Free day!!! All day to do and go where we want
:3
Lynnette and I returned to Harajuku, first to do a little shopping (she got some earrings) and then back to the Meiji Shrine to check out the garden. When we arrived at the shrine there was an event going on in the front courtyard, it was a fundraiser, complete with taiko players. They were still setting up so we went to the garden first. The trails were sneakily dangerous with their half-buried logs and gravel, didn't fall though! So again it was a good day. In the nearby river/pond there was a HUGE swarm of Koi! (and a couple turtles) but mostly the Koi were gathered near the viewing dock. We left in time to catch part of the taiko performance, and figure out where we were going next. Lynnette wanted to get a picture in front of Hachiko (Shibuya) because she hadn't done so when we were there before, but I also wanted to go to Chiba, just to see a different part of "Tokyo". We asked the policeman in the police box if the JR would go out to Chiba, and he eagerly gave us directions to the station (which we knew) but the important part was that we could take the JR to Chiba :)
Right after speaking with the officer this bum comes out of nowhere: he was a scrawny little man with a shopping bag- typical right? Well I was feeling generous so I have him my "change" which... in yen was a few bucks :P Funny thing was, within the next hour, once we were in Shibuya two things happened: we went out the south exit, instead of the west exit were Hachiko is, and had to go under a street-bridge lined with cardboard houses - Bum Alley. We didn't see any while going through the alley-area but as soon as we took our picture another bum appears asking for money/food. Apparently it only takes two occurrences for me to be over something- and I had already given my "change" away so I had nothing to give. Well, la dee da with that, and off we go to Chiba!
The train out to Chiba gradually became more and more empty, and we started getting looks from the passengers like "are they lost? we don't usually have foreigners out here". It took about an hour to get into the heart of Chiba, and it was a long, quiet ride (though we stood for all of it). Just as the train clears enough we take seats, waiting for two more stops to reach the end of the line-- then the train starts going backward! O_O So at the next stop (Higashi-Funabashi) we disembarked. Figuring this stop may be as good as the next, we headed out to search for lunch. Going counter-clockwise out of the station we passed through the residential area where there was barely any people! Not until we returned to the station side did we start to see students returning home. On the opposite side of the station was an empty udon cafe: I ordered a bowl of udon [with tempura batter drops in it] and Lynnette chose curry-rice (because of gluten allergy). It was delicious! but sadly I couldn't finish my bowl T__T so much udon broth...
It was still early in the afternoon so we went to "Chiba-Chiba" after all. There was definitely a lot more people, but not a lot to see without a direction. We found a small resale kimono shop and decided to check it out... at the entrance there was a step area which I presumed was where we were supposed to take off our shoes. So we're standing there awkwardly, I'm trying to remember the verb for remove [shoes], and the shop lady comes to us. Before I can remember the verb, she stops my Japanese mid-sentence to ask if I speak English *fail*. Apparently, we didn't have to remove our shoes, which is should have realized because (take note!) there were no shoes/slippers at the entrance AND there was a delivery guy inside the store... still wearing his.
I guess you could say "window shopping" isn't that popular in Japan; from what I have observed, you don't usually enter a store without at least some intention to buy something... or maybe we were just unlucky enough to land in the awkward conversation of "What are you looking for? We don't have any in your size." "Uh... my friend sells kimonos back in the state, so maybe something for her...?" "What size is she?" "um, about this-" *gestures with hands and realizes this is going nowhere good. overhears they are closing at 5* "Well, since you're closing in five minutes we won't bother you." *leaves in embarrassment* Awkward. Yeah. But understandable.
As it was about 5, we returned to Tokyo about 6:30 and had dinner at the Hotel Cafe (expensive in comparison to convenient store food but...) it was good nonetheless. It was also laundry night so the whole group had a chance to hang out together again for our last night in Tokyo.
Lynnette and I returned to Harajuku, first to do a little shopping (she got some earrings) and then back to the Meiji Shrine to check out the garden. When we arrived at the shrine there was an event going on in the front courtyard, it was a fundraiser, complete with taiko players. They were still setting up so we went to the garden first. The trails were sneakily dangerous with their half-buried logs and gravel, didn't fall though! So again it was a good day. In the nearby river/pond there was a HUGE swarm of Koi! (and a couple turtles) but mostly the Koi were gathered near the viewing dock. We left in time to catch part of the taiko performance, and figure out where we were going next. Lynnette wanted to get a picture in front of Hachiko (Shibuya) because she hadn't done so when we were there before, but I also wanted to go to Chiba, just to see a different part of "Tokyo". We asked the policeman in the police box if the JR would go out to Chiba, and he eagerly gave us directions to the station (which we knew) but the important part was that we could take the JR to Chiba :)
Right after speaking with the officer this bum comes out of nowhere: he was a scrawny little man with a shopping bag- typical right? Well I was feeling generous so I have him my "change" which... in yen was a few bucks :P Funny thing was, within the next hour, once we were in Shibuya two things happened: we went out the south exit, instead of the west exit were Hachiko is, and had to go under a street-bridge lined with cardboard houses - Bum Alley. We didn't see any while going through the alley-area but as soon as we took our picture another bum appears asking for money/food. Apparently it only takes two occurrences for me to be over something- and I had already given my "change" away so I had nothing to give. Well, la dee da with that, and off we go to Chiba!
The train out to Chiba gradually became more and more empty, and we started getting looks from the passengers like "are they lost? we don't usually have foreigners out here". It took about an hour to get into the heart of Chiba, and it was a long, quiet ride (though we stood for all of it). Just as the train clears enough we take seats, waiting for two more stops to reach the end of the line-- then the train starts going backward! O_O So at the next stop (Higashi-Funabashi) we disembarked. Figuring this stop may be as good as the next, we headed out to search for lunch. Going counter-clockwise out of the station we passed through the residential area where there was barely any people! Not until we returned to the station side did we start to see students returning home. On the opposite side of the station was an empty udon cafe: I ordered a bowl of udon [with tempura batter drops in it] and Lynnette chose curry-rice (because of gluten allergy). It was delicious! but sadly I couldn't finish my bowl T__T so much udon broth...
It was still early in the afternoon so we went to "Chiba-Chiba" after all. There was definitely a lot more people, but not a lot to see without a direction. We found a small resale kimono shop and decided to check it out... at the entrance there was a step area which I presumed was where we were supposed to take off our shoes. So we're standing there awkwardly, I'm trying to remember the verb for remove [shoes], and the shop lady comes to us. Before I can remember the verb, she stops my Japanese mid-sentence to ask if I speak English *fail*. Apparently, we didn't have to remove our shoes, which is should have realized because (take note!) there were no shoes/slippers at the entrance AND there was a delivery guy inside the store... still wearing his.
I guess you could say "window shopping" isn't that popular in Japan; from what I have observed, you don't usually enter a store without at least some intention to buy something... or maybe we were just unlucky enough to land in the awkward conversation of "What are you looking for? We don't have any in your size." "Uh... my friend sells kimonos back in the state, so maybe something for her...?" "What size is she?" "um, about this-" *gestures with hands and realizes this is going nowhere good. overhears they are closing at 5* "Well, since you're closing in five minutes we won't bother you." *leaves in embarrassment* Awkward. Yeah. But understandable.
As it was about 5, we returned to Tokyo about 6:30 and had dinner at the Hotel Cafe (expensive in comparison to convenient store food but...) it was good nonetheless. It was also laundry night so the whole group had a chance to hang out together again for our last night in Tokyo.
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