map the soul, map the seoul

Japan pt. 2 - Map the Tokyo & Osaka

Things happened and I'll have a busy weekend, so I should totally finish updating on Japan! I'll try to do it quickly because I also need to sleep otherwise I'll be dead by the end of this weekend, haha.

Okay, so day number 3 in Japan! I was still in Tokyo. I would meet up with Maria and Yvi again, but at Shibuya station. That was hell. Because my phone wasn't working, we decided the night before that we would meet up at the exit/gate of the Ginza line at the station. After an hour of waiting at the exit, I got really stressed out and even got scared (hello, fear of being lost), I tried calling them with my telephone card but yeah, that didn't work. So I went to the tourist information desk and they showed me another phone (they didn't have a phone I could use T_T), maybe that one could work. It didn't. I went back and asked them (practically crying at this point) if there were more Ginza line exits. ... There were. Fast forward five minutes and I got re-united with the two girls. Of course, I was COMPLETELY stressed out by this point and just had to cry for a bit. But what was waiting for me made me happy again.

When we went out of the station, we ended up at the famous Shibuya crosswalk! The lights turned red for the cars quite soon after we stood still, waiting for it. It was during the day, so it wasn't as crowded as during the night, but still quite crowded! I'm just happy I got to walk there and be part of the crowd. Too bad, I couldn't take a picture. We lost so much time at the Shibuya station that we had to hurry to keep on schedule.

First stop: Shibuya Records .. something. This is a building of 7 levels or so with on every level different kinds of music. There was even a kpop floor, but why would I go there when I live in Seoul for four months? Exactly. So I went to the JPOP store and got myself ARASHI's new album POPCORN (also bought one for my flatmate, Xia Qing) and Shige's version of NEWS' single Chankapana. Of course, Kato Shigeaki is my favourite so I totally had to buy his version.

Next stop: Harajuku. Well, this place is absolutely crowded. We only went to the main street, we couldn't go to Yoyogi Park where most of the dressed up youngsters were, but I got to see two of them! They even leme take a picture of them. :) Anyways, the street consists of a lot of shops with the weirdest things. I found boob pudding, Willy Wonka's chocolate (which is pretty tasty), a bunny mannequin, a shop just for keychains of idols (I got Eunhyuk, Matsujun and Junsu!) and a lot more! Whenever you have the chance, go to this street and if you have more time to spare, also go to Yoyogi Park! You should do this on a Sunday, as this is the day they usually hang out here. But beware, it is very crowded! I was dragging a trolley with me the entire case and you need to look out for other people. Luckily, I'm quite good at dodging people.

After visiting Harajuku, we went to Meiji Shrine which is located just a few blocks away. It took us a while to walk through the forest-like path but we got greeted by a Japanese wedding couple! They didn't really greeted us of course, but they were taking pictures with family and friends. Of course, random bystanders (including ourselves) made some pictures too. When we walked around the site, there was another wedding going on (different couple) and we looked at the little plates with wishes on them. (I forgot how they were called.) Every day, the priests would have their ceremony, also taking everyone's wishes in consideration. While Maria and Yvi were still hanging around the wish plates, I strolled around the site some more. I looked at the actual shrine, seeing more people throwing coins before doing their prayers and of course, another wedding couple walking by! And because it was a shrine, there was also a lot of families dressed in formal kimono's. It was a lovely sight to see. The Meiji Shrine might be in a crowded district, but it was still very peaceful there as it was surrounded by trees. It was nice seeing it and all the people walking around.

EDIT! (Even though I'm extremely sleepy, I want to finish this.. so tadaa)

After visitng Meiji Shrine, we made our way to Akihabara which is pretty much the electronics/gamers district. Now, this may not have been that special for the other two but for me it was heaven. I did grew up with two gaming brothers after all. We went into one building which had one floor entirely dedicated to games and merchandise. Unfortunately, I didn't buy anything (wasn't sure anymore if I could play the games anymore but playstation is region-free and I forgot that and DAMN) but I did look at everything quite calmly. When we got outside, it was already dark and the district had come to live. There were so many people! We walked across another building where a lot of people were sitting with their Nintendo DS or PSP and all the likes. Just like at the Pokémon center; to download all the goodies! Also, there were some girls dressed in maid costumes giving out pamphlets for maid cafes (yep, maid cafes, you heard of them, don't lie to me. If you really didn't..) It's really simple. A cafe where you get served by girls dressed in maid cafes. Of course, lonely guys go there quite often. I don't blame them. I want to go to a butler cafe once.

