pedestrians. Over 1 million people a day pass through it! We watched the streets as they were clear, then when the signal to cross lit up it was flooded with bodies! You could barely see the pavement. We walked out of the station and merged into the sea crossing the intersection.
We did some shopping at the department stores but things were super expensive. Most of the group was overwhelmed by the crazy fashion styles! Ryan was lost and confused. We headed deeper into shopping territory. I swear there is an ABC Mart on every block in urban shopping environments in Japan. It is a shoe store that sells all kinds of gym shoes for guys and girls, they have crazy colors of Nikes, Reeboks, Adidas, Vans, all of the big brands. The group went into a restaurant to eat, but with so much to explore, I wasn't ready to sit down for a meal. I told them I would be back in a half hour or so and I went in search of shoes. I ventured into a few sketchy stores owned by Nigerian guys peddling resold merchandise but couldn't find any fly kicks for a reasonable price. Everything is soooo marked up here.
I met back up with the group and we continued our journey. While waiting outside a backpack store that the girls went into I saw a sign for BAPE! That was another one of my goals, to go to a BAPE store! It was just around the corner and I ran ahead of the group. There it was! I walked inside and, Ah! was i supposed to walk in here? I was standing on top of a moving shoe display! I felt like i was trodding on a beautiful display case but this was really the entrance. Clear glass with shoes moving underneath and bright LCD lights changing colors from shades of red to blue to green to purple. It was the most INSANE store layout i have ever experienced! Not only were there crazy lights, but mirrors everywhere making it look much bigger than it actually was! The cheapest t-shirt I saw was $85. Jeeeeez...
Annalise, Ryan and Sarah left to go do Karaoke with some of Sarah's friends so Marietta, Taylor, Gabrielle and I got some dessert at a restaurant. After that we walked around a while longer before getting a call from Sarah that Aaron and Brenda left a message at the front desk of the hotel with a number to contact them! So we went to a payphone and called Aaron. The plan was to meet at Roppongi at 9. We headed to Roppongi a little early so that we could explore a little before they got there. Roppongi is the touristy area with lots of bars and nightclubs. It's the only place you can find dance clubs in Japan...because they just don't dance!
We finally met up with Aaron and Brenda who were relieved to see us. We walked the streets for a bit searching for the best place to dance. We passed an arcade that I ventured in to see if they had DDR. AND THEY DID! I played a couple rounds for a few hundred yen and it worked up a sweat. Cross "DDR in Tokyo" off the bucket list! We decided to go to a GasPanic which seem to be the best places to dances. It wasn't very big but it was a lot of fun! Marietta danced with us and we all laughed watching Japanese people attempt to dance. The only bummer was that we had to leave before 12 because the trains shut down at midnight. We got back to the hotel and everyone is exhausted. Tomorrow we are going to the Harajuku district!
After we all showered we headed out. The group really wanted some pastries for breakfast, so thats what we got. Which, by the way, is my favorite thing to eat in Japan. There are lots of little bakeries with fresh donuts, rolls and all kinds of treats, its fantastic. So after that we were off to explore Tokyo!
We went first to the electronics district where there are just hundreds of different electronics shops with their walls packed with merchandise. It was crazy and overwhelming. They don't have nice stores with big floor layouts like Best Buy. All of the shops look like what we would call "sketchy." What's different about walking the streets of Tokyo compared to other cities? TONS MORE PEOPLE. Everywhere you go its like there is some kind of big event going on. All over the electronics district there were maids... Probably because this is a big spot frequented by Otakus. I mean, the maids were everywhere. Popular stores: Anime DVD shops, J-pop stores, random crazy electronic accessory stores with unnecessarily bright florescent lighting, and PLENTY of arcades, big ones.
After the electronics district we headed to the Senso-Ji temple. One of the BIG tourist attractions in Tokyo. There was actually an article about it in the magazine on the plane. It was just as described and pictured in the magazine. Upon entering, like all temples we have visited, there were two giant guardian stautes on both sides of the entrance gate. They remind me of things out of Mortal Kombat!! There was then a long, LONG, avenue of vendors selling souvenirs, ice cream, treats and other things. Ryan and I stopped and got some soft serve ice cream, I got mandarin orange and he got rose petal. We got up to the actual temple and just as the in-flight magazine described, there was a huge bronze incense holder. It gave the place a sacred atmosphere. Smoke surrounded us and the hundreds of people passing by and our clothes absorbed the scent of the incense. Inside there were buddhist monks chanting and meditating.
