Crazy Tokyo: Days 2 & 3

Alright, so much to say, so many pictures, and so many videos to post. I think what'll be the easiest is to post and then follow with pictures, there's also new videos in my youtube account.

So... Day 2

We woke and decided we wanted to go to Harujuku. Harujuku is a upscale high-fashion area near Shibuya. It's characterized as being a location where people in crazy outfits of all kinds will gather to just kind of be crazy and fashonable together. So we got on the train and went to Harujuku.

When we got out we noticed we'd stumbled upon the Meiji Shrine, a really famous shrine. We decided to go and see it since we were there anyways. At all shrines there's a little offering box, where you offer, bow and then clap your hands, I don't really know what it means, but I do it anyways. If figure it can't hurt, combined with the yen will go to helping upkeep the shrine. So the shrine was big, cool, and shrine-like. We couldn't take many pictures because there were NO PHOTO signs everywhere, but I think it's one of the more sacred shrines where many will go to worship, so we understood. As we were leaving I said to Jennay that we were likely racking up some good karma from doing that at every shrine....

We walked around Harujuku, saw a bunch of crazy Japanese things going on, even a festival that they were gearing up for. We were headed to get lunch and saw Forever 21 and H&M off in the distance. We decided we should go see them, but that first we were hungry...

After eating we headed out for those stores. On the way we noticed this like 8 story department building. Outside of this building is a massive line heading into a store. We walk in and see it's for a Kitson that just opened up. Since we were already in the building we decided to walk around. Even though we couldn't afford 99% of things in there it was fun to look at what Japan thought was "worth" spending 26,000 yen on. Then we notice this line. This line is about 100 people long and is wrapping up the stairway of the building and we're thinking "What the heck is this line for?" So finally, after about 2 floors we decide to forget it and keep milling around.

We went into this one store, part of the 1% that we may actually afford and were looking around. A store attendant came up and asked us if we needed help in English. Since she knew some English we decided to ask her what the line was all about. It was difficult communicating but she told us there was a fashion show. We were kind of like "What? A fashion show? Can anyone go?" She said no, but then asked us to wait a minute. She went into the back and produced two invitations, saying they were for her and the other girl at the store, but they were both stuck working so we could have them. Jennay and I decided then to go and got in line.

Unfortunately the line was so long that we missed the first show. They even put up signs saying "No more people, too full" Some people got out of line but we decided to wait anyways. It paid off, inbetween shows some peole left (for whatever reason) and they let people in again. Jennay and I were the last ones to be let in!

We went behind the rope that the bouncer man held back for us and up the final set of stairs. They asked for our invitations and when we presented them they let us through. There was a table of all sorts of pamphlets and things about the show and designers and things. And they gave out complementary snacks and drinks. We ended up being like 4 rows of people from the runway. There was press and cameras and all kinds of awesome.

It's the 25th Anneversary of Hello Kitty so they had a hello kitty collection. Then a famous model Akina Minami spoke for a bit. Then had another show. I have videos of almost everything that I'm going to upload on youtube.

After that it was pretty late. We came back to the Hostel and crashed for a bit. Then decided to go out to Akihabara, the anime and electronics center.

Akihabara is kind of perverted at night (not like we got solicited or bothered, nothing like that) but the stores and what they're selling is definately adults-only in many cases. But it was still fun to walk around the city at night.

Went home, and then crashed.



-- Day 3 --

Day 3 I got up and checked out of my room. I switched to a cabin room today, which is really cool and very nice. You can padlock your room, so you can get comftorable and then just lock it up without having to uproot everythingi into a locker. They're small, almost like a capsule or tube hotel, but I prefer to think of them as cozy. The only complaint is the airflow sucks if you close the doors. So I may sleep with the door by my feet open to get some air.

Jennay was an hour late, she fell back asleep, so we got a bit of a late start. Today was our "tourist seen-it" day.

First we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government office and went up to the observation deck. Unfortunately it was cloudy today, so it wasn't a great view, but it was still awesome. We stopped to eat our breakfast in a nearby park, apples, before getting on the train again.

Then we back-tracked a bit and went and saw Tokyo Tower. It's expensive to go up, and we already got a better view for free. So we took some pictures, crossed it off our list, and were on our way again.

Then we went to the Imperial Palace, which is boring actually. Just because you can't go in anywhere, the best view you get is of one building from across a moat. The Palace is only open two days out of the year, January 1st and the Emperor's birthday. Then you can go in and take pictures of him and his family. Since I am going to be here on the first it is my must-do now. So the Imperial Palace was checked off our list and we moved onto Odaiba.

Odaiba is a man-made island off the coast of Tokyo. It's connected by one train, and by the Rainbow Bridge (kind of like the Golden-Gate bridge of Japan). Odaiba is the futuristic area and all the architecture is really modern. The life-sized gundam was there, but they took it down about three weeks ago very saddly...

We got off the train about 3 stops early and decided to walk. Jennay had looked up this mall that was designed to look like and about the size of a small european city. So we wanted to head there and see the Rainbow Bridge.

In walking we ran into what we first thought was an anime con. Hundreds of cosplayers were about and taking pictures. Then we realized it was more of a photo-shoot. I tried to take pictures of these one people and had a women telling me in Japanese very fast that I couldn't. I didn't actually understand what she said, but the tone was clear. I took a few candid shots and we moved on, it obviously wasn't intended to be an observed thing.

We eventually found the mall and on the outside it looked like just a big square boring building. Skeptical, we found the entrance and went in. Inside it was just like a street in Venice. The store-fronts, the ceiling had a sky painted on it, the lighting, everying. I snapped a few photos.

So our cool thing of the day happened as we were milling about. All of a sudden, we began to head Miachel Jackson music. We begin to head toward the source, it's a Miachel Jackson convention and there was a live impersonator giving a concert. So of course, like everything else we hopped in and joined in. I have a video of thriller, I'll post to youtube.

Finally after being depressed that I have the body of a Japanese girl minus my boobs and thighs and therefore nothing fits right, we headed out. Now dark we went to a place called the "Docks" an upscale night-life area and took pictures of the rainbow bridge and the lit up Tokyo skyline. I have a panoramic shot on youtube.

We then decided to head back and rest our legs for an hour. We've walked so much, I'm always hungry!! No matter how much or what I eat I'm hungry like two hours later. So now I'm blogging and I'm going to go out and we're going to explore something somewhere. I'll post pictures and videos when I get back.


Here's to good karma!