Picture Diary 6: FELL IN L O V E WITH TOKYO (part II)
On to day two of my Tokyo trip -- if you haven't yet, please read from the entry below this one.
After our very long day, we all felt it would be best to sleep in the next day. At 11 a.m. the next morning, the nine of us met in our hotel lobby to head back out for Akihabara.
But first, a few more pictures of my room, so you can get a feel for the size of it:
The futon filled up almost the whole floor.
The cute figure I got in Akihabara the day before. It talks!
*ahem* Anyway, we headed for Akihabara once more. Our first point of interest this time was Maidcafe Pinafore.
Uh, what? Yes, a maid cafe, which is a cafe where the waitresses wear maid uniforms. It sounds kind of sketchy, but it was actually pretty nice, if pricey. The decor was flower-themed and there were lots of cute pictures and things on the walls. Picture taking was forbidden inside, so I could only get a shot of the sign ...
... and the menu outdoors. The parfaits looked amazing, so I gave in and ordered the February special, the "Love and Chocolate" (very approx. translation) parfait, which was chocolate, strawberry, and delicious ♥ (it had strawberry ice cream covered in chocolate sauce with some sort of cake on the bottom).
After our meal, we dedicated a few more hours to exploring Akihabara, during which time I wandered into a cosplay shop.
Cosplay = costume play, or dressing up in costume.
It's somewhat common in the anime community to dress up as one's favorite character for conventions (just for fun or to compete over who has the best costume), but this place was a bit ... sketchy, to say the least. Anyway, the costumes they carried were mostly of the gothic lolita, schoolgirl uniform, and maid type.
Pictures weren't allowed inside (this is the same for many of the stores in Akihabara, otherwise I'd probably have twice as many pics!), but I had already taken this picture when I realized that ^^;; Here are some of the maid uniforms we saw.
I bought my first souvenir of the day here: a "gothic lolita" headband with a big white bow edged in black lace. I have no idea where I'll wear it, but it's cute ♥
As we headed back toward the station after some more exploring (including too few rushed minutes in the Animate store, which was by far my favorite place in Akiba -- anime merchandise *_*), we saw some cosplayers hanging out in a park.
Notice the cat ears/tail. The guy smoking is dressed as L, a genius detective from the series Death Note
After Akihabara, we headed for Tokyo station, the Tokyo station, where we spent a lot of time over the course of our trip.
Empty space in Tokyo? Believe it.
A poster for Valentine's Day.
Tokyo Station from the outside. There's a LOT more underground.
We headed for the Imperial palace. Visitors are not allowed inside, but there is a museum and gardens open to the public. It was a ways to get there, so we spent some time half on our way, half wandering.
Unsurprisingly, the area was beautiful.
A really, really long crosswalk (I was already halfway across when I took this picture).
A flower still in bloom.
A couple was taking wedding pictures in a nearby park (which we visited the next day). Apologies for the blurriness.
There was also a man painting a picture of the fountain. (You can see the bride in the background.)
The painting looked pretty nice.
A distant view of Tokyo Tower.
It turned out that the museum had already closed for the day, so we decided to return the next day and wander just a little longer for the time being.
Some neat looking trees. I bet they would look even more fantastic on a misty morning ...
Another random wide space, maybe near the emperor's home. I had a very bad handle on the relation of the palace itself to where we were, because I never actually saw it at all.
Another (blurry) view of Tokyo Tower.
As we headed back for Tokyo Station at last, I snapped a picture of the trees covered in lights.
Yes, we were at the stop officially called "Tokyo."
A sign at the subway.
Many of the subways in Tokyo had gates like this one for passenger safety (and to prevent suicides). The gates open when the train comes.
We headed toward Shinjuku next for karaoke and dinner.
An eye-catching ad just outside Shinjuku station.
Shinjuku lights.
We stopped at the first karaoke place we came to (I believe it was called "Big Echo") and signed up for one hour in a small room on the 5th floor, just big enough to fit the nine of us. We planned to eat at the karaoke place, but once we realized how much it cost per hour, we decided to just sing and leave.
In the karaoke room.
I suppose it's past time I introduced my traveling companions. From left to right: Jeff, Shaina, Mike, Tori, Mallory, Mollie, Andy, and me. Seth (farthest right in the previous picture) was the one taking the photo.
Pretty much everyone sang for every song, making our karaoke experience quite fun. When one of the girls went to the floor below ours to use the bathroom, she said she could still hear us! I guess we were pretty loud ... we shall definitely have to karaoke together again!
After karaoke, we hurried through the streets to find a place to eat -- a combination of snow and heavy rain was falling. Eventually we found a very traditional Japanese restaurant (we had to take off our shoes to enter) that could fit all of us. There was some confusion with how to go about paying the pay since we couldn't pay separately, but we figured it out and all seemed well until we were on the train back, at which point Mallory realized she had left her Nintendo DS behind. She had been looking up kanji in a dictionary she had on it at dinner, so we rode the train back to the station and waited while she and a few others went back to the restaurant. Unfortunately, her DS was not to be found.
We finally returned to the hotel at close to midnight, our last full night in Tokyo.
~~~~
I'd like to say that I'll have the last part up tomorrow, but I can't guarantee it. This Friday my Japanese class is taking a trip to an elementary school, and this weekend I'll be doing a short homestay! I have a lot to get done, but I'll do my best.
Also, yesterday I got my foreigner registration card, so that was a relief.
That's all for now, so until next time~
After our very long day, we all felt it would be best to sleep in the next day. At 11 a.m. the next morning, the nine of us met in our hotel lobby to head back out for Akihabara.
But first, a few more pictures of my room, so you can get a feel for the size of it:
The futon filled up almost the whole floor.
The cute figure I got in Akihabara the day before. It talks!
*ahem* Anyway, we headed for Akihabara once more. Our first point of interest this time was Maidcafe Pinafore.
Uh, what? Yes, a maid cafe, which is a cafe where the waitresses wear maid uniforms. It sounds kind of sketchy, but it was actually pretty nice, if pricey. The decor was flower-themed and there were lots of cute pictures and things on the walls. Picture taking was forbidden inside, so I could only get a shot of the sign ...
... and the menu outdoors. The parfaits looked amazing, so I gave in and ordered the February special, the "Love and Chocolate" (very approx. translation) parfait, which was chocolate, strawberry, and delicious ♥ (it had strawberry ice cream covered in chocolate sauce with some sort of cake on the bottom).
After our meal, we dedicated a few more hours to exploring Akihabara, during which time I wandered into a cosplay shop.
Cosplay = costume play, or dressing up in costume.
It's somewhat common in the anime community to dress up as one's favorite character for conventions (just for fun or to compete over who has the best costume), but this place was a bit ... sketchy, to say the least. Anyway, the costumes they carried were mostly of the gothic lolita, schoolgirl uniform, and maid type.
Pictures weren't allowed inside (this is the same for many of the stores in Akihabara, otherwise I'd probably have twice as many pics!), but I had already taken this picture when I realized that ^^;; Here are some of the maid uniforms we saw.
I bought my first souvenir of the day here: a "gothic lolita" headband with a big white bow edged in black lace. I have no idea where I'll wear it, but it's cute ♥
As we headed back toward the station after some more exploring (including too few rushed minutes in the Animate store, which was by far my favorite place in Akiba -- anime merchandise *_*), we saw some cosplayers hanging out in a park.
Notice the cat ears/tail. The guy smoking is dressed as L, a genius detective from the series Death Note
After Akihabara, we headed for Tokyo station, the Tokyo station, where we spent a lot of time over the course of our trip.
Empty space in Tokyo? Believe it.
A poster for Valentine's Day.
Tokyo Station from the outside. There's a LOT more underground.
We headed for the Imperial palace. Visitors are not allowed inside, but there is a museum and gardens open to the public. It was a ways to get there, so we spent some time half on our way, half wandering.
Unsurprisingly, the area was beautiful.
A really, really long crosswalk (I was already halfway across when I took this picture).
A flower still in bloom.
A couple was taking wedding pictures in a nearby park (which we visited the next day). Apologies for the blurriness.
There was also a man painting a picture of the fountain. (You can see the bride in the background.)
The painting looked pretty nice.
A distant view of Tokyo Tower.
It turned out that the museum had already closed for the day, so we decided to return the next day and wander just a little longer for the time being.
Some neat looking trees. I bet they would look even more fantastic on a misty morning ...
Another random wide space, maybe near the emperor's home. I had a very bad handle on the relation of the palace itself to where we were, because I never actually saw it at all.
Another (blurry) view of Tokyo Tower.
As we headed back for Tokyo Station at last, I snapped a picture of the trees covered in lights.
Yes, we were at the stop officially called "Tokyo."
A sign at the subway.
Many of the subways in Tokyo had gates like this one for passenger safety (and to prevent suicides). The gates open when the train comes.
We headed toward Shinjuku next for karaoke and dinner.
An eye-catching ad just outside Shinjuku station.
Shinjuku lights.
We stopped at the first karaoke place we came to (I believe it was called "Big Echo") and signed up for one hour in a small room on the 5th floor, just big enough to fit the nine of us. We planned to eat at the karaoke place, but once we realized how much it cost per hour, we decided to just sing and leave.
In the karaoke room.
I suppose it's past time I introduced my traveling companions. From left to right: Jeff, Shaina, Mike, Tori, Mallory, Mollie, Andy, and me. Seth (farthest right in the previous picture) was the one taking the photo.
Pretty much everyone sang for every song, making our karaoke experience quite fun. When one of the girls went to the floor below ours to use the bathroom, she said she could still hear us! I guess we were pretty loud ... we shall definitely have to karaoke together again!
After karaoke, we hurried through the streets to find a place to eat -- a combination of snow and heavy rain was falling. Eventually we found a very traditional Japanese restaurant (we had to take off our shoes to enter) that could fit all of us. There was some confusion with how to go about paying the pay since we couldn't pay separately, but we figured it out and all seemed well until we were on the train back, at which point Mallory realized she had left her Nintendo DS behind. She had been looking up kanji in a dictionary she had on it at dinner, so we rode the train back to the station and waited while she and a few others went back to the restaurant. Unfortunately, her DS was not to be found.
We finally returned to the hotel at close to midnight, our last full night in Tokyo.
~~~~
I'd like to say that I'll have the last part up tomorrow, but I can't guarantee it. This Friday my Japanese class is taking a trip to an elementary school, and this weekend I'll be doing a short homestay! I have a lot to get done, but I'll do my best.
Also, yesterday I got my foreigner registration card, so that was a relief.
That's all for now, so until next time~