We took some pictures of the temple then headed to Shibuya for some shopping. We got off the train and before we left the station we stopped on the 3rd or 4th floor and Sarah pointed out the busiest intersection in the world. Not busy from car traffic, but pedestrians. Over 1 million people a day pass through it! We watched the streets as they were clear, then when the signal to cross lit up it was flooded with bodies! You could barely see the pavement. We walked out of the station and merged into the sea crossing the intersection.
We did some shopping at the department stores but things were super expensive. Most of the group was overwhelmed by the crazy fashion styles! Ryan was lost and confused. We headed deeper into shopping territory. I swear there is an ABC Mart on every block in urban shopping environments in Japan. It is a shoe store that sells all kinds of gym shoes for guys and girls, they have crazy colors of Nikes, Reeboks, Adidas, Vans, all of the big brands. The group went into a restaurant to eat, but with so much to explore, I wasn't ready to sit down for a meal. I told them I would be back in a half hour or so and I went in search of shoes. I ventured into a few sketchy stores owned by Nigerian guys peddling resold merchandise but couldn't find any fly kicks for a reasonable price. Everything is soooo marked up here.
I met back up with the group and we continued our journey. While waiting outside a backpack store that the girls went into I saw a sign for BAPE! That was another one of my goals, to go to a BAPE store! It was just around the corner and I ran ahead of the group. There it was! I walked inside and, Ah! was i supposed to walk in here? I was standing on top of a moving shoe display! I felt like i was trodding on a beautiful display case but this was really the entrance. Clear glass with shoes moving underneath and bright LCD lights changing colors from shades of red to blue to green to purple. It was the most INSANE store layout i have ever experienced! Not only were there crazy lights, but mirrors everywhere making it look much bigger than it actually was! The cheapest t-shirt I saw was $85. Jeeeeez...
Annalise, Ryan and Sarah left to go do Karaoke with some of Sarah's friends so Marietta, Taylor, Gabrielle and I got some dessert at a restaurant. After that we walked around a while longer before getting a call from Sarah that Aaron and Brenda left a message at the front desk of the hotel with a number to contact them! So we went to a payphone and called Aaron. The plan was to meet at Roppongi at 9. We headed to Roppongi a little early so that we could explore a little before they got there. Roppongi is the touristy area with lots of bars and nightclubs. It's the only place you can find dance clubs in Japan...because they just don't dance!
We finally met up with Aaron and Brenda who were relieved to see us. We walked the streets for a bit searching for the best place to dance. We passed an arcade that I ventured in to see if they had DDR. AND THEY DID! I played a couple rounds for a few hundred yen and it worked up a sweat. Cross "DDR in Tokyo" off the bucket list! We decided to go to a GasPanic which seem to be the best places to dances. It wasn't very big but it was a lot of fun! Marietta danced with us and we all laughed watching Japanese people attempt to dance. The only bummer was that we had to leave before 12 because the trains shut down at midnight. We got back to the hotel and everyone is exhausted. Tomorrow we are going to the Harajuku district!
Monday, June 8, 2009
REWIND: May 22, Tokyo
Here are some of the blogs not posted because of the lack of internet access.
Today was our first day in Tokyo. This has been a life dream of mine. I have ALWAYS wanted to come here so this is a little bit surreal. I will never forget my first moments stepping off the train. The station was so busy and we headed down the stairs and like something out of a movie, these little Japanese people started coming out of the wall on the stairs! They were station workers that were cleaning, but it was crazy, they just popped out of the wall! Tokyo was already exciting and I had been there for less than 10 seconds.
We met up with Annalise's friend Sarah - who has turned out to be the biggest blessing ever. She is a student from the US studying at one of the universities in Tokyo for a semester and she is going to be our guide this weekend. In case you didn't know, its not easy to just get around the biggest city in the world when you have no idea where to go or what to see, so we are so grateful for Sarah!
We got in at around 6 o'clock. It was about a 3 hour train ride. First things first, we got some food then headed to our hotel to drop off our bags. It was about a 15 minute ride on the train. There are many train lines around Tokyo that we would have no idea how to navigate without Sarah. Dr. Velikova reserved us a traditional "Japanese style room" which is a straw floor and 6 mats! 6 of us slept in there and Aaron and Brenda slept in a separate room with one bed...Hilarious. So after we dropped our stuff off it was time to explore Tokyo!!
We stopped by Sarah's school and met up with a few of her school friends, one from Australia, one from Chicago and a local dude named Masa born and raised in Tokyo. He spoke Japenglish or Ingrish and was a lot of fun. They took us to the capitol building which has an observatory at the top. It was incredible seeing Tokyo from the top. It makes any American city just look miniature. We are used to seeing a row of skyscrapers and being like, "Wow thats a big city!" Tokyo - clusters of skyscrapers in all directions and endless metropolis.
