Harajuku Park

Another day over. Compared to the 2 previous days, this one wasn't too great...

While Mak was still sleeping, I decided to walk a bit in Jimbocho just to get familiar with my surroundings (although I went a little bit far heh).



It's Sunday, therefore it's the weekend. In the weekend, in Harajuku, there is a huge gathering with cosplayed people, especially cute girls. But when we got there, there wasn't much going on.
Still, the cosplay event of Harajuku Bridge is not the only attraction in Harajuku.

We visited the Harajuku Park (Yoyogi), which took quite a while since it's kinda huge.















I didn't know there would be a traditional Japanese wedding going on !!



After quite a while, we got to the main shrine, which is the reference for the center of the park:



After visiting the main shrine, we crossed the other side of the park:

















Near the Yoyogi Park, there is another park more accessible to the public where a lot of people go have pic-nics, walking around, watching the fountains (which are small compared to the ones we have Canada), jogging and enjoying life pretty much.

Then we went around the main street of the city (Harajuku Street... duh) and went through the different stores but the sales were mostly clothes and shoes. There are also a lot of restaurants but their moslty fast food chains.

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Harajuku's final fantasy-like feature:
-water streams in-between the sidewalks and the stores going on for miles:



Then we got a bit far off and ended up in the suburbs of the city but made it back to the Harajuku Station just fine.

We came back home to relax the rest of the day since we did a LOT of walking.

A new adventure awaits tomorrow!

Another day in Tokyo

Woke up at 9 this morning. Sunny sky and not as humid as yesterday with a refreshing wind. A perfect weather !
Since a couple of Mak's friends from his program arrived yesterday night, we went to meet them in Asakusa this morning.



And since they aren't staying in Tokyo for long, they joined for today's new adventure. We went to the sides of Akihabara (Akiba for short). We first visited the mall (gigantic) and bought a few things for souvenirs or else.







Then we left the mall and went to an electronic store: DVDs (mostly blue ray) and video games.





After that, a split-floor-library:
A split-floor library is a building only selling books but each floor sells a different type of "literature".





Then we walked around a bit and visited a few stores (I couldn't take pictures/videos in those because most of the time there are 3x sections and so they forbid archiving.





Then we went through a few other custom stores selling music and anime movies until we started being hungry. So we went to a restaurant. Gawd the food there is SOOOO tasty !!



Funny fact: in Japan, there is no tip, they don't know what it is so if you try to give them some they get puzzled. Also, (not only in restaurants) we do not hand in cash directly from hand to hand... there is a small plate meant to leave the cash, when you push the plate back at the cashier, they take it back and that's how you pay them...
After lunch, we went back to the subway because the others had to leave early in order to catch the train. In the afternoon we went back to our hotel in Jimbocho and relaxed a little.

As we were relaxing on the porch, some guys with a drum came out and gave a little show... just like that !



After relaxing, we walked a bit in Jimbocho, got to a small restaurant and had dinner.



That's about it for today folks.

See you all soon

Asakusa

Alright, another day over, but as opposed to yesterday, today was GREAT !!

I woke up early as you already know and had an all-you-can-eat breakfast for only 315 yen !!! Unbelievable isn't it ? Okay there wasn't too much choice but still...
After a relaxing morning, we took off to Asakusa !! We got lost at some point while transferring from one subway station to the other but it gave us a bit of time to visit the neighborhood.







but we found the right way eventually and made it to Asakusa just fine:

























And we found a shop/restaurant specializing in ice-cream in the market-place selling various flavors which looked interesting so we bought one each:







Then we went around some more since the place is kinda huge:



And I found an interesting treat (looking familiar?)



After a bit of walking and visiting the different shops of the city, we went to a convenience store buy a meal and later go back to our place.

PS: I got your messages from the previous post; don't worry I'll show my face some more from now on :)

Morning Everyone

It's currently 6h am here in Tokyo.

I fixed the camera problem so I shall upload the videos at once:
-Narita Station and Hotel Room (for dwarfs)




Turns out the conditioner is fine. Although it's not that fresh, it still makes a huge difference from the actual temperature here (which is around 28 degrees). The futon is so comfortable but the mattress....

So that's about it.
I'll post again shortly.
Take care everyone.

PS: the other video can't upload for some reason... I'll keep trying but can't promise anything

Arrival to Japanese Soil

Ok major problems here and there: my laptop won't read my camera so I'm incapable of uploading any videos... When I access Internet, everything is in Japanese so I have to guess where to click.

But regarding the trip itself:
After 15 hours of impossibly long flight, we got mazed up at the airport and finally had to learn the pattern of the Japan-train system (which is impossibly complicated). In Montreal, we have 1 line for a direction, in Japan, for 1 direction, you have like 7 lines. Each line is different, the basic black line goes through all the stations, the second pink line skips a few, etc until the express train which only stops to the major stations... BUT THAT'S NOT ON THE MAP !!! The map only shows the major stations so once you get the correct direction and the line, you have to find which train matches which line, but it's impossible to tell if you can't read freaking kanjis !! And the price for the ticket is worth the distance you intend to take, so if you want to get the hell out of the train system, you need to be at the right station and exit the right train matching the right line...... anyways, we made it through. Then we found the hotel after hours of walking: just to find it. Turns out the room we have is ultra-small, the air-conditioner fits the ''cold'' temperature of Japan but that happens to be a warm temperature in Canada so basically the room doesn't get under 18 degrees. The mattresses are as hard as stone and a few other things are not what we thought they would be like. Non-the-less, after the most painful day ever, we went visiting the city around the hotel (Jimbocho)... the place is very nice, lots of places to eat, endless vending-machines selling just about anything from shampoo to cigarettes and much more, and for astonishingly low prices.

Funny facts about Tokyo:
- To get from point A to point B takes everything in hell to accomplish. Every time you think you finally got figured out you get more problems.
- The city is flawless-clean. The is not the tiniest paper, nor a single gum or even trash pieces anywhere.
- There is not a trash in a thousand miles. I dunno how they keep the place so clean since it's impossible to find a freaking trash can.
- There are tons and tons of places to visit, especially restaurants.
- There are bikes everywhere, but none are chained or protected. Seems like Japanese don't steal bikes....

PS: I'll try to fix the camera problem and upload the 2 videos from today if possible.

Tomorrow, a new adventure begins.
Till next time, good night!

Testing Blog Page

6 days before setting off to Jpn, creating my Blog and making sure everything works well before uploading the stuff I get there...
Can't wait to be there!