Spring in Japan, part 2

[effervescible]

Last time we left our heroes, they were really, really jet-lagged.

Day 2: Harajuku

Off to the ward of crazy fashion--Harajuku. We did see some, but I imagine there's more on weekends and when kids are free. First real shopping at Kiddyland. Despite the name, it had lots I wanted to buy, but I restrained myself. The whole 'stuff divided by floor' concept is pretty fun.

Later we met dougras at Meiji. The [missing word, huh] was great, and the shrine and its grounds were gorgeous, tranquil and reverent.

Almost as good as Chococro, which OMG. Worth the airfare to Japan if you ask me. We also found two cat cafes without trying. A good start.

Ashe and I woke up at something like 5:30 in the morning on Monday, like completely alert awake. Ah, jet lag. We ran a route around the neighborhood and then through Ueno Park, which was awesome. Jogging in Japan in the morning, watching the world wake up under the cherry blossoms--it was lovely. The jogs were some of my favorite parts of the trip, weirdly. And yay, I can run three miles not on a treadmill, too.

I don't care what he says, dougras was delightful. We brought him tortillas and he brought us Bleach cards with gum. Harajuku was very cool. I loved shopping at Kiddyland. Each floor has a different theme, including Hello Kitty, Peanuts (Snoopy is very big in Japan, to my surprise), cute character lines like Monokuro Boo (squee!) and of course a floor of anime geekery, which included some drink in a bottle shaped like Tokyo Tower. On the first floor I found a set of novelty Humping Dogs flash drive. I almost bought one for the WTF-novelty value, except I didn't want to be a person who would own a Humping Dog.

Chococro was the best thing ever. Croissants baked with real chocolate, not that chocolate paste crap you sometimes get in pastry. We went twice this day and once later in the week. Meiji Shrine was beautiful, and I bought a charm for travel because yeesh, I need one if anyone does. We got there as the priests were beginning the afternoon venerations (if that's what you call them) and that was nifty.

Relatively early bedtime--for the most part, we had an early-to-bed, early-to-rise schedule, which was fine with me. But if you ever want to go to Japan and hit some clubs, you're going to need to get over the time difference faster than we did.

More fanartist. She's just cute in general, so it's not a bad idea to take pictures of her.

All us laydeez on some weird pipe seating thing. It wasn't very comfortable for more than a couple of minutes. Maybe that was on purpose.

What time is it, children? That's right, it's GUN O'CLOCK! These were on the ground floor of Kiddyland. I love Japan.

A pair of socks for sale at one of Tokyo's many sock stores. I just...don't know.

Giant Haro. I kept thinking how Summer would latch onto it and never let go if she had been there.

A torii near the entrance to Meiji Shrine. Chris/dougras pointed out that it was unusual to not be painted bright red/orange, and I agree, it did look very naturally pretty.

I think the thing behind Hannah had some of the history of the shrine. Too bad I can't read Japanese beyond bits and pieces.

Though it's in super-hip uber-urban Harajuku, Meiji Shrine and its foresty grounds cover a lot of ground. This is just one of the paths.

Along the path. Not entirely sure what these were, but they were pretty.

See? Pretty.

A wild dougras appears!

It's hard to see shrunk down, but Chris is imitating the 4chan smiley. Hee.

Part of the Meiji grounds.

It had a large pond or a small lake, too.

So much prettiness. So much. At one point, we asked a...security guard? Some guy who worked there...what kind of flowering tree a certain tree was, and he sort of panicked because he didn't know. He could not be helpful to us! It was so tragic! We said it was fine and chuckled about it.

This well was interesting because the fresh water came up from it and flowed into the surrounding area instead of just being a deep hole you put a bucket down into.

Me + well

I don't know why Hannah was making that face but it cracks me up.

Ashe and hermano at the steps of the shrine itself.

More shrine.

Hannah's ema. Look how annoyed Ichigo is to be chibi and adorable! I wish I could have seen people react to it, if anyone did.

I thought this was just the name of a business, but Chris excitedly told us about its connection to the game Mother 3. I felt like a hero for pointing it out then. This was around when we were looking for lunch and a karaoke place. Let me rephrase that; there were karaoke places every five feet, so we were looking for one without much of a wait. When we did find one, Hannah and I spent the brief waiting period down the street at a Lush.


The Lush in question! I felt like I'd made a pilgrimage. We bought a limited edition Japan-only sakura bath bomb.

Comments

[utenatai.livejournal.com]

But if you ever want to go to Japan and hit some clubs, you're going to need to get over the time difference faster than we did.

Acually, this is really easy! If you listen to your body when it tells you you want to sleep around 3pm, take a nap, get back up about 9 and head out you're pretty much ready to party all night!

[greyvorfeed.livejournal.com]

Along the path. Not entirely sure what these were, but they were pretty.

Those are sake barrels! The sake companies donate them to the temples. The ones on display are empty, though the companies donate some actual sake for ceremonies, too...

edit: oh, yeah, and that was a fun-looking trip. Great photos, glad you had a good time!

[c0untmystars.livejournal.com]

sakura bath bomb? Jealous :D

[tardbot5000.livejournal.com]

Looks like a lot of fun >is it wrong that I want a Gun o Clock? :D:

[dougras.livejournal.com]

The socks are part of a TV show on NHK called Oden-kun, wherein all of the characters are the foodstuffs found in oden.

You've stumbled across ganguro tamago (egg).

And good heavens I'm so pale I'm glowing in that first picture.

Oh, Club Titiboo, how I love you.

Also, did you ever try that gum? It's awful.

YOU SAW NOTHING

[jaina.livejournal.com]

...I'm not sure how I feel about that. I wouldn't want to eat that omelette, I know.

You're not that pale! The flash and color balance on my camera were kinda funky. I really need to get a new one, but, well, no job.

Haven't tried the gum yet, but someone in our group did and declared it not too bad!

[jmcgarry.livejournal.com]

If you visit us, we have Lush at the local mall here (in addition to two or three in Toronto). Someone else already mentioned that the pretty things are nihonshu. I love the unpainted Torii at the enterance. (Food, where was the food? :-) )

[jaina.livejournal.com]

Find me a cheap flight, and I'm totally there. I mean, I have the time these days...

[tigerlilyaj.livejournal.com]

And I'm pretty sure our Lush has that bath bomb. ;-)
I was all squee until the sambo socks. :-P

[utenatai.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Lush in Boston also has sakura bath bombs in the spring.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

Fucking liar advertisements Summer received :P I should've known better.

[scrawled.livejournal.com]

EEE I am enjoying seeing this pictures so much :O

[buttercup0222.livejournal.com]

Why am I most excited about Lush Japan??

[jaina.livejournal.com]

Cuz you're gay for Lush like I am.