17th - 21st September, 2007
Monday was a public holiday and everyone except me had Tuesday and Wednesday off as they all had to work on the weekend so instead of staying in Himeji Steve, Marie, Lauren and Steve Harvey (an American) decided to take some nenkyus (paid holidays) and head to Tokyo one of our favourite places for the week. Each time we go there we seem to have different experiences and this was no exception. We stayed in Shinjuku our favourite part of town but this time we were in a different hotel than usual. It was good though because we got to see a different area. This area was very interesting and a little shady in some parts but we didn’t have a problem and I would recommend people to stay there in a flash. It was a great location and very lively.
During our trip we: explored different areas of Shinjuku, shopped in Harajuku and Shibuya where fashions and stores are amazingly crazy, did a lot of “people watching” went to an Izukaya and caught up with Lexi (an American ALT who lived in our building), went to Disney Sea (which deserves it’s own blog entry), checked out Akihabara and experienced a “Maid Cafe”, went to the Tokyo Metro Government Building, danced the night away at a club called “Atom”, shopped some more in Ikebukuro in Sunshine City - the BEST shopping mall I have experienced in Japan, ate Mexican in the first Mexican restaurant that I have seen in Japan and had a quick stroll through Ginza. It was a jam packed week but one that was definitley filled with loads of fun, thrills and excitement.
Fruit on sticks - absolutely delicious!
The Tokyo Metro Government Building
The view
Night out with Lexi
Ginza
I absolutely LOVE all the hustle and bustle and bright neon lights that Tokyo is filled with. Just being on the streets and “people watching” is an amazing experience in itself. This time in Tokyo I tried to capture many of the different fashions that I saw. Here are a few for you to check out...
Shibuya: As previously mentioned Shibuya has the largest crossing in the world. Right in front of the crossing there is a Starbucks with seats on the second level overlooking the crossing which I have always wanted to go into. Marie, Lauren and I decided to see if we could get ourselves some front row seats. We got our coffee’s and headed upstairs only to find that we were “chigaoued”. There were NO front row seats for us. Of course they were all full. Well that didn’t stop us. I was dying to sit in one of those seats and have wanted to for a very long time so we did what anyone would do: stalk people. We were watching them like hawks waiting for any sign that they were going to leave. The only problem was that we needed 3 seats. We managed to get one right away and then one lady left so we quickly grabbed her seat. We needed one more seat...we were watching a couple who had finished their drinks but were just sitting “people watching”. Every time they moved we got our hopes up but no such luck. We were almost ready to give up hope when someone got up to leave. We dived for the seat which was right on the balcony - front row middle seat. PERFECT!!
There were lots of other people also fighting to get these seats but we scored it. We moved the balcony seat over so that we could fit in the other two chairs that we had grabbed. We did it!! We were so happy - it was hard work but we accomplished our mission. It only took us about forty minutes. Here is our photo to prove that we were there. We actually got told off for taking photos but when you fight this hard to get a seat you definitely need a photo to prove it!! We ended up sitting there for another 20 minutes before 3 very lucky people took over our seats.
Maid Cafe: Akihabara is famous for its “Maid Cafe’s”. So of course we had to experience one. Steve and Steve wanted to go into one on their own so Marie, Lauren and I went in on our own. It was quite a funny experience. All it is is a cafe where all the waitresses dress as maids. It’s very “cutsie” and is ideally for men but anyone can go into one.
They come and serve you and stir your coffee and add your sugar for you and play little games with you. They did exactly to us what they were doing to all the guys. It was a little embarrassing but funny to watch and I am glad that I was able to experience it.
Tokyo is such a happening place and it is always sad to have to leave. I always have a blast there!!
Lauren was very lucky as her mum was here to celebrate her birthday with her. Our parents were also here so we all celebrated together. Makoto one of our Japanese friends booked an Izukiya for us - a different one to the one we usually go to. It had a pirate theme and was really cool. We ate a feast that’s for sure. Makoto and Kyosuke did the ordering and food just kept coming and coming. We were definitely full by the end of it. 
