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• Tokyo Part 2

  Thursday, Feb 26, 2009 12:22AM / Standard Entry / Members only
  4 comments

  In Shibuya I bought some colored contacts - permanent ones that last up to a year, unlike the "big eye" Acuvue Defines which are disposable.  They were about $36 a pair.  One has light brown blended into black around the edge, and one has light brown reflections on it, called the "crystal" style.  And sorry, near-blind people -- these lenses are only available in plano. 
  

  
  

  

  I also found some arcades where it was pretty easy to win stuff.  I went absolutely crazy.  I realized this craze is like a gambling addiction -- but instead of winning money, you win useless stuffed animals.  Well, at least the quality is pretty good.  I'll have to leave some of these here because I seriously lack luggage space, and I'll be giving most of these away when I get home!

  I won all of these in one day:

  

  I got another chance to make a new friend!  In the business center at the hotel, I accidently bumped the girl behind me when I sat down at the computer, and said automatically, "Excuse me".  When she said, "It's okay" in English, I asked where she was from.  Born in Hong Kong, raised in Australia!  Her name is Wendy and she was very friendly.  We chatted for a while about our travels.  She and her cousin had been touring around Japan for the past few weeks and was leaving next for Hong Kong. 

  The next night, I saw her in the business center again!  I added her on Facebook and invited her and her cousin Sam out later in the week.  On Friday night we went on a wild goose chase for a reggae club I'd heard of -- Club Open.  We finally found it and they were playing roots instead of dancehall.  Dang, not my fave.  Oh well, we decided to make the most of it.  The small crowd had a good vibe, and a band started playing later on.  They were pretty good.  When we got out of the club we were lost and just shared a cab back.  Turned out we weren't far from the hotel at all!  =P 

  Wendy, Sam and me at the reggae club:

  

  The reggae band:

   

  Tsukiji Fish Market, I'm sorry, was not a remarkable experience.  I was not about to make it out there at the recommended 5am, especially when the weather is so cold.  When I did get up, I saw the rain pouring down, and didn't want to go out but forced myself to be a trooper instead of a pansy-ass spoiled American girl.  I bought an awesome clear automatic umbrella for only $5 at AM/PM (which here is just a convenience store) and took the subway to Tsujikishijo.  When I got there, I decided to have some sushi for breakfast, which many other people were doing.  But I JUST did NOT have the stomach for it at 9am, and some of the sushi I ate didn't sit right with my stomach.  Eek.  (I was also afraid that the fresh sushi would twitch at any minute, and I'm sure that didn't help.)

  

  I wandered around the fish stalls and took some photos, my jeans got wet and my eyelids almost froze off.  Seriously... if you're not interested in fish that are dead or soon to be, it's not going to be all that interesting.  The girl I met at the hotel, Wendy, also agreed.  She even went at 5am and told me she thought it was a waste of time.  Our verdict:  "would rather be at the mall!"

  

  Asakusa, home of the famous Sensoji temple, is a very touristy spot.  There are tons of shops selling overpriced cultural knickknacks and silly stereotypical things like ninja costumes, some of it rather pretty and nice but I didn't buy anything.  I took photos of the temple and wandered out a bit, eating udon at a restaurant for only $3 (a medium sized portion) and playing at some arcades. 

  Me at the Kaminarimon:

  

  The walkway to Hozomon:

  

  I went to Harajuku on Sunday, when all the kids are supposedly dressed up in crazy outfits and hanging out, for you to ogle and take pictures of.  It wasn't quite what I expected -- the place was PACKED, but over 90% of the crowd was tourists (thanks a lot, Gwen Stefani) and normally dressed Japanese people.  Most of the kids who were dressed up were hanging around the purikura booth place, taking sticker pics of themselves.  I saw a few cross-dressers too. 

  

  

  

  There was a big makeup/drugstore there that was having a special - a Kate "Diamond Cut Eyes" palette plus eyelashes for 999 yen ($10.60), and if you buy 3, you get some free gifts.  WHOOT!

  The eyeshadow packs:

  

  The free gifts:

  

  Around this time I started to feel a bit depressed.. Wendy and Sam had left, and I was thinking about going back to LA (blah) and back to the same routine, and although Tokyo is AMAZING... the cold weather, language barrier, and loneliness were taking a toll on me.  I tried making plans with my friend Leah and they fell through twice. 

  As I said before, I had spent a lot of money on a plane ticket, was spending too much at arcades, knew how broke this whole trip was making me and was feeling the pressure.  I had really wanted to go to a dancehall reggae club and hadn't made it.  I didn't really want to go alone -- the trains stop running at 1am, taxis are expensive, I can't really speak to most people I'd find at the club anyway, and it was just too COLD! 

  The next morning my friend Leah called and we finally made some solid plans for the night!  She picked me up in the evening and we went to Palette Town in Odaiba, an amazing and fun place of entertainment.  We ate crepes, played crane machine games, took purikura pics, and saw the Toyota showroom.  

  Palette Town, fun fun fun: