Friday, March 20, 2015

Tokyo, Japan - Day 33

May 28, 2015

Our trip to Japan was planned in detailed just before we left for Asia. Basically, we planned daily attractions and the length of time for each place and also how to get there. We have perhaps a 20 pages printed book of our itinerary and after each day we would throw away the pages corresponding to the day.
 
Our first stop in the morning was to Meiji Shrine because it is opened early in the morning and that way we could have more time to explore Tokyo. We took the JR line from Ikebukuro Station to Harajuku station (¥170; 15 minutes). There's actually a lot of citizens and tourists at Meiji Shrine early in the morning.

Meiji Shrine
 Tori at the entrance to Meiji Shrine

 Path towards the Shrine.
 Barrels of sake wrapped in Straw.
 Sake barrels offered to deities by the Shrine

Entrance to the shrine 





The "wishes" area





























The envelopes and paper are sitting on the table- you can grab one for free

People's wishes! - for these, you have to purchase them from the Meiko, I believe. Some people drew some hardcore anime on there (gorgeous!)


Area for you to purify yourself


After exploring Meiji Shrine, we headed out and decided to check out the surrounding park. We have a map of Meiji Shrine so we followed it cause there was actually a museum, perhaps a 10 minutes walk into the park. We didn't really see anybody walking this way though, just some locals taking a walk.

Crazy old tree - you can tell by that trunk!
We kept on encountering dead-ends....

As we were walking we somehow encountered a bridge with a very pretty scenery. If you look down you can see a bunch of turtles and fishes. Some locals were feeding the fishes and taking a stroll here. This place is a very nice gem away from Meiji Shrine. It was a kind of cute watching the turtles trying to get back onto the rock after taking a swim.



























When you peer down the bridge you see turtles!

Off-limits -- surrounded by a barrier.

Finally walked over to the museum, but as we got closer we noticed you need to pay to go in and also it was closed. At least, it wasn't just us who didn't realize it was closed, we saw another group of Caucasian tourists walking away after reading the sign. 

The scenery and surroundings near the museum was just so tranquil and relaxing. After the group of tourists left, it was just me and my sister and another 2 locals here. You can hear birds chirping, the sound of wind, see a young man listening to music while lying between two trees in mid-air. It's like a scene of never-ending river of trees and greenery.


After relaxing and taking a break at the park we headed back out to the main street, but once we got out of the Meiji Shrine park, we didn't know where we were so we checked out a map hanging from a preschool. While looking at the map, a middle-age businessman came up to us and asked us where we want to go and he attempted to converse with us in English (even though he can't really speak well). We showed him the GPS and he pointed us to a certain direction but we didn't really understand so we thanked him anyways. There's always somebody to help when you need them. We were also hungry by this point, but we had to keep on walking. 

Takeshita Dori, a popular shopping street for young people filled with cafes, fast-food chains, restaurants, fashion, etc. There's also a "Sweets paradise" (all you can eat cake- for cheap) here - we didn't go cause we just ate lunch. There's a multi-level (4 levels?) Daiso and we spent quite a lot of time here due to us trying to find each other. I could not locate my sister so I paid and left and waited for her outside while she thought I was still inside and she walked around Daiso in search of me. I walked up and down the stairs at least 6 times and the security guard was looking at me funny too so I decided to wait outside. Well, in the end she came out of Daiso and saw me waiting for her. I'm feel so regretful I didn't buy any stickers!!!! ARGH!! There's so much cute and cheap stuff at Daiso that I regret not buying (I thought perhaps the Daiso in Korea would have the same stuff and that the price would be the same, but that was not the case). 
 Takeshita Street in Shibuya

For lunch we went to Lotteria which was along Takeshita Street and OMG they have a ¥500 deal! And there was a discount on milkshake too! ¥170!

 Got melon soda and shrimp burger. OMG. It taste SO GOOD, the best burger I've EVER TASTED. SERIOUS. ¥1150

 We tried to find the famous Shibuya intersection but we weren't sure if this was it.



























Lots of crazy ads? We were looking for "Center Gai" but not sure if we were in the right place... can't tell even if it is... We also went to the "Spain Slope" but it was just a hill and we weren't sure what was so unique about it too...

Taking pictures outside of Shibuya 101 at the top of the stairs. 





























We tried to look for "LOVE HOTEL HILL" - street filled with love hotels. Tried, could this be it? but on google the love hotels were so colorful, so I don't think this is it.
Kiddyland. - located near Omotesando Hills. A multi level building filled with toys and child fantasies!There's several floors inside the kiddyland building and each floor is focused on a certain anime/cartoon - snoopy, sanrio, Studio Ghibli films, etc. Didn't buy anything, everything kind of expensive.



























Kiki delivery Service!

Dinner! Egg with rice underneath with miso soup. Delicious! ¥580
 Famous Shibuya Intersection/Crossing
 Getting ready to cross the street




























Crossing street in all directions






























There were a lot of tourists and standing near the crosswalk taking pictures LOL. Some of them taking selfies. Near the crossing was the famous hachiko statue. It was difficult to locate cause we didn't know which direction. Good thing we found it, I would be quite disappointed if we left Shibuya without taking a picture of this statue.

Hachiko statue - loyal dog who waited for his master.

Since we were in Shibuya we walked around the area to see what malls was opened and my sister was checking her map and found a mall closeby so we headed off. I spotted many taxi drivers and they dress so professional - not in t-shirts or shorts but in "SUITS", black or blue suits with a tie and white gloves! It was crazy. They look so neat and clean. Also, the side doors of the taxi can open by itself!!!  HOLY MOLY! Yup, so after shopping in the random mall we found (luxury items) we went home. We didn't buy anything cause it was all brand named stuff and also the bakery downstairs was SO EXPENSIVE.  *faints* We did some snack shopping around Ikebukuro station though. 

Official day in Tokyo end.

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