<3
Sooo...it's been almost a month since I've returned from Japan so it's about time I shared my thoughts. I mean EVERYBODY says this but for me it was pretty true, people in Japan are soooo nice. It's possible that I went during the Lunar New Year and the amount of people getting on and off the subways could have been significantly reduced from the average day, but.....NO SHOVING! I was shocked especially since I've been living in Seoul for the past 5-6 months, getting on the subway without getting shoved comes as a shock to me. This also worries me, because it means that I am starting to become desensitized to all of the shoving in Korea..to a point where I have almost stopped realizing how annoying it is until I left the country. With that being said, I still very much think I would prefer living in Korean rather than Japan. I love it here =D
They're very different actually. Japan gives off a rather sophisticated and "cool" vibe, whereas Korea gives a more cozy and chills vibe. I'm not even going to bother comparing those two to Canada because even though Canada is my home..let's face it..Toronto is boring. Also, I feel that in order to enjoy Japan, I need to learn Japanese and be SUPER loaded. ;)
Day 1: Tokyo
We just walked around Shinjuku, Shibuya and the Harajuku district. We found places with cheap, good food but none of us ended up buying anything. Most of the things I liked, I could easily find in Korea for half the price.
Vending machine rice dish with egg. Delicious. I'm not a fan of green onion and I still enjoyed it.
Busy station.
Nick, me, Heather - rainy days.
One of the busiest streets in Tokyo - Shibuya, by Shibuya 109.
Vending machine Japanese Ramen. The broth was absolutely amazing, even though it was slightly greasy..it just made it THAT MUCH BETTER!!
Day 2: Tokyo - Sumo
On the 22nd, it was Heather's birthday and also one of the last days to watch a sumo fight. It was about $20-30 cad...2100yen. Seats were pretty limited so people were supposed to go line up as early as 6am in the morning...the fights started at 10am..but the best ones were at 4-6pm. We went early to line up, got our tickets and went back to our hotel for a nap. If you ever get a chance to see a sumo fight...GO FOR IT! Each individual fight - where physical contact is involved, was reaaaaally short, probably about 1minute long. The part that takes long were the rituals before the fight - the stomping, the salt throwing, the staring-each-other-down-to-psych-the-other-one-out and the repeat the salt throwing process. Most of the fights we saw, one fighter would try to shove the other one out of the circle, these ones usually end the quickest. Maybe 3 out of the 10 fights we saw were ones where one fighter would try to lift, trip or shove the other fighter onto the floor. These fights would last about 1.5-2mins. Even though the fights didn't last long at all, the atmosphere was amazing and overall was truly an awesome experience.
Sumo ticket.
Getting ready to watch =D
AWESOME!
The "ring" - must stay inside the circle.
Getting ready..
The stomping I mentioned.
FIGHT!
ooooooh....
ahhhhh....
ohhhhh..
Judges/refs discussing who hit the floor first (happened only once when we were there).
To prove that I was actually there =P
Shows you who's fighting who and who won.
Shabu Shabu after the fight.
Looks delicious......no?
What's Heather's birthday if we don't got out?
Day 3: Tokyo - Walking around
We had a day to kill..so we just walked around to get a taste of Tokyo
Giant Pandaaaaaaa!
Temple in the middle of a marsh-type thing
It's supposed to "cleanse my spirit and...something else" lol
You throw money in that gigantic retangular prism-type thing on the left and swing this tassel thing hard enough to make the two metal pieces on top to make a gong-type noise..and pray I think.
Duckies that we don't have in Canada.
Riding our "swan"
<3
Asian Eiffel Tower..jk - Tokyo Tower
Soba noodles
The only good thing about crappy weather is how nice it makes the scenery.
Day 4: Tokyo Fish Market
We all know that Japan is known for the fresh fish/sashimi that we eat sooooo we decided to go to the fish market. We had to go extra early because we wanted to see the fish auction as well. We woke up at 4, headed over to the market and made it just in time for the auction. Normally, I don't understand what's going on at an auction but that confused feeling is multiplied when it's in a different language.
When we got there..
Found the "line" to watch fishermen auction off the tunas.
They're HUUUUGEE!
Too early for makeup =D
He rings the bell to tell people he's ready..
Moving them...
Korean stairs
First taste of sashimi in Japan
Entering the park.
Beautiful.
Back to Harajuku.
Japanese style?
Observatory.
The view.
And again...
Nicholasuuuhhh.
Japanese BBQ.
Cooking..
Day 5: Osaka
We arrived really early by bus so we chilled around a cyber cafe, had some McDonalds, went to a temple and an aquarium. We were all too tired to do anything else.
Comics in the cyber cafe..plus we got free coffees..there were also showers and "shared" rooms here..
More duckies..
Another temple
Cool looking building with rock climbing details.
Day 6: Osaka
We found a nice info lady at our station who hooked us up with a tourist package - we were able to pay 2000yen and go to as many as 15-20 locations, with transportation and admission included. It was awesome!! We only went to about 5-6 locations, but transportation both ways would cost about 400yen per location and all the admission were 500+yen, so we totally got our money's worth. She also told us which stop each attraction was at so we were able to plan out our day.
Women only cart
Coool eh? It took us to see the castle.
Puuuurdy! =)
Castle Museum.
=D
Close up of the castle museum.
At the top.
Yet another temple.
Looks sooo cool!
Farris Wheel.
The view.
Floating Gardens Observatory.
173 floors? Not sure, we took lots of escalators and elevators and even stairs to reach the top.
Sunset view.
Another sunsetting view.
Us with our helpful info lady. She was so shy!
I've been wanting to try this to help exfoliate my skin since forever. It was a mission to find and it cost about $35-38 CAD..but it can last a long time. I think on Yesasia.com it's like $40USD..so if you can make it to Japan, you're still good.
Overall, Tokyo was cooler than Osaka, everybody looked busier and stylish. However, Osaka had more to look at. I'm very happy to have finally visited Japan. I'd definitely want to go back...after I check out a whole bunch of other places. There are still quite a few places I want to visit.
Sorry for this late post..boyfriends are distracting =P
Hope everybody is happy a happy February like I am =D
xoxo
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