pocketkiriyama
Commoner
I promise that I would put up some pictures from my last trip to Japan a while back but I've been so busy that I completely forgot. So here's the first batch that I've uploaded.
After a 14 hour straight flight from Chicago to Narita, we then hop on a shinkansen 1.5 hour train ride straight to Tokyo which after we transfer to a local metro for another 30 minutes to get to our apartment agent which we took another hour to find.
Finally we arrived at our apartment and right out the front window I see a maid cafe and was tempted to check it out....which I chickened out.
We decided to walk around Japan's infamous electric town aka Akibahara or Akiba for short. This place is a gigantic big light show for buildings. Since it's a tourist destination as well as the locals like to frequent this place, it can get crowded at certain intersections.
The next day we woke up at 7am which is a little late since we want to beat rush hour. Thank goodness it was a Sunday. We took the local metro for about an hour to get to Tsukiji fish market but we got there too early. We decided to just snack around and also found a spot for lunch.
The scorched scallops were really good but a bit pricey at 500yen ~ $4.13.
We found a nice little shop that makes sushi over rice for lunch. I got a full tuna meal. There's regular tuna, white tuna and fatty tuna on top of rice and the price was modest at 900yen ~ $7.44. The cheapest of this kind of meal I had here in Chicago costs about $14.
Next we took a 2 hour train ride to Odaiba bay. I heard that the life size gundam is there.
Strangely the air here is really good and the view is amazing! Definitely an ideal place to raise a family. There were quite a few people out here enjoying the weather or jogging.
This place is the cleanest I've ever been too. The Japanese are serious in their hygiene.
After almost an hour of walking around, we finally found the gundam!
On to our next destination, we took the same train and back track for about 1.5 hours into Tokyo to get to the Meji Jingu. There are empty Japanese wine barrels on one side and empty French wine barrels on the other side which I didn't take a picture.
Before entering any shrines in Japan, they always have a water spring at the entrance for us to wash the hands and purify ourselves.
The Japanese sure maintain their temples well.
I got lucky that day as I get the chance to see a tradition Japanese wedding in person. To have a wedding ceremony in the Meji shrine, the families of this couple must be well off.
After walking around for another hour, we decided to go to Shibuya for dinner. It was about a 30 minute train ride from the Meji Jingu.
As soon as I got to Shibuya, I found a landmark. It's a statue of Hachiko. If any of you don't know Hachiko, I'd recommend googling about her or you can watch the movie which is also called Hachiko. Be warned though there is the American version and the original Japanese version. Both are good but I much prefer the original.
This place lives up to being called fashion central of Japan. At least half of the girls here are dressed up so well. When I walked up to the famous "Shibuya crossing" I was overwhelmed when the green light for pedestrians lit up and thousands of people came walking through from all sides.
Night was falling so we head back on the metro for another hour train ride back home. Before we went back, I had to stop by the electronics store to pick up an adapter for my laptop which uses a 120v plug instead of a 110v plug. Seriously this place have every electronic device you want to find.
By the time we got back home, it was almost 11pm. It turns out later that we'd continue going out in the morning and coming back home late every day until we left Japan. I'll post up some more later when I have time. I just handed down my 13" laptop that I've been using when I traveled to my nephew since I got myself a Surface 3 Pro so I'll need some time to get use to it.
After a 14 hour straight flight from Chicago to Narita, we then hop on a shinkansen 1.5 hour train ride straight to Tokyo which after we transfer to a local metro for another 30 minutes to get to our apartment agent which we took another hour to find.
Finally we arrived at our apartment and right out the front window I see a maid cafe and was tempted to check it out....which I chickened out.
We decided to walk around Japan's infamous electric town aka Akibahara or Akiba for short. This place is a gigantic big light show for buildings. Since it's a tourist destination as well as the locals like to frequent this place, it can get crowded at certain intersections.
The next day we woke up at 7am which is a little late since we want to beat rush hour. Thank goodness it was a Sunday. We took the local metro for about an hour to get to Tsukiji fish market but we got there too early. We decided to just snack around and also found a spot for lunch.
The scorched scallops were really good but a bit pricey at 500yen ~ $4.13.
We found a nice little shop that makes sushi over rice for lunch. I got a full tuna meal. There's regular tuna, white tuna and fatty tuna on top of rice and the price was modest at 900yen ~ $7.44. The cheapest of this kind of meal I had here in Chicago costs about $14.
Next we took a 2 hour train ride to Odaiba bay. I heard that the life size gundam is there.
Strangely the air here is really good and the view is amazing! Definitely an ideal place to raise a family. There were quite a few people out here enjoying the weather or jogging.
This place is the cleanest I've ever been too. The Japanese are serious in their hygiene.
After almost an hour of walking around, we finally found the gundam!
On to our next destination, we took the same train and back track for about 1.5 hours into Tokyo to get to the Meji Jingu. There are empty Japanese wine barrels on one side and empty French wine barrels on the other side which I didn't take a picture.
Before entering any shrines in Japan, they always have a water spring at the entrance for us to wash the hands and purify ourselves.
The Japanese sure maintain their temples well.
I got lucky that day as I get the chance to see a tradition Japanese wedding in person. To have a wedding ceremony in the Meji shrine, the families of this couple must be well off.
After walking around for another hour, we decided to go to Shibuya for dinner. It was about a 30 minute train ride from the Meji Jingu.
As soon as I got to Shibuya, I found a landmark. It's a statue of Hachiko. If any of you don't know Hachiko, I'd recommend googling about her or you can watch the movie which is also called Hachiko. Be warned though there is the American version and the original Japanese version. Both are good but I much prefer the original.
This place lives up to being called fashion central of Japan. At least half of the girls here are dressed up so well. When I walked up to the famous "Shibuya crossing" I was overwhelmed when the green light for pedestrians lit up and thousands of people came walking through from all sides.
Night was falling so we head back on the metro for another hour train ride back home. Before we went back, I had to stop by the electronics store to pick up an adapter for my laptop which uses a 120v plug instead of a 110v plug. Seriously this place have every electronic device you want to find.
By the time we got back home, it was almost 11pm. It turns out later that we'd continue going out in the morning and coming back home late every day until we left Japan. I'll post up some more later when I have time. I just handed down my 13" laptop that I've been using when I traveled to my nephew since I got myself a Surface 3 Pro so I'll need some time to get use to it.
wow...so much time u spend on that trip to Japan :O