After that morning when I was awake way too early and I posted my last post, around 8:30am I headed out and took the train to Harajuku. When I got there most things weren't open, and even the usually overcrowded Takeshita Doori (street) was nearly empty.
So I walked down the full length of Takeshita Doori then walked around and back up the larger main street up towards the station. Still having around 20 minutes before everything opened I decided to do something I have never done before while in Japan... Visit the Meiji Jingu shrine. It's a shinto shrine located right behind Harajuku station that was made in honor of Emperor Meiji and his wife. Considering this is a huge tourist and locals stop in Tokyo, it's apparently very surprising that I had never gone before. But it was very beautiful and there were so many trees and natural things in the middle of a city like Tokyo. I don't know for sure how far it was, but from the entrance of the shrine area to where you actually get to where the shrine is a full kilometer long path through the forest.
At shrines, you have to cleanse yourself before entering by washing your hands and mouth in a specific, sort of ritualistic way at a fountain in front of the shrine. As you can see in the below picture, it was pretty crowded. This weekend was a three day weekend for the Japanese because yesterday (Monday) was Respect the Elderly Day or something like that, so while quite a few Tokyoites left the city, many many more came in to Tokyo for the weekend that it was still crowded.
There were several traditional weddings going on, and I was able to snap a picture of one of the brides getting ready. Her fiance was nearby as well, and then relatives who were crying.
Then I walked from Harajuku to Shibuya station, around a 15~20 minute walk for about a mile, going through this one sort of park area. There was a sort of southeast Asian culture/food festival going on, so there were lots of food stands both of the Japanese and foreign food variety. It was around 1:30pm, and I had plans to meet with friends at Shibuya station at 5:30 so I just headed back to where I was staying for around 2 hours instead of hanging around doing nothing. In Shibuya at that point I also stopped at the Tower Records shop and bought Kis-My-Ft2's debut single CD.
After heading back to Shibuya later on, I met up with two friends who I went paparazzi picture shopping in Takeshita Doori (meaning we walked from Shibuya to Harajuku) and then to dinner with. At this point I had already been awake for 18 hours and jet lag was really hitting me hard, so I was pretty far out of it. No pictures really came out of this time... The paparazzi photo shops are very strict about no pictures inside the shops, but they're these huge underground things that are pretty sketchy. We went to an Indian curry restaurant for dinner and the portions were huge. I definitely did not finish mine, because there was no way a huge curry dinner was going to agree with my stomach thinking it was at that point 5am.
I ended up being out that night until around 9pm, so it fixed my jet lagged schedule. I still get tired or hungry at ridiculous times though, so I can't say I'm completely healed from it.
The next day I woke up at 3:30am, and I headed out once again at around 8am to go to Shinjuku and meet up with a fandom friend of mine. I had wanted to meet up with her anyway, and she was busy with errands so I just had brunch with her and followed her around on errands. Guess what I had for brunch? Curry. This time it was Japanese-style! Though I don't have a picture of the curry, I do have a picture of the melon pan (melon bread) that I had as a sort of breakfast snack on the way out to Shinjuku to meet my friend.
I followed my friend around on errands in Shinjuku and Harajuku. There was a huge anti-nuclear everything sort of protest/demonstration going on in the Harajuku and Shibuya area. Though things like that are very, very organized in Japan it was still large enough that traffic was held up. Later on when I walked from Harajuku to Shibuya (again... so much walking!) to meet up with friends for karaoke, I saw that the whole group had come to he area on countless charter buses. I walked through the same park again, and the protest/demonstration/whatever it was had tons of things going on there as well. The train of protesters walking around the area were following several large trucks with huge speakers on top, blasting and chanting "Nuclear power is evil! Human lives are important!" (It sounds more impressive in Japanese.)
Me and the friends I met up with walked around for quite a bit to find a cheap karaoke place that actually had room. And thankfully the one we ended up getting into had very cheap food as well. We booked the room for two hours, and it was really fun. We also got a really good karaoke system, so it had lots of Korean songs as well. Our room was tiny, but I still danced to Gee and Supa Luv when I sang them. Right near the start we ordered food, and the two friends ordered a plate of fried stuff, while I ordered a banana and chocolate crepe. Nearly everything on the menu was 280 yen... around $3.70. Once it's converted it seems like a lot, but that's extremely cheap for any decent sized food in Japan.
After that I headed back to my room and stayed awake until around 9:30. Today I'm going out to hang out with Erika, my best friend from here in Japan. We're going to an area of Tokyo that even she hasn't been to, so it should be interesting. The area is called Shimokitazawa, and it's know for being the main area for stage shows (plays, musicals), live music, cafes and unique fashion. It also has an old fashioned sort of street where traditional Japanese things are sold. So I'm excited. And then on Wednesday afternoon/evening I'm heading up to where I lived in Japan on exchange to meet with my other best friend from Track & Field club.
Up until this morning, it was really hot and sunny here in Japan. Temperatures near 90 with heat indexes up around 100. But as typhoon number 15 has started coming closer the temperatures have dropped a ton (it's around 70 degrees right now, when usually by this time it was already over 80). Until this morning it was predicted to be right over Tokyo when I was supposed to leave for Korea, so it was a bit of a worry, but now it's supposed to be past this area by then so hopefully things should be okay.
These are some awesome pictures! Do you speak Japanese?
ReplyDelete@Caitlyn : Thank you! :D Yes~, I've been fluent in Japanese since I went on a foreign exchange here during my sophomore year of high school. I had studied Japanese since I was 12 already, and that year here brought me up to fluency. :3
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