After that it was getting dark and the city was starting to light up! Tokyo is so crazy because its like everywhere you go looks like Times Square! Huge LCD screens, neon lights, enormous intersections - EVERYWHERE! We headed to Shibuya which really gets hoppin at night. Words don't do this city justice. I could write so much about it. There are so many lights it is just insane. People everywhere. There is a redlight district in Shibuya so you get all kinds of characters...
Crazy thing you see here: Hosts and Maids. There are girls dressed like the traditional French maids. They target the "Otakus" (Japanese nerds that do nothing but sit at their computer all day) and call them master and everything and serve them for a fee. They aren't prostitutes. They have made buildings where they will take the men and they just serve them, make them food...it's REALLY weird. And on the other hand, there are Hosts. Hosts are men with crazy hair and ridiculous outfits usually consisting mainly of black. The hosts will stand around on the street and talk to girls and if the girl wants them he will follow her around and compliment her and help her shop and just be really nice to her or whatever... strange.
Shibuya is crazy. We ate at a Ramen place and I ordered this stir fry off the menu. It was really good but I had no idea what the meat was in it. I later found out it was liver... Guess I like liver! Not what I probably would have ordered but I would eat it again for sure. the group wanted to go to a NomiHorai bar - all you can drink for an hour... so they did that while Taylor, Gabrielle and I sat at a table and remained sober. After that we walked around Shibuya and Brenda threw a fit that no one wanted to go dancing at this club that had about 4 people in it LOL. This was all just incredible for me and I was trying to take it all in. Everywhere you look there are arcades, karaoke, crazy lit up stores, every building has neon and displays going up and down it with characters flying.
We got back to the room at around 1. Everyone wants to go to the Tokyo fish market tomorrow, its the worlds biggest fish market. The plan is to wake up at 5. I agreed to it, but I mean, come on, I know that is NOT going to happen. I know how these things work...
Today was our first day in Tokyo. This has been a life dream of mine. I have ALWAYS wanted to come here so this is a little bit surreal. I will never forget my first moments stepping off the train. The station was so busy and we headed down the stairs and like something out of a movie, these little Japanese people started coming out of the wall on the stairs! They were station workers that were cleaning, but it was crazy, they just popped out of the wall! Tokyo was already exciting and I had been there for less than 10 seconds.
We met up with Annalise's friend Sarah - who has turned out to be the biggest blessing ever. She is a student from the US studying at one of the universities in Tokyo for a semester and she is going to be our guide this weekend. In case you didn't know, its not easy to just get around the biggest city in the world when you have no idea where to go or what to see, so we are so grateful for Sarah!
We got in at around 6 o'clock. It was about a 3 hour train ride. First things first, we got some food then headed to our hotel to drop off our bags. It was about a 15 minute ride on the train. There are many train lines around Tokyo that we would have no idea how to navigate without Sarah. Dr. Velikova reserved us a traditional "Japanese style room" which is a straw floor and 6 mats! 6 of us slept in there and Aaron and Brenda slept in a separate room with one bed...Hilarious. So after we dropped our stuff off it was time to explore Tokyo!!
We stopped by Sarah's school and met up with a few of her school friends, one from Australia, one from Chicago and a local dude named Masa born and raised in Tokyo. He spoke Japenglish or Ingrish and was a lot of fun. They took us to the capitol building which has an observatory at the top. It was incredible seeing Tokyo from the top. It makes any American city just look miniature. We are used to seeing a row of skyscrapers and being like, "Wow thats a big city!" Tokyo - clusters of skyscrapers in all directions and endless metropolis.
After that it was getting dark and the city was starting to light up! Tokyo is so crazy because its like everywhere you go looks like Times Square! Huge LCD screens, neon lights, enormous intersections - EVERYWHERE! We headed to Shibuya which really gets hoppin at night. Words don't do this city justice. I could write so much about it. There are so many lights it is just insane. People everywhere. There is a redlight district in Shibuya so you get all kinds of characters...
Crazy thing you see here: Hosts and Maids. There are girls dressed like the traditional French maids. They target the "Otakus" (Japanese nerds that do nothing but sit at their computer all day) and call them master and everything and serve them for a fee. They aren't prostitutes. They have made buildings where they will take the men and they just serve them, make them food...it's REALLY weird. And on the other hand, there are Hosts. Hosts are men with crazy hair and ridiculous outfits usually consisting mainly of black. The hosts will stand around on the street and talk to girls and if the girl wants them he will follow her around and compliment her and help her shop and just be really nice to her or whatever... strange.
Shibuya is crazy. We ate at a Ramen place and I ordered this stir fry off the menu. It was really good but I had no idea what the meat was in it. I later found out it was liver... Guess I like liver! Not what I probably would have ordered but I would eat it again for sure. the group wanted to go to a NomiHorai bar - all you can drink for an hour... so they did that while Taylor, Gabrielle and I sat at a table and remained sober. After that we walked around Shibuya and Brenda threw a fit that no one wanted to go dancing at this club that had about 4 people in it LOL. This was all just incredible for me and I was trying to take it all in. Everywhere you look there are arcades, karaoke, crazy lit up stores, every building has neon and displays going up and down it with characters flying.
We got back to the room at around 1. Everyone wants to go to the Tokyo fish market tomorrow, its the worlds biggest fish market. The plan is to wake up at 5. I agreed to it, but I mean, come on, I know that is NOT going to happen. I know how these things work...
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Monday, June 1st
Today was our last real day of class. We had a bunch of presentations including my cultural one. My cultural presentation was about Karaoke. It is insane how much a part of their culture that is. Everywhere you look around here there are Karaoke boxes. It's not the same as in the states though... It's actually a business activity to help build relationships...More about Karaoke later.
After class we had the day free to do whatever we pleased. I hadn't done any souvenir shopping and neither had Ryan so we decided to do that. We headed to our spot, the covered mall on Sanjo Street. We got there without a problem this time, we now know the route well... Kyoto -> Subway -> Karasuma Oike -> Sanjo Keihan, no more getting lost. We found some cool souvenir places and then ended up splitting up to do some more shopping.
I had saved my money to do shopping the whole trip and I finally went into some stores and tried on some clothes...It was crazy. Every store had so many awesome clothes that I wanted. Shopping is a whole different experience there. They don't have just big brands like malls, each store has lots of little brands and designers so the selection is vast. I actually found 2 pairs of shorts that I liked, and I hate shorts. Bottom line is: I could have stayed for a week and just shopped in Japan.
I met back up with the group at the pub a little after 7 for our group dinner. We ordered several big group dishes (on Belmont) so we were all looking forward to a nice meal. The dishes would come out in groups...and each one was like a single portion for one person. It was unrealistically disappointing. We each got about 3 bites of each dish. Man I hate eating here!!!!!
After dinner however, we went to do Karaoke. Now, Karaoke is nothing like a bar in the US. You go to a Karaoke place and you rent a room. You go to the room and there is a TV with booth like seating all around the walls. The room just has seats the TV and a sound system. They brought us little console things that we could choose the songs from. My expectations were pretty low from Karaoke and I didn't think it would be that fun for the 2 hour period we rented.... but come the end of the night, none of us wanted to stop! It was sooo funny and just a blast! We all just screamed our lungs out and had a great time. After that we were all exhausted and headed to bed before our last day... :(
After class we had the day free to do whatever we pleased. I hadn't done any souvenir shopping and neither had Ryan so we decided to do that. We headed to our spot, the covered mall on Sanjo Street. We got there without a problem this time, we now know the route well... Kyoto -> Subway -> Karasuma Oike -> Sanjo Keihan, no more getting lost. We found some cool souvenir places and then ended up splitting up to do some more shopping.
I had saved my money to do shopping the whole trip and I finally went into some stores and tried on some clothes...It was crazy. Every store had so many awesome clothes that I wanted. Shopping is a whole different experience there. They don't have just big brands like malls, each store has lots of little brands and designers so the selection is vast. I actually found 2 pairs of shorts that I liked, and I hate shorts. Bottom line is: I could have stayed for a week and just shopped in Japan.
I met back up with the group at the pub a little after 7 for our group dinner. We ordered several big group dishes (on Belmont) so we were all looking forward to a nice meal. The dishes would come out in groups...and each one was like a single portion for one person. It was unrealistically disappointing. We each got about 3 bites of each dish. Man I hate eating here!!!!!
After dinner however, we went to do Karaoke. Now, Karaoke is nothing like a bar in the US. You go to a Karaoke place and you rent a room. You go to the room and there is a TV with booth like seating all around the walls. The room just has seats the TV and a sound system. They brought us little console things that we could choose the songs from. My expectations were pretty low from Karaoke and I didn't think it would be that fun for the 2 hour period we rented.... but come the end of the night, none of us wanted to stop! It was sooo funny and just a blast! We all just screamed our lungs out and had a great time. After that we were all exhausted and headed to bed before our last day... :(
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