Not my first solo flight but the anxiety's still pretty strong!
Served pretty good food of course, it's SQ! Even comes with Kitkat ice cream haha
And here I am! Landed and got my personalized Suica card
And getting really amazed by the toilet bowl that washes your ass hahahah
Tokyo gave me an impression of being very "steel" since many of the buildings were built during a post-war period of rapid development, I guess speed was the main concern and that's why. Canals and water bodies everywhere, railway/train tracks running very close to the buildings; I think I've seen enough anime to find all these kinda familiar...
Chiyoda
Most important event: met up with this girl! Went to the Imperial Palace's East Garden to chillout after depositing my bag at the station
Also, received my carefully wrapped birthday present ^^
Asakusa
Famous Thunder Gate at Asakusa next! Really touristy place
Lunch was making our own omelette thingy (I forgot the name though haha). Then we went around to see kitchen wares and fake food at Kappabashi. Got my SIM card after a very frustrating episode at Akihabara; chilled out at Vault Cafe nearby (with "coffee machines" and very traditional way of making coffee) and finally settled my phone (after it failed on me a few times)... All hail the 3G god!
Shibuya
Then finally, the VIP of the night, Mr Sho!!! Looking very gentleman here hahaha. The best I've ever seen him so far I
Brought us to this place that at times require up to 2 hours of queueing! But we came early so all's well.
As you can see, very satisfied customers/tourists. The food we had was a seafood don with a second serving of soup, with very specific instructions of how to eat them (in Japanese; lucky we had Sho!); and as usual, photo's with Ms Blur!
Took a tour around Shibuya and did the world renowned crossing; got to know that people in Tokyo stay in the same job (without promotion) for YEARS; and also saw Hachiko. Split ways with Ms Blur as I followed Sho to his friend's place at Nezu. Small dormitory but good enough to house the two of us for a night, thanks Keichi!
Definitely not the most crowded yet!
Next morning kinda slept in and a change of plan meant I was to deposit my luggage at Tokyo station again; but everything was fine and off I go to Kamakura!
Shinjuku
Came back in the evening and met up with Ms Blur to put my luggage at her place (where I will be staying for the night), before heading out again to Shinjuku to meet Sho for dinner again. And yet again, it was a super delicious place!
Interesting vending machine where we have to purchase our order sheet before entering the shop. The limited edition ones were sold out, but what we got eventually were good too! And again, would not have survived without Sho!
Place looks like this; typical of Japanese restaurants
And food looks like this; typical of... a hungry person who only remembered to take a photo after finishing his food HAHAHA
Well here's a photo of the side dish; simple but pure goodness for my taste buds!
Kabukicho
Walked around Shinjuku and went to Kabukicho, saw the red light district (sort of), and visited Godzilla!
Hatsudai
Split with Sho and headed for Ms Blur's place; saw this on the way
What about second dinner?!
Off to Nikko the next morning, and came back a day later. Checked into my hotel room and had a quick dinner with Ms Blur before the tired girl headed home. First time alone in a hotel room not knowing anyone around, and almost predictably, I got an insomnia...
Hongo
Settling in was difficult, even more so when technology hates me. Luckily I brought the most useful product along!
And this, the street I'll walk for the next two weeks...
Next morning was spent doing my research work and getting some groceries done.
Korakuen
Walked 1km to the supermarket and saw this, Tokyo Dome City, some theme park near my place
Then for a short briefing and campus tour for the courses. Made some new friends from all around the world!
And lots of momento to bring back. Love the shirt!
Omotesando
Left in a hurry after the tour ended for this:
Met up with Yunfeng and Penny and got to meet Yunfeng's friend from exchange, Erina, and her circle of English speaking friends here in Tokyo. And this is a hipster/angmoh-frequent place: Omotesando 246 Common. Really nice place!
Super nice ambience after the sky turns orange then deep blue...
Even the small alley way to the toilet got so much feel hahaha
Fanciful Mojito with Blue Moon beer as the mixer. Interestingly nice
And this is Penny, no photo with Yunfeng on my phone for some reason. Shall wait for it to appear on Facebook then!
Left 246 for food and walked past this building; logo isn't clear, but it's UNU!
Find the two most important Kanji in this signboard, and yes, we 入 the 入口 of course
And this is the scene, really high tech and easy to use ordering machines, buffet-style made drinks ordering even easier. Cigarettes can be smoked from within though (but not on the streets; Japanese logic as usual)
After tonnes of alcohol, guess what's next?
And this is the result...
Night hasn't ended cos Penny was hungry and so here we are: level 10 curry. As if everyone's face wasn't red enough. It's really spicy though, no joke.
So yea, this is the gang (minus two girls who left earlier)! Thanks for the night everyone!
Everyone headed back and Penny left early the next morning back to Singapore, Yunfeng had some time to burn, so I met up with him again!
For lunch! Apparently Genki Sushi is in Singapore? Haha. Didn't know that
2 pages worth of nice sushi and only about S$15. Super worth it!
Yoyogi
Headed for Yoyogi park which looked kinda boring so we left after walking about 20 steps in. Lol
Harajuku
Walked around Harajuku cos Yunfeng wanna see chiobu but it turned out to be a bad day for him (ok it's not all so empty but still, not much pretty girls anyway haha)
Mejijinggu
Headed back to Meiji-Shrine ("back" because we went in halfway and turned back after Yunfeng realize the actual temple is quite far away. He's just not that into it) after Yunfeng left!
And saw some procession going on~
Kokkai-gijidō
After spending some time wandering around, decided to exit the subway at the National Diet Building stop, and it was kinda disappointing, no thanks to the heavy security outside, but they were really friendly though (and spoke English haha).
Headed for class at night and all the boring stuff. Shall continue posting on another post for the weeks ahead!