What? Hey, I'm single, I can look. Anyways, other than that, we wanted to look for a place to take some purikura pictures. (Pretty much Japanese photobooths where you can edit the hell out of the pictures.) After some good searching we found one and made some nice pictures. :D

I would have loved to stay longer in Akihabara as I wanted to check out some more games or just actually play some games at a game center, but of course.. no time. BUT NEXT TIME.. Next time.. :)

So the next stop in Tokyo was also the last one, unfortunately. We went to Tokyo Station as Character Street would be there.. somewhere. It took us a while to find it, but we really ended up in some kind of 'street' (inside a building though) with themed stores like Hello Kitty, Rilakkuma, Miffy (Nijntje for the Dutchies), and so on. I bought some things for friends. Something small for myself. We even saw a large candy shop and like pretty much every candy shop, it was very colorful. Unfortunately, Maria couldn't find the candy I gave her on the subway. I bought it in Kyoto and I just shared my last pieces. I hope she found it by now though. There's not really a lot to say about this street, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

After visiting the candy shop, it was time to say goodbye to the two lovely girls who toured me around Tokyo. Maria definitely had to rest, I wouldn't want her to get more sick so after many thank you's and random rambling, we split up and I looked for a place to kill time before taking a night bus back to Osaka. I ended up on the floor next to some grandmothers and ate the food I bought earlier in the morning. Yes, I really sat on the floor for at least two hours, because my feet were also killing me. It was okay, I could watch people pass by and I absolutely love to observe people. Got some interesting sights to see. The kids who dropped a toy near me were the cutest though.

Before taking the night bus back, I tried the telephone card again. Didn't work. So I thought; I know the number of my friends' hostel, I shall call the hostel! I got to speak with a receptionist that only knew a little bit of English, but we could still understand each other. My friends were out so I just told the receptionist that he should tell them that I can't call them and I'll see them tomorrow. I decided to pick them up at their hostel (luckily, I looked up the directions before I left my own hostel!).

The night bus was pretty comfortable. This time I had the "Relax WIDE" seats. Wide, my ass. Wide for Japanese people maybe. Normal for Western people. Or just for people with a big butt. But it was still comfortable! I could lay down pretty well and there was a cap you could pull over your head so it was dark and no one would disturb you.

In Osaka, I immediately went to the others' hostel, not wanting to miss them as I didn't know when they would leave. When I got out of the station, I was a bit confused of which direction to go so I asked a man in a little booth (you could buy snacks and drinks there) in my best Japanese where the hostel was. He perfectly understood me! Hah! I did learn some Japanese after all~ He had a map and showed me how to walk. I walked a bit too far and he saw that so he came to fetch me on his bike and pointed at another guy who stood in front of the hostel just to make sure I got to the right hostel. That's right. That's how nice Japanese people are.

I asked the owner of the hostel if my friends were still checked in and they were. So I asked if I could wait in the lobby for them to wake up but he just said I was allowed to go to their rooms to wake them up myself. Hah, they were actually still sleeping and woke them up thirty minutes before they wanted to wake up. Oh well, at least we were reunited again!!

A few hours later, after some 7/11 breakfast, we went our way to Osaka Castle. (We found a train with a "Women only" section..) Apparently, it was so cold for Martin that he wore four layers (all shirts). I definitely had to mention that before I forgot. Before you get to Osaka Castle, you will walk through a large park where in the earlier times were more buildings but they all got destroyed during a war if I remembered correctly. You can go to the park for free so there were two teenage boys skating on the street. We were a bit curious as it didn't really like a skateboard or a waveboard. Actually, they were skating on two separate boards just big enough for their individual feet. Well, that was quite a sight to see. They looked so pro, so Martin eventually got to try it. Big fail, that's all I can say. One of the boys filmed it, just like I did and luckily we did, because it was actually hilarious, but also dangerous. (He almost fell, so yeah..) We said thank you for letting one of us try and moved on, stopping on different spots to take some pictures.

Finally reaching the actual castle, it started to rain. Great timing as we could actually go somewhere inside. I knew Osaka Castle turned into a museum, but it was really modern inside which can be quite disappointing after you've seen how beautiful it is from the outside. Still, I got to see some interesting pieces and learned some history of the castle. But you can also go to the top floor and go outside to enjoy the view. There was a fence all around it, so it was a bit difficult taking pictures but I got some decent ones. Seeing as I'm not a person that can just watch at a not-changing view for a long time, I went inside again and waited for the others with Marion and Linda. Martin soon joined us and when Sophia was also done enjoying the view, we went all the way down again to see if the souvenir shop had some interesting things. Well, I bought chopsticks. Expensive chopsticks, but chopsticks are cool so hah.

When we walked out of the castle, the rain had stopped already and we walked around the park some more, there were still some parts we haven't seen. But it was also time to go to Osaka station so we could get onto a train to go to the airport. I was slowly becoming very sad. I really didn't want to leave that beautiful country.

I was also sad because I couldn't find a yukata or kimono (second hand) for a nice price and I really wanted one. But then.. at the airport, we still had some time to spare at Terminal 1 before going to Terminal 2 with the shuttle bus, we walked around some shops and I actually found a yukata! I did pay around €40 for it, but I am still pleased! When I would wear it? Animecon 2013 maybe? It doesn't matter, I got it, I'm happy and I will surely wear it someday. I can also use it as a very fancy bathrobe, haha!

We went to Terminal 2 and we checked in, spending some last money at the 7/11 (I bought a big box of Strawberry KitKat! And also some delicious strawberry milk) and said goodbye to Martin as he would leave to Hong Kong a little while after us. Martin, if you're reading this, I will probably tag along when you're visiting Seoul! It was really nice meeting you. :)

Our flight was a bit delayed, but eventually we got onto the plane to go back to Korea again. I still felt sad and I was (am!) absolutely determined to come back to Japan. And this time, it will not take me seven years!