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Published: June 21st 2006
Straight after work on Friday, Amy and I caught the Shinkansen to Tokyo. We missed the Hikari super express by about 5 seconds. As we ran up the stairs we could hear the ringing sound which meant the doors were closing! We had to wait and then catch a slower shinkansen. It didn't really matter because we were on holidays for the next two days and could relax! We got a little lost making our way to the hostel, due to inaccurate directions and the confusing Tokyo train system. When we finally made it to our hostel, we went out for an 11pm dinner. Back at the hostel, we met some other travellers who shared their stories and gave us some tips about travel in Japan (and one who showed us a video of the guy in their dorm grinding his teeth while sleeping!). The hostel was great - it was brand new, in fact it had only been open for 10 days!
Saturday morning we walked to Asakusa's Senso-ji Temple, bumping into a few famous Japanese cartoon characters along the way! I had been to the temple before, but still found new things to gawk at and be intrigued
!!!!!!
There are also signs everywhere saying no mobile phones - restaurants, public transport etc. On the shinkansen, people always go to the space between carriages to talk on their phones.by.
Amy and I then caught a ferry down the Sumida River and under the Rainbow Bridge, to Odaiba. Odaiba is a huge man made island full of shops and attractions. Actually the shops are also the attractions. The main shopping centre we went to was called Venus Fort and is designed to look like the streets of Paris and Italy - very cool, I loved it! On Odaiba, we met up with Amy’s old school friend, Ai. It was really nice of her to give up her weekend (and apartment) for us. Ai was also our translating tour guide and a big help when we were catching trains.
All shopped out, carrying too many bags, we finally decided we better leave - 7pm. After changing in the station’s toilets like crazy people, we made our way to Shibuya. We were nearly an hour late meeting Ai's friend as there was a "human accident" on the Yamanote (main) train line, and because it was difficult to get me away from the shops!
Without losing each other, we crossed the Shibuya intersection and found Ai's friend, Azusa. We ate dinner at a nice izakaya (Japanese style restaurant) then
Me and Anpanman!
-A very famous character in Japan. He has a beanpaste filled bread head and his friends include, Melonpan (popular Japanese bread) and Riceball Head! made our way back on the trains to Roppongi - the nightlife district.
This whole time Amy and I were still carrying our backpacks!!! We did leave them in lockers during the day, and collected them after, but going clubbing with backpacks is not recommended! We were debating whether to leave our backpacks in the lockers at the train station, but the trains stop between 12 and 5am. The earliest we would have been able to get them was at 5am when the station opened - and we thought we would be in bed by then!!! That certainly didn’t happen, and around 5am, when we were back at the station on our way home, we kicked ourselves!
Anyway, out in Roppongi, we went to a club called Vanilla - I hadn’t heard too many good things about this place but thought I’ll judge for myself - I won’t be going back. Very sleazy, too big and too packed!
Later, we went to a small bar called Wall Street, which was ok. We met a Kiwi and an Aussie who took us to a shot bar called Geronimo's. Geronimo's looked like a cool place, but there was no
room to move.
The guys we met thought of a bar/restaurant that we could walk to. When we finally got there, it was actually somewhere I had been before! Gonpachi - the restaurant I ate in last time I was in Tokyo! We all ordered desserts and the boys drank sake!
Cold, raining, and daylight, we left Gonpachi and headed for the train station to go back to Ai’s place for some much needed sleep!
Sunday was raining again. Caught the train to Shibuya to check out the shops in Shibuya 109. Eight floors of crazy, funky Tokyo fashion! The sales assistants all dressed like the mannequins and had extremely nasal voices when they welcomed you to their shop - “IRASSHAIMASEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” There was even a Barbie brand store! Girls are always dressed up in Japan and they ALL wear heels. Clothing - Sailor theme is in and hats, mainly beret style, also absolutely anything with lace!
Next stop, before heading home, was Harajuku! I still can’t get Gwen Stefani’s songs out of my head - she sings about the dressed up girls of Harajuku in ‘What You Waiting For’! Even has a song called ‘Harajuku Girls’!
I’ll definitely go back one sunnier day to get more pics!
Back to Tokyo station and goodbye to Ai and Tokyo…till next time!
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Jason Boccaccio
non-member comment
Dogs treated as human babies
These dogs should easily be able to walk the same pace as there owner so why put them in a pram? I can understand providing clothing for little dogs so they are protected from the cold, but actually pushing them around in a pram is taking things way too far! I suppose dogs are cheaper than humans to raise and provides something to do for those stay at home house wives / husbands with no kids. Marissa, is there many of these pram dogs in Japan? Is there any explaination? Does this happen in Australia?