It's all over
We are leaving Tokyo tomorrow. Iﾕm quite excited about getting home but I donﾕt want to leave Japan! We are watching the Sumo wrestling on TV at the moment in our tiniest of tiny hostels. We are in a room about the size of an average bathroom with 8 other people. We are stacked three high on bunk beds (well, shelves) and there isnﾕt a whole lot of room on the floor! We have a tiny tiny common room between three rooms in which there is almost room for 5 people if 3 of you are standing up. However, it is the cheapest place in the whole of Tokyo and the owners are lovely. They make breakfast for everybody every morning (a kind of creamy delicious noodles with bacon and potato).
Sincewe have been in Tokyo we have explored a different area everyday. We have been to Akihabara where there are hundreds of electronics shops and also lots of manga and anime shops. It is fascinating in the evening with the bright lights and the people everywhere. On St. Patricks day, we tried to go to the off license with some people from the hostel to find some Shochu (a Japanese spirit) to celebrate. We found a shop and when we were in there, we met a drunk lady who made us try some ginger marinated in soy sauce. It wasnﾕt as bad as it sounds but then she started telling us off for not being able to speak Japanese. Oops.
We spent a day being cultural when we went to the Imperial Palace gardens and a big temple in Asakusa. The gardens were nice but as it is almost but not quite cherry blossom time, they werenﾕt at their peak. The temple in Asakusa was great fun. We got to the entrance and to get up to the main temple you walk down a street full to the brim of shops selling all sorts of food and souvenirs and hundreds of people walking down it. We heard some drumming so we followed the sound and came across a woman with a monkey on a string who was doing tricks and generally entertaining the crowd. It was slightly odd. After a while we heard some more drumming and found a dancing golden dragon in a procession. It started with small boys in male Kimonos followed by a cart of traditionally dressed ladies playing flutes followed by men drumming followed by the dragon. A lady told me to touch the dragon for good luck and when I went to do so, the man holding part of it up let me have a go. It was really really heavy and he grabbed it back because they were about to do a dance with it.
On Sunday we visited the trendy areas of town, Shubuya and Harajuku. Shibuyu is the busiest train station in the world apparently ﾐ 2 million people go through it every day. The road crossing outside the station is absolutely mental with so many people running all over the place and a load of people on bikes trying to get through as well. So many people ride bikes here- on the pavement and really fast. We havenﾕt been hit yet but have had a good few close calls. We did see a man on a bike get hit by a car though which wasnﾕt nice. He was OK though.
In Harajuku we went to the bridge where, on Sundays, lots of teenage girls dress up and go and sit and have their photos taken by gawking tourists. The outfits are mainly gothic costumes but also some really brightly coloured ones, some in French maids outfits, some adapted kimonos. We took loads of photos. We wandered down the main shopping street in Harakuku and is exactly what Camden ought to be like. Cooler clothes, better bits and bobs and no one trying to sell you drugs.
Yesterday we ventured further out of central Tokyo to a place called Nishi-Ogikubo. It is the antiques/arts and crafts area of Tokyo and although a lot of places didnﾕt open until after lunch, we managed to find a great Sake set for a good price. More of a junk shop than an antique shop but that suits us (and our budget) just fine.
We spent yesterday evening out in town with a guy from the hostel. We went to a bar called the 300yen bar. Surprisingly enough, all the drinks there are 300yen (about 1.50) and you can have all sorts of cocktails from a list of about 50 different ones. We tried a few and made lots of Japanese friends who thought we were exotic and wanted to come and talk to us! It was really good fun.
Today we have just wandered around a bit and not done too much as I have got a really sore throat. I managed to ask the woman in the chemist if I had the right medicine for a sore throat (with the help of the phrase book of course) so I was very proud. We walked around a big park in Ueno, Central Tokyo, and we went for a ride on the swan boats to celebrate the public holiday. Not sure what the public holiday is for but there are lots of families around taking photos of the cherry blossom.
See you all soon.
Sincewe have been in Tokyo we have explored a different area everyday. We have been to Akihabara where there are hundreds of electronics shops and also lots of manga and anime shops. It is fascinating in the evening with the bright lights and the people everywhere. On St. Patricks day, we tried to go to the off license with some people from the hostel to find some Shochu (a Japanese spirit) to celebrate. We found a shop and when we were in there, we met a drunk lady who made us try some ginger marinated in soy sauce. It wasnﾕt as bad as it sounds but then she started telling us off for not being able to speak Japanese. Oops.
We spent a day being cultural when we went to the Imperial Palace gardens and a big temple in Asakusa. The gardens were nice but as it is almost but not quite cherry blossom time, they werenﾕt at their peak. The temple in Asakusa was great fun. We got to the entrance and to get up to the main temple you walk down a street full to the brim of shops selling all sorts of food and souvenirs and hundreds of people walking down it. We heard some drumming so we followed the sound and came across a woman with a monkey on a string who was doing tricks and generally entertaining the crowd. It was slightly odd. After a while we heard some more drumming and found a dancing golden dragon in a procession. It started with small boys in male Kimonos followed by a cart of traditionally dressed ladies playing flutes followed by men drumming followed by the dragon. A lady told me to touch the dragon for good luck and when I went to do so, the man holding part of it up let me have a go. It was really really heavy and he grabbed it back because they were about to do a dance with it.
On Sunday we visited the trendy areas of town, Shubuya and Harajuku. Shibuyu is the busiest train station in the world apparently ﾐ 2 million people go through it every day. The road crossing outside the station is absolutely mental with so many people running all over the place and a load of people on bikes trying to get through as well. So many people ride bikes here- on the pavement and really fast. We havenﾕt been hit yet but have had a good few close calls. We did see a man on a bike get hit by a car though which wasnﾕt nice. He was OK though.
In Harajuku we went to the bridge where, on Sundays, lots of teenage girls dress up and go and sit and have their photos taken by gawking tourists. The outfits are mainly gothic costumes but also some really brightly coloured ones, some in French maids outfits, some adapted kimonos. We took loads of photos. We wandered down the main shopping street in Harakuku and is exactly what Camden ought to be like. Cooler clothes, better bits and bobs and no one trying to sell you drugs.
Yesterday we ventured further out of central Tokyo to a place called Nishi-Ogikubo. It is the antiques/arts and crafts area of Tokyo and although a lot of places didnﾕt open until after lunch, we managed to find a great Sake set for a good price. More of a junk shop than an antique shop but that suits us (and our budget) just fine.
We spent yesterday evening out in town with a guy from the hostel. We went to a bar called the 300yen bar. Surprisingly enough, all the drinks there are 300yen (about 1.50) and you can have all sorts of cocktails from a list of about 50 different ones. We tried a few and made lots of Japanese friends who thought we were exotic and wanted to come and talk to us! It was really good fun.
Today we have just wandered around a bit and not done too much as I have got a really sore throat. I managed to ask the woman in the chemist if I had the right medicine for a sore throat (with the help of the phrase book of course) so I was very proud. We walked around a big park in Ueno, Central Tokyo, and we went for a ride on the swan boats to celebrate the public holiday. Not sure what the public holiday is for but there are lots of families around taking photos of the cherry blossom.
See you all soon.
posted by alicestronaut at 8:13 am
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