After all that late night packing I had some hard time waking up in the morning (do not forget the fact that I was still waking up at 2am local time to watch some scrubs episodes XD not that I wanted to, but jisa時差 (time difference) is smth u can not avoid). I do not think I had any breakfast, I just rushed out the doors , happy to get the hell out of Tm as fast as I could, and I was running late for the bus XD (I will leave it up to you to make a conclusion about the main reason)))
meow)Japanese buses/trains are usually running strictly on time, so if it is stated 7-54for departure time, if you are at the bus station at 7-55 you can as well go have a cup of coffee and wait for the next. In my case just as arriving on time for work I was surprised to see an empty bus stop. As 8 am is considered early morning here I couldn’t see anyone else in the area. I thought that maybe I messed up the timetable and I am late for the bus, but apparently I was early O_o I had to wait for extra 5 minutes for the bus. Let me tell you that those were very long 5 minutes. I had no idea what to do if I were late for bus, as Bee was supposed to wait for me at 10 am near the post box, and I wasn’t sure whether I can actually find that damn postbox or whether there’re gonna be many traffic jams etc. Finally the bus arrived and I was so happy to get on board. Not that many people were going to Tokyo this early – only two guys and one couple. Anyways as I had my ticket booked beforehand, so I got both sits to myself, which was nice as I was traveling heavy loaded (clothes for several days and all the presents and of cause 1l of ua gorilka))) Bus made one long stop (apx 25 minutes) on our way, but I was just to tired and stressed out from all the waiting to get off the bus. I was pleasantly surprised to see that before departure the bus driver checked whether everyone was on board. And so my trip to Tokyo continued. I really enjoyed the view outside, probably because everything is new and somewhat unusual to me here. Scenery, roads and buildings - everything is so neat and tidy (sometimes even way to neat and tidy XD), but the general impression is really nice. I saw some weird (in a good way) architecture when the bus was approaching Ikebukuro station.
When I got off the bus on the sidewalk (hard to tell that it is bus stop at all as haven’t noticed any signs) I strolled towards Seibu shopping mall in the search of that red mail box. Surprisingly to me (but I guess that SJ and others could’ve shared more laughs about silly me) I was able to find the meeting spot quite easily. However my worries were not resolved at all as when the clock was showing 10-30 and Bee wasn’t there, I had some hard time figuring what I was supposed to do in this big city all alone XD with no cell phone and very little chance of finding my way back to Tm! I would’ve gone for a walk but apparently gorilka is bad for your health even without actually drinking it (my back was in pain XD from heavy backpack) so all I could do is to sit near that red mail box. Actually I think that mail box had some warm homely feeling. Many Japanese would stop by to put their mails in (time before NY is really busy as everyone is sending nengajou – NY greeting cards). And by the time I and my mail box started to form some kind of connection Bee has arrived.
Wahhh… some screaming, some hugs and kisses – others were probably freaked out by these two blondes jumping up and down all over the place XD- and after this basic “barbaric” (from Japanese point of view) ritual we finally went towards station. I do not want to go into details about how complicated the subway/train system in Japan is, so we’ll just settle at the point that for the newcomer from a city with three lines it all looks unbelievable, but once u get used to it, it;s not that big of a deal anymore. There are many signs everywhere and most have romanji, and when riding the train some of the announcements would be in English as well, so now I have no troubles getting to the station I need. Another big topic is that stations are really big - with lots of stores and cafes, which is really nice as you can meet with friends inside the station without spending additional money for getting in and out the station (transportation fees are high, not really high, extremely high…) I also find that these coin locker are very useful! I used one that time to leave my heavy stuff at the station and we went for sightseeing!
Apparently I am one indecisive person! As everything was new to me I had no plan where to go first. Bee was asking whether I am into shopping, old shrines, partying, modern culture etc. But I couldn’t provide her with any answer. So the “Conquer Tokyo in 4 days” plan was up to Bee and Bee alone (well, for the most part))). I bought one day ticket for JR Yamanote line. This line makes up circle in Tokyo and most of the famous places can be easily accessed through it. I bought one day ticket for this line and so my exploration of Tokyo has started.
It started with Shinjuku. At first we went to Shinjuku to visit Tokyo metropolitan.
It is very high building and usually you can go to the top to see the view for free, but as NY holidays were approaching, City hall was also closed. At least we had some fun waking around and taking pictures of various monuments.
I really enjoy the feeling of Japanese streets and parks. In one of such parks we have found “city of homeless”. No matter how good or rich the economy is, there are homeless people everywhere. But there are no beggars on the street, not like in ua when people would ask you for money (it’s not even the right word, I’d rather say demand). Here homeless would simply do the recycling jobs and do not bother anyone around them.
After the epic fail with Metropoliten we went for Harajuku. There we went to the Meiji shrine.
Those huuuuuge barrels of wine and sake were really amazing.
I still have hard time remembering the difference between temple and shrine. I mean I know that one is Buddhism and the other is Shinto, but which is which is always a struggle to me. Plus from outside it is hard to tell the difference. Only when you get closer you can see that some have water fountains for you to clean yourself and the other some smelly smoke and the altars are definitely different. I still have no idea where to clap twice or once and how many times to bow. But I do not think that it is my main problem)))
Shrine was really nice, but I be t that most of the people know about Harajuku not because of the shrine but because of crazy cosplay (people dressing up as anime/manga/movie characters). And here once again we failed to find anyone dressed up. We wondered around Takeshita Street with many stores and attractions.
We even went to AKB48 store. Bee was trying to show me the only girl she likes from the band, but as they look all the same, even she was not able to find the right girl. However she narrowed her selection to 4 or 5, which is good result, taking into consideration that there are 48 girls in total XD. No matter how disappointing it was not to be able to see some crazy cosplays I enjoyed the simple walk around the area.
A some point we was this huge crowd of girls rushing somewhere. We were really curious about it so we followedthe crowd and came to this sign.
Aparantely the beloved Arashi has prepared this message for their fans and girls went crazy about it... taking pictures trying to get close to the "ema". it was interesting for us to watch )))
As it was the high time for lunch, we decided to go for the small shop near Bee’s uni in Adachi. There is nothing much to see there. It is quite residential area for the most part. Actually Bee’s university is making some kind of art project to make the neighborhood nicer. University staff would invite musicians, artist to perform on street for some events to unite people together through various arts. The next big event is in March and I’d like to go as well. This time they are preparing soap bubble performances!
We had lunch at the small store, and food there was really good. We had fried shrimps and pork cutlet. Even though we asked for smaller size it was still a lot for us to eat!
Our mood got better after lunch and we decided to give Tokyo another chance))) This time in Akihabara, district of electronics! It is true that you can not see many girls in there and only a specific type of guys would go there. We went to different stores to check the character figures. Some of those toys should not be displayed in public! I wonder if evening biology class it is appropriate to show smth of that kind. Once you get to see such stores in Japan you will not longer believe that Japanese are very shy! I’ve been to some fancy sex shops in Europe (do not ask me for details XD), but these Japanese toy stores are on the whole different level!
Another thing that I definitely wanted to try was “puri-cura” (cute photos). We went to one of such stores. At first it was really hard to decide which cabin to chose as they all seemed very nice. Additionally you can even rent some clothes to take photos in. Unknowingly we ended up at cat and panther themed cabin. There you have to can choose the layout and some frames for the photos. But as there is a timer for making a choice, some of our selections were done really randomly XD we posed a lot and then decorated the picture by adding signatures and stuff. It was really fun. Now I have a set of such cute photos. I noticed that puri-cura would make you skin extremely white and your eyes extremely large. And as I had my hair tied in a pony tail some of the pictures were somewhat scary XD
On our way out Bee has spotted this cute girl who was by herself. Actually it is not common to go to such a place alone. You’d go with friends to have some fun, and alone it is somewhat sad. So I wondered what this cute girl was doing on her own, but then it hit us – it was a guy!!! No matter how slim and cute he looked with the wig and full make-up, I am 100% sure that it was a guy. We could clearly see his adam apple and when having a closer look at the face you can understand that he is a very cute and girly, but still male. Ahh... That time I thought that such things which I’ve read about in books really happen in real life XD
But no time for deep thoughts, as we were going for karaoke this time, another must-try experience in Japan. We booked a room for two hours and ordered a drink! Bee was singing some old Japanese songs, which I did not know. I didn’t sing much as I wasn’t drunk. I sang “Rainy night”, “Colors ~Melody and Harmony~” and hmm. I do not remember what else. But next time I go to karaoke I have the entire list of songs that I want to sing! But in order to do so I think I need to go alone, because I have very bad voice, so it might be painful for people to listen me sing much! lol
Happy and with soar throats we went back home. Bee’s bf picked us up from the train station and in some 10 minutes we arrived at their place. It is a nice three room apartment on the second floor with the walking closet (I want one for myself too). Bf has prepared dinner for us (so sweet XD) and as I brought the vodka with me it was the hight time for party. We tought bf the correct way of drinking vodka. At first he laughed at us, but when he felt his throat and nose burning, he listened to us XD. We were not drinking that much, but the mood was really nice. Drinking and watching old soviet cartoons in Japan before NY holidays - what can be better!? After several shots Bee decided to drink “high-ball” (whiskey with soda), so bf made those for us. I can clearly see that his glass was slightly brownish, while ours were really dark!. I guess he was trying to get us drunk and go to sleep, but that’s not the case when two ua girls meet after a long time! We had to chat about tons of stuff, so poor bf went to bed alone XD I think he might hate me if I stay at their place too often, but I can tolerate him disliking me as long as I hang out with Bee)))
After the long drinking session I finally got to bed. This was the first night that I didn’t wake up at 2 am and had a very nice calm sleep. Tokyo might not have been all that welcoming to me on that day, but I am a tough nut to crack and I had several next days to prove that I am worth being nice to)!
Day 4~Tokyo time or Sightseeing Failure ~
After all that late night packing I had some hard time waking up in the morning (do not forget the fact that I was still waking up at 2am local time to watch some scrubs episodes XD not that I wanted to, but jisa時差 (time difference) is smth u can not avoid). I do not think I had any breakfast, I just rushed out the doors , happy to get the hell out of Tm as fast as I could, and I was running late for the bus XD (I will leave it up to you to make a conclusion about the main reason)))
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