Right.
The tumble dryer is going to take forever so I can’t go to bed for a while anyway so might as well blog now!
The bath was great – thanks for asking 😛 haha. Strawberry bath salts and green tea facepack. Biblical bath win.
Anyway, here’s today’s happenings…
Saturday 30th July 2011:
Today was amazing. I had a really awesome time!
I woke up later than originally intended: Around 9am, and then didn’t leave my room until just gone 12. I had a shower and planned what I’d be doing today because I didn’t want to waste the day planning as I went.
I went to Suitengumae and bought a day pass for the metro. 1000 yen, and I’m not actually sure if I saved anything overall, but whatever. At least it meant I wasn’t stressing out about money whenever I took a wrong train, which happened quite a lot today. I shouldn’t be trusted to navigate solo. Ever.
First I took the Hanzomon-sen to Otemachi, then the Chiyoda-sen to Meiji-Jingumae station. I kind of went here accidentally from misreading the map, but decided to have another look around Harajuku since we didn’t spend long there last time.
The weather was beautiful. Not that that’s relevant, but being British I feel the need to state it.
So, camera at the ready, I went in search of Harajuku girls. I saw maybe 3 or 4 in total, but didn’t take photos because it was so busy and couldn’t get a decent view. It’s a shame, because some of the dresses were amazing! I had a look in some of the shops. I also went in Claire’s Accessories for like the first time since I was about 10 years old, and managed to buy some hair thingies that I’ve been looking for everywhere!
I looked for a present for Lily here because it was so her kind of fashion, but everything was either insanely expensive, or not quite right.
After a bit of window shopping, I bought a crepe from one of the little side stalls. It was AMAZING. It was filled with strawberries, vanilla icecream, whipped cream, and chocolate cheesecake. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything so sickly! But I loved it!!!
Definitely need another of those babies before I go home!
After that, I walked to the end of the strip, spoke to some of the sellers because they were friendly, and then went to the Laforet Department Store.
They had some crazy clothes in there! Shoes that looked like flames, Dinosaur skeleton necklaces, and bubble flip flops [Pics on Facebook]. It was damn expensive and I started to get some funny looks from the shop assistants (I was wearing running shoes and a dress, so the looks were probably deserved) so I left.
I tried to walk to Shibuya, but got a little lost, and ended up taking the train.
When I arrived, I tried to find the exit to the station and got really lost! After a bit of faffing around, I found the Hachiko (If you don’t know the story behind Hachiko, google it – it’s really sweet!) exit and was pretty proud of myself. Solo sightseeing is pretty hard work, but totally rewarding!
I then looked up to see Shibuya crossing. I’m gonna be honest… it was smaller than I thought it would be from pictures and descriptions in guidebooks. Never the less, it was pretty damn impressive, and I had a lot of fun being the typical tourist crossing it!
I went to Starbucks (this seems to be becoming quite a regular, and expensive occurrence) and had a Green Tea Frappuccino, and was lucky enough to get one of the window seats so I could watch the busy street below.
Afterwards, I started exploring the town. I went into a few stores, including Forever 21 (because I’m a massive teenager at heart), Tower Records, and some department stores. It was a lot of fun.
When I was walking down the street, I got stopped by some random Japanese man who started talking to me. He asked if I was a professional model which I found pretty hilarious, because 1) I am the least fashionable person I know, 2) the least photogenic, 3) completely uninterested. He asked me if I’d let him photograph me, and although he was completely friendly and seemed pretty legit, I said no, obviously. I think it was maybe just because I am western, was wearing a very bright dress, and sunglasses and lipstick, and so looked different to the other girls around there at the time.
Right, anyway… So after maybe an hour and a half in Shibuya, I had bought nothing except for cold drinks. I am a rubbish shopper. A poor example of a female.
So I then went back to the station, and took the train to Tochomae. I had a bit of a train fail, and managed to accidentally go BACK to Shibuya in the process, which was annoying, and a good example of why the 1000 yen day pass ticket was probably a good idea.
Eventually, I did get to Tochomae, and it started chucking it down with rain. I then walked to the Government Building so that I could visit the observatory. The queue was pretty big inside – I don’t know what I was expecting really, but I didn’t expect such a big one. Time passed pretty fast, and before I knew it I was up on the viewing deck. It was really cool! I think I preferred the Tokyo Tower view though… possibly because it was at night time and so the lights looked awesome, but it was still great. Was also completely free to enter – an added bonus! Unfortunately it was totally overcast and raining, so the views were a little naff.
Afterwards, I planned on going to Yoyogi park, but time was ticking on and didn’t know if it would remain open after dark, so instead decided to go straight to Shinjuku again. Although I went with Maria before, we only really did department stores so I wanted to see some of the smaller streets and independent stores. Shinjuku station is apparantly the busiest station in the world, and I have no trouble believing that! I could have spent a week in the station alone and still not have seen all of it!
After a short walk I ended up in the heart of Shinjuku. It was amazing, and totally how Tokyo seems in the movies. I walked around until it got dark, and went into lots of shops… and also the cinema by accident!
I found a shop called Don Quixote which was one of the weirdest places I’ve been. It was a really cramped shop, with loads of floors, that sold absolutely everything, in no logical order. There were cleaning supplies, next to lamps, next to makeup, next to car parts, next to sex toys, next to DIY tools, next to postcards etc etc. I ended up buying some bath salts and facepacks because it was pretty cheap in there which is rare in this place! Hence my amazing bath when I got in.
I then started roaming around and ended up in Kabukicho, which was a brightly lit street full of bars. I later found out when I got home that that area is known as Tokyo’s safe red light district. Woops.
When I came out, it was completely dark and I was hungry, so started looking for somewhere to eat. I really enjoy the food here, but this evening noodles seemed completely unappetising after having them for essentially every meal, and there was little else within my budget. After briefly considering McDonalds (which I’m also eating too much of) I decided to give food a miss and just buy something from a convenience store when I got back. I continued roaming around, but eventually I was too hungry and couldn’t do it anymore. A crepe and an ice drink isn’t enough for Sophie to live off while walking around all day.
So I called it a day, and got the Marunouchi-sen back to Otemachi, and then the Hanzomon-sen back home. I bought crab sushi from 7-11 at Suitengumae and ate it in bed. Classy.
I was considering going back out again since I arrived at around 7pm, and my day ticket was valid for a few more hours, but my feet were killing me and I was pretty exhausted.
I’ve had an amazing day.
To be honest, I didn’t get as much done as I was planning (I also hoped to visit Tsukiji fish market in the morning, Ameyoko market, Yoyogi park, and maybe Shinjuku-gyoen), but time slips away so fast here. Scarily fast actually.
Tomorrow I will also go sightseeing, and hopefully cover some of the bits that I missed out on today. Next weekend I want to go to the Oedo-Onsen in Odaiba and a few more other places. It is scary how little time here I have left. I feel like I need to ration my free time, and just see the bits I REALLY can’t miss out on.
Urgh – it’s now 1.20am. I really need to go to bed!
Thanks for a brilliant time, Tokyo!